New York Knicks: Comparing Raymond Felton's Two Stints with the Knicks

Raymond Felton is in his second stint with the New York Knicks, and though his role and numbers are just slightly down this year, he is still is a big part of the team's success.

The Knicks traded the point guard to the Denver Nuggets, part of the exchange for Carmelo Anthony, after putting forth numerous career highs through 54 games two seasons ago.

Felton re-signed up by New York in the offseason, after letting Jeremy Lin go to Houston.

During his first stint in NY, Felton worked extremely well with Amar'e Stoudemire in the pick-and-roll game. He was able to score efficiently, while racking up the most assists on the team during the 2010-11 campaign.

That season, the guard from the University of North Carolina put forth career-highs in points, assists and steals. Felton averaged 17.1 points, nine assists and 1.8 steals.

He also had career-bests in minutes (38.4) and free-throw percentage, just fewer than 87 percent. Felton started all 54 games—however had 3.3 turnovers per game, the most in his eight NBA seasons.

This season, Felton is splitting point guard responsibilities with Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni. His numbers are down from his first season with the team, but he has improved some areas of his game.

His 14.9 points per game in 2012-13 are the second-most of his career and No. 3 on the Knicks. Both of Felton's best scoring seasons have come with the Knicks.

Felton's minutes, field-goal percentage, rebounds, steals and assists are all down from his first season with New York. This year he is shooting just over 40 percent, compared to over 42 percent two seasons ago. He is averaging a team-high 6.5 assists, as well as 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game this season.

The floor general has been able to do some things better this season however. He is shooting just over 37 percent from three-point land this season, stronger than his 33 percent two years ago. Also, Felton has turned the ball over less, giving up 2.3 turnovers per contest.

Raymond Felton is a huge reason for New York's hot start. He is not having as strong a performance so far this time, but he is still managing the game and giving New York a strong scoring option, besides Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith.

Bringing back Felton, after spending last season with the Portland Trailblazers, has been beneficial to the Knicks. With a handful of weapons to feed, Felton should not have any trouble picking up assists.

New York has a strong backcourt in 2013, consisting of Felton, Kidd, Smith and Iman Shumpert. With Shumpert missing a large chunk of the first half of the season, Felton's guard-play has been crucial to the team's 31-16 start.

For the Knicks to make a title run, Felton must continue to be an efficient point guard.