How to Build the New York Knicks Backcourt of the Future
Forget big men. The New York Knicks need to give guards some love this offseason—especially a draftee in China and a free agent in Dallas whose name does not rhyme with Hondo.
Backcourt refurbishment could satisfy some of the Knicks' most-pressing necessities: a reliable second scorer, perimeter defense, points in the paint, free throws, transition offense and rebounds. They'll need great ball-handlers and passers who can play a low-iso offense like the triangle.
For continuity's sake, they might want players with similar playing styles—so that, for example, a fast-paced team doesn't start dragging as soon as one guy hits the court. If Phil Jackson and Co. can end the offseason with one starter, one reserve who's strong on defense and one go-to scorer off the bench at both point and shooting guard positions, they'll be in good shape.
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This is an effort to do just that. Here's the cast of characters Jackson has to work with.
Guards on the Current Roster
Jose Calderon: The 6'3", 33-year-old point guard has spent much of the year either injured or horribly underperforming. He struggled to run the triangle offense, was prone to turnovers and failed to provide the scoring support for Carmelo Anthony that the Knicks expected. He's under contract for $7.4 million in 2015-16 and $7.7 million in 2016-17.
Langston Galloway: The 6'2" rookie combo guard has played mostly at the 2 spot after being called up from the D-League in January. He's strong on both ends of the floor, with a knack for rebounding, clutch shooting and occasional putback jams that bring the crowd to its feet. He's signed to a partially guaranteed $845,059 contract in 2015-16.
Tim Hardaway Jr.: The 6'6" shooting guard was a "Rising Star" in his rookie season last year but has struggled throughout his sophomore outing. He's only shooting 39 percent from the field and has been a defensive liability. Efforts to address both have been spotty. He's under contract for $1.3 million in 2015-16.
Shane Larkin: The 5'11" sophomore combo guard has played mostly at the point and started the first 13 games of the season when Calderon was injured. He runs the triangle better than anyone else on the squad and is a pesky defender in both man-to-man and help defense. He's lightning fast and can drive the lane but doesn't look for his own shot often enough. The team has a $1.68 million option on Larkin for 2015-16.
Ricky Ledo: The 6'7" second-year shooting guard just signed his second consecutive 10-day contract after being released by the Dallas Mavericks. He has only played six games for New York so far, which have been characterized by mediocre shooting and lots of turnovers.
Alexey Shved: The 6'6", 26-year-old combo guard, who came to New York in a swap with the Houston Rockets for Pablo Prigioni, quickly rose to the starting point guard position by driving to the hoop with reckless abandon. He gets to the free-throw line more often than any other Knick and was the team's leading scorer during the 16 games he played before suffering a cracked rib injury. He becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Sources say he is open to re-signing with the Knicks, per ESPN New York's Ian Begley.
Top Draft Picks
Emmanuel Mudiay: Due to injury, the 6'5" 19-year-old point guard only played 12 games for Guangdong in the short 37-game Chinese Basketball Association season. Although initially committed to SMU, Mudiay decided to go pro sooner to help his family financially, per Jeff Borzello of CBSSports. He's an explosive player who thrives in transition and is already being compared to John Wall, Derrick Rose and Damian Lillard, per HoopsHype. He also shows potential to be a great defender.
D'Angelo Russell: The 6'5" 19-year-old combo guard from Ohio State has exceptional court vision, and his gorgeous passing has basically guaranteed his twin a job in the State Farm Bureau of Assists. He's a natural jump shooter but not one for driving. He's a top-five draft pick, despite being an inconsistent defender.
Desirable Free Agents
Monta Ellis: The 29-year-old combo guard for the Dallas Mavericks has a player option, which some expect him to turn down, particularly now that the Mavs are searching for wins in a strong Western Conference and showing signs of locker room tension. He's not much of a three-point shooter, but he's an explosive player who drives to the hoop and is good in transition. He's the Mavs' leading scorer, a willing perimeter defender and one of the best clutch performers in the league. He's set to make $8.72 million next year in Dallas if he stays.
Goran Dragic: The 28-year-old point guard requested and received a midseason trade from the Phoenix Suns to the Miami Heat. He will become one of the most sought-after unrestricted free agents on the market this offseason, but he told Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling, "I'm really hoping to stay in Miami." In the profile interview, Dragic gushed about Dwyane Wade, Pat Riley and just about everyone else in the Heat organization, and he said Miami was already beginning to feel like home.
Wesley Matthews: The 28-year-old shooting guard for the Portland Trail Blazers is a reliable scorer and lovable big-energy player who would probably fit right into what the Knicks want to do. He will be an unrestricted free agent and just suffered a season-ending Achilles tear that could impact his bargaining position. It might be hard for other teams to seduce him away from Portland—one of the best teams in the West—especially if unrestricted free agent LaMarcus Aldridge stays put too.
Marco Belinelli: The 29-year-old shooting guard comes off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs. He's been a reliable three-point machine for the past eight years. Assuming the Spurs want to hold onto the iron man, Phil Jackson would have to convince Belinelli to leave what is arguably the best-run franchise in the NBA.
Reggie Jackson: The 25-year-old starting point guard for the Detroit Pistons was traded to them midseason by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He will become a restricted free agent, so Detroit will keep him if it matches any offers he receives from other teams. Stan Van Gundy, who is both head coach and head of basketball operations for Detroit, says the Pistons are "committed to" Jackson, per Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. The Pistons will have more money to match any offers if the contract for Greg Monroe—the team's hot unrestricted free-agent big man—comes off the books.
The Backcourt Lineup
The lineup I recommend is Emmanuel Mudiay, Monta Ellis, Alexey Shved, Langston Galloway, Shane Larkin and (with reservations) Tim Hardaway Jr. Here's why.
Landing good talent in the draft will be a breeze for the Knicks, but free agency and trades won't be. Other than cash, the Knicks don't have much to tempt free agents to New York, and many of the best guards would have to be persuaded to leave starting positions at better teams. Other than the 2015 draft pick, the team doesn't have many trade assets.
The item the Knicks would be wisest to trade away for a guard is unfortunately another guard—Jose Calderon, who has not played since an Achilles injury Feb. 25. The team does not seem keen on him either.
After the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on March 23, head coach Derek Fisher was asked by a reporter if he would like to see Calderon back this season or have him shut it down. Fisher punted the question, responding, per NBA.com, "I'll talk about that at another time."
Yeesh.
Some teams could benefit from a veteran point guard like Calderon, who has thrived elsewhere. If the Knicks home office could broker the right three-team deal, they might get a guard for a guard, but that's part of a Plan B or C and could be tricky anyway because targets like Ty Lawson, Gordon Hayward or Victor Oladipo might not come cheap. Plan A is to swap Calderon for talent needed at another position.
The only teeny-tiny, eeny-weeny, Spike Lee-sized reason to even think about keeping Calderon next year is if he helps coax former Dallas teammate Ellis to join the squad.
First, Ellis is someone the Knicks could conceivably get. In the past several months, the Mavericks have struggled to earn a playoff berth, and emotions are high with internal accusations being made about a lack of focus and effort.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tried to put some of the blame for this on Ellis, writing, "He's a pain in the butt who isn't producing" and talked of his "offensive inefficiency." Yet, I think MacMahon's real gripe is that Ellis isn't particularly friendly with the media, because if this is inefficiency, I'll take it:
| PTS | AST | REB | STL | FG% | 3FG% | +/- |
| 19.1 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 44.4 | 30.1 | 2.8 |
He's the Mavs' leading scorer. He also leads the team in steals; in fact he's top five in the league. Granted, the shooting behind the arc isn't stellar, but 44.4 percent from the field? That's Carmelo Anthony's average, folks, and better than any of New York's guards this season.
He's one of the league leaders in the clutch (meaning during the final five minutes when the score difference is five points or fewer), right up there with LeBron James and Russell Westbrook. Plus, he's just exciting to watch.
Ellis even plays defense. He holds opponents 2.1 percent below their average field-goal percentage.
He shoved MacMahon's words in his face March 24, putting up 38 points and five assists on the San Antonio Spurs. Yet that may not be enough for Dallas. Per MacMahon, "Assuming that Ellis opts out of the final year of his contract as expected, the Dallas front office has to figure out how much they're willing to pay to keep an undersized shooting guard who will be 30 next season and has a history of rubbing his teammates the wrong way."
Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News tells it a bit differently in a profile piece Jan. 24. He wrote, "[Ellis] is the one Maverick who fans know little about, which is the way Ellis likes it. He’s a private person, but his teammates say he’s fun-loving and has strong character in the locker room."
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The Knicks have the cash on hand now, so the way to approach a contract (and attitude problems if they do in fact exist) is to offer Ellis a short contract for a bigger amount.
Also, Ellis told Sefko that his favorite color is blue. If his second-favorite is orange, it should help the Knicks a little bit.
Reggie Jackson is also a great player, but for a pure point guard the Knicks should first and foremost look to Emmanuel Mudiay.
Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress described Mudiay as "NBA-ready" and "one of the best 'shot creators' in the entire 2015 draft." If you haven't seen Mudiay play yet, do yourself a favor and watch the video above.
He's an unstoppable force in transition, a creative passer and both powerful and fast enough to roll right over defenders.
Hall of Fame SMU basketball coach Larry Brown has also compared Mudiay's game and evolution to John Wall's, in an interview with SNY, via Adam Zagoria. Mudiay was initially committed to attending SMU but instead went to play professionally in China. While SMU was ranked No. 22, Brown said, "If [Mudiay] was with us we’d probably be second or third in the country."
The CBA isn't quite as defense-optional as, say, the NBA All-Star Game, but the stats should be taken with a grain of salt when translating them to potential NBA numbers. Still, Mudiay's stats are nice to look at:
| PTS | AST | REB | STL | FG% | 3FG% |
| 18.0 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 1.6 | 47.8 | 34.2 |
Of course, come draft day, the Knicks might be unable to resist the siren song of the big man. If they win the No. 1 pick, they may select Jahlil Okafor of Karl-Anthony Towns over Mudiay, who—with Russell—is hanging around No. 3 or 4 in current mock drafts.
In that case, the Knicks should make a push to land both Reggie Jackson and Ellis in free agency. They could also draft a big and immediately trade down for Mudiay and a lil' somethin' extra—like another pick.
As for my recommended lineup, Mudiay and Ellis are two-way players. Larkin and Galloway make a defense-strong reserve duo who are both clutch three-point shooters. Shved is pure offense, and Hardaway is too, when he's on his stroke. He didn't have his stroke often enough this season, but he's young enough to deserve another chance (especially since he has already has a contract).
This group does not make you a major three-point threat. Look at it this way, though: The Knicks have supposedly had strong long-ball shooters for several seasons. They've certainly launched plenty from behind the arc...and look where that's led.
What this backcourt will do is get to the hoop and to the line, score in the paint, break down defenses, pass, assist and score in transition. It will defend the perimeter, force turnovers, collect rebounds, commit steals and generally make a nuisance of itself.
Just what this slow, pussy-footing, jump shot-happy team needs.
Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7. All NBA stats from NBA.com. CBA stats from RealGM.com. Team payroll data from Basketball-Reference.com.
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