Pacome Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti are looking better than anticipated

The two foreign imports are trying to play their way into the cold, grizzled heart of Tom Thibodeau

This is Year 5 of the Tom Thibodeau experience in New York. What we’ve learned from the first four is ringing true in Year 5.

In his first season, Thibs relied on veterans like Elfrid Payton who relegated emerging rookie Immanuel Quickley to a bench role, although it was Payton who was banished to the role of handing out water bottles in the playoffs in favor of Derrick Rose. RJ Barrett was reduced to a corner shooter in a Randle-centric offense.

In his second season, Thibs leaned on Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, which again stunted minutes for Quickley and also new first-rounder Quentin Grimes. While Julius Randle battled heavy regression and fan vitriol, Obi Toppin remained a 10-15 MPG bench player.

In Year 3, defensive specialist Deuce McBride stayed glued to the bench behind two superior point guards in Quickley and Jalen Brunson.

Of course, these didn’t stay the case forever. A common theme of Tom Thibodeau is guaranteeing nothing to rookies and having them earn playing time.

Quickley’s play as a microwave scorer as a rookie immediately changed his trajectory, led to him becoming an elite sixth man, and eventually got him $150 million to be a starting point guard elsewhere.

Grimes’ aptitude defensively kept him in the rotation in 2021-22 and he eventually took the mantle of starting SG following the benching of Evan Fournier and Cam Reddish.

McBride was thrust into a bench role following last year’s midseason trade. He was only given a small extension that paid him to be a tenth man in a rotation. He evolved his game offensively to become a premier scorer off the bench.

It’s an old-school mentality that Thibs possesses. The guys who get minutes for him are established. Hell, Jericho Sims is getting minutes right now because Thibs trusts him enough in Year 4.

You look at the four rookies (well, three considering McCullar is still injured). General consensus was that Tyler Kolek would be the most NBA-ready and realistically challenge for minutes the quickest.

That wasn’t the case.

Despite potentially four centers ahead of him on the depth chart, Ariel Hukporti has taken advantage of multiple injuries to get some playing time behind KAT and Jericho Sims. In two games, he all but snatched the playing time of Sims. Although he’s still not a regular, Hukporti has made it clear that Sims’ role as the backup center (soon to be third-string when Achiuwa returns) is in serious jeopardy.

Hukporti has played a total of 42 minutes of non-garbage time action. KAT’s foul trouble led to the first 12, while an injury to KAT led to the final 30.

The first stint came against the still-undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers, where Hukporti had just two rebounds and a block.

I’m still not sold on Evan Mobley’s offense but he’s looked good so far this season, averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds. Hukporti’s first real defensive action in a meaningful situation goes well.

His only official shot attempt was this little put-shot over Dean Wade that should’ve gone in. This reminds me of another German center that wore #55 for the Knicks.

Hukporti showed great defensive instincts down low in this game, forcing misses without fouling. Unfortunately, he can’t also grab a rebound after going all-out on a contest.

What should’ve been Hukporti’s first NBA points were negated on a crappy offensive foul. He perfectly executed the PNR with Mikal Bridges and yammed it on one of the league’s premier defenders. This getting negated probably sucked the life out of the Knicks in this game.

Hukporti was put back behind Sims following this game until Karl-Anthony Towns missed Friday’s game with a small knee injury. After Sims started, Hukporti got a lion’s share of minutes, dropping seven points with four rebounds, three assists, and four blocks. In the mood of stat stuffing, he also committed three fouls and three turnovers.

Another iHart comparison. Hukporti gets in open space but is pretty far from the hoop. He fakes the pass to OG on the baseline upon seeing Keon Johnson flanking him, and makes a good pass to Josh Hart. Guys like Achiuwa, Sims, and Mitch lack this kind of passing IQ.

He’s also playing some tremendous help defense, although more kudos to Hart for slowing down Williams.

This level of switchability and intimidation is greatly appreciated with the struggles of Towns on the interior. Hukporti followed this great possession with another block off the inbound.

The Nets were frequently blitzing the ballhandler whenever Sims/Hukporti set a screen because of their lack of offensive game if they get the ball. Hukporti does the same play as earlier, except this time the baseline is open for Mikal Bridges.

Being able to make a team pay for doubling the ballhandler is transcendent for the offense and Hukporti did a great job of this all night, this time finishing at the rim over Ben Simmons.

The Nets had some great transition defense here, so if Hukporti wasn’t trailing nicely and in position to receive this feed from Brunson, they would’ve had to back off and would’ve wasted the possession. Just smart basketball.

Hukporti isn’t the only rookie who could be impressing the coaching staff with his play. After a brief flirtation with Matt Ryan, Pacome Dadiet re-entered the rotation for both Brooklyn games.

Dadiet had been reduced to garbage time after a very brief cameo in Boston to open the season. His 21 minutes in those two games didn’t see much in the stats department, but he still impressed.

Dadiet is a very raw prospect. If he wasn’t willing to take an extremely rare paycut, he would be in France right now. The newly-minted 19-year-old can be a rotation player if he’s able to hit some C&S threes and be a net positive defensively. In a span of 30 seconds on Friday, you saw a glimpse of that.

This video shows the good and bad. Dadiet is not an established defender, so there’s no shock that Ziaire Williams blows by him. However, with help from his fellow rookie, Dadiet has enough time to recover and swat the shot from behind. Just showing this level of effort is enough to make the coach proud.

His numbers yesterday were near non-existent, but he was a plus-9 in 9:33. Although he did nothing offensively, he thrived being left on an island defensively.

Is this a basic travel that players of all ilks commit sometimes? Yes.

Am I gonna credit it to Dadiet? Also yes.

Schroder gets past Dadiet here but once again he stays just enough on him to force a miss.

Boom. Dadiet comes out of nowhere from guarding Jalen Wilson to helping on and blocking Dennis Schroder. The instincts are definitely there.

Here it is. The coup de grâce. The magnum opus. Dadiet seamlessly locked down both Jalen Wilson and Cam Johnson, switched beautifully between them, and got off a great contest. That possession he was on an island against two NBA scorers and he singlehandedly got the stop. That is what gets you intrigued.

Hukporti and Dadiet still have a lot to learn. For example, Hukporti isn’t as adept at grabbing rebounds as guys like Mitch, KAT, or Achiuwa. Dadiet still looks like a baby deer out there and, as expected, isn’t a finished product. That’s ok. They have time and they have some exceptional players to learn from. Dadiet has the best wing defender in the NBA playing in front of him while Hukporti can refine his rebounding under multiple elite rebounders.

They also have a captain to give them pointers on the court.

Bonus clip: Here’s an extremely rare site, a Knicks big man shooting a jumpshot (well, unless your name is Karl-Anthony)