5 Potential D-League Call-Ups for New York Knicks with Open Roster Spots
With victories hard to come by and the roster now stripped of rotation players, the New York Knicks are prime real estate for NBA Developmental League prospects.
The Knicks completed a three-team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert are heading to Cleveland, while Dion Waiters is on his way to Oklahoma City. The Knicks, meanwhile, will receive three players—Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk and Lance Thomas—only one of whom they're expected to retain (Thomas).
Samuel Dalembert will also be waived as part New York's cultural overhaul, the result of which, as of now, will be plenty of open roster spots ripe for the taking.
"I think for now at least we go with what we have,” coach Derek Fisher said, per The Record's Steve Popper. “But I don’t think this in any way signals the end of our transition process."
Translation: More moves are coming. What those moves are, we don't really know. Armed with a couple of trade exceptions and expiring contracts, team president Phil Jackson will be busy working the phones, according to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck.
But in addition to trades, the Knicks are also likely to use the D-League options at their disposal. D-League players became eligible to sign 10-day contracts on Jan. 5, and the team has an internal prospect or two who could be worth a look as well.
Though these call-ups are typically stopgaps for injuries or bottom-of-the-barrel plugs, the Knicks are in talent-evaluation mode. If their league-worst record wasn't proof enough that they're eyeing the future, the latest moves are.
And with plenty of holes to fill, expect the Knicks to seek help from the D-League ranks, with an emphasis on players who can stick beyond this season.
Quincy Miller
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If the Knicks are looking for a budding talent who won't be overwhelmed by the NBA grind, targeting someone like Quincy Miller—a been-there-done-that prospect—should be a viable option.
Miller was selected with the 38th overall pick by the Denver Nuggets in 2012. After spending two seasons with them, he now finds himself with the D-League's Reno Bighorns, making mincemeat of opposing defenses.
Through eight appearances, the 22-year-old is averaging 25.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 2.4 blocks on 49.3 percent shooting. While his jumper has always been shaky, he started honing his three-point shot last season in Denver, a process that's continued in the D-League, where he's knocking down 36.7 percent of his 7.5 attempts per game.
Perimeter defense provides the real intrigue here, though. At 6'9", Miller is long, athletic and can play and defend either forward spot. He's also the rare wing who can consistently block shots at the rim and from the free-throw line out.
Although the Knicks rank second in rim protection and first in points allowed inside the paint, per TeamRankings.com, their defense is a cumulative eyesore. They rank 28th in points allowed per 100 possessions and are dead last in three-point defense.
Signing Miller would provide something of a higher-end replacement for Shumpert, who was often tasked with defending the opposition's best wing scorer. That Miller is also agile and explosive only makes him a more sensible addition for a sloth-slogging Knicks team running at the eighth-slowest pace in franchise history.
Langston Galloway
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File this one under "Formalities." Lance Galloway is already en route to The Show, having been called up by the Knicks on Tuesday, per Shams Charania of RealGM.
Galloway, a 6'2" point guard out of Saint Joseph's, seems like an inevitable call-up for these Knicks. Sources told the New York Post's Marcc Berman that Jackson has been trying to create the requisite roster space to acquire Galloway for a while and views him as an ideal triangle point guard.
Shane Larkin, Pablo Prigioni and Jose Calderon already figure into the Knicks' floor-general rotation, but there's an obvious need for additional options. Prigioni (37) and Calderon (33) are now the team's two oldest players; the latter has been a defensive disaster, and the Knicks have already declined Larkin's third-year option. The 23-year-old Galloway projects as a better long-term investment than any of them.
"Galloway is nowhere as speedy as Larkin but is a much-better three-point shooter, rebounder and considered a cerebral player," writes Berman. "The Knicks thinking is Galloway’s smarts and three-point ability makes up for his lack of penetration ability, which isn’t as vital in the triangle. Plus, he is rebounding better than Westchester’s bigs."
There's no telling how well Galloway would produce at the NBA level. He's averaging 16.5 points and shooting 35.8 percent from deep in 19 appearances for the Westchester Knicks, but he's never been much of a playmaker—including throughout college—and his reluctance to drive can be problematic even in the triangle.
Still, he plays the passing lanes well (2.7 steals per game), runs faster than the forever-plodding Calderon and grabs more rebounds per 36 minutes (6.1) than any of the Knicks' current point guards...plus Jason Smith.
Brady Heslip
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Because, why not?
Brady Heslip leads the NBA D-League in scoring with 27.7 points per game, is drilling 50 percent of his long balls and is quickly emerging as one of the best shooters in D-League history. He's already generating NBA interest as well. After agreeing to a contract overseas, he elected to stay put, the thinking being he'll get the Association nod soon, per ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
The Knicks make some sense as a landing spot. They just traded away two rotation guards in Smith and Shumpert and have been struggling to get consistent production from their wings all season.
At 6'2", Heslip is a vastly undersized shooting guard and subsequent defensive liability. But the Knicks aren't going to cure their defensive warts by going D-League hunting, and Derek Fisher has shown an inclination to run dual-point guard lineups, so an undersized backcourt is nothing new.
With Carmelo Anthony on the verge of shutting it down for the rest of this season, per Wojnarowski, the Knicks could also use a scorer. Heslip fits the bill as someone who can create space and score off the catch. He's already registered five 35-plus point outings with the Bighorns, and more than 76 percent of his baskets come off assists, making him a nice complement to a triangle offense that needs off-ball scoring to function properly.
Caveats do exist beyond Heslip's size—most notably his stat lines, which are, to an extent, the product of Reno's fast-paced system. As The New York Times's Scott Cacciola wrote in November:
"It obviously helps that the Bighorns are doing some wacky stuff. [David] Arseneault, 28, played for his father at Grinnell College in Iowa, a program known for its dizzying volume of 3-point attempts. The Sacramento Kings, the Bighorns’ parent club, hired him in October with instructions to incorporate some of those philosophies at the D-League level. ...
Arseneault also advises his players to treat the shot clock as if it were only 12 seconds instead of 24. He wants layups and 3-pointers. Midrange jumpers are to be avoided at all costs.
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Joining the Knicks would demand stark adjustments. They play at the league's third-slowest pace and rank third in mid-range attempts per game. Still, their rate of play and shot selection is slowly starting to change. Heslip gives them a valuable catch-and-shoot guy to evaluate within the context of their offense—the same one that desperately needs a first-rate bucket-getter.
Doron Lamb
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Doron Lamb, unlike Heslip, is a more traditional shooting guard. He stands at a positionally manageable 6'4" and already has two seasons of NBA experience to his name.
Stints with the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic, while inevitably unsuccessful, offered glimpses into Lamb's potential as a valuable role player. He never averaged more than 14 minutes per game but put in 39.4 percent of his deep balls through 100 total appearances.
That sweet shooting has carried over into the D-Leauge with the Texas Legends. Lamb is tallying 19 points per game, putting in 43.2 percent of his treys. He's also thrived as a secondary playmaker, assisting on 14.3 percent of Texas' made baskets when on the floor.
Some of the previous knocks on Lamb have even started to dissipate. His shot-making abilities were always evident, but he was seldom self-sufficient. Now, more than 62 percent of his buckets are self-created.
Like many other backcourt prospects in the D-League, Lamb's defense is shaky. His lateral quickness can be inadequate when guarding off the dribble, and he has neither the strength nor girth to effectively defend bigger 2s like Klay Thompson.
But the Knicks won't be perusing D-League ranks hoping to find another star. They need role players—specifically those with more reliable jumpers than Quincy Acy and Travis Wear. And when put that way, Lamb projects as a sound, much-needed fit for a 25th-ranked offense still finding its way.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo
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Time to take a dip in the Knicks' own talent pool for a change.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo—whom the Knicks drafted at No. 51 this past summer—is not his brother, the widely worshiped Giannis Antetokounmpo. He's both older (22) and shorter (6'6") and hasn't been known to re-enact the final dunk from Space Jam.
Cartoon shortcomings aside, Antetokounmpo is still comically long. He has a 7-foot wingspan, a reach of 8'9" and can cover the floor in less than four strides.
As a scorer, he's still green. He basically phased the three-point shot out of his offensive repertoire and is draining just 22.9 percent of his bombs overall for Westchester's finest. The manner in which he prefers to score—point-blank after blowing past one-to-368 defenders—is also imperfect.
"On the other end, he's using his speed to score on the break and his length, strength and fearlessness to make himself a force on the offensive glass," Joe Flynn wrote for Posting & Toasting. "Will that translate to the NBA? Only time will tell."
Such offensive uncertainty is inevitably overshadowed by his defensive effort. Antetokounmpo is ferocious and unforgiving. He can block shots (1.8 per game) and force steals (1.4) in volume, and while lean, he can defend every position except center.
New York has clearly tried to bring him along slowly thus far—a wise move ahead of this season, when they figured to contend for a playoff spot. But with its bottom-three defense imploding nightly and the 2014-15 campaign going nowhere special, the time for trial by fire isn't just nigh.
It's here.
*Stats courtesy of NBA.com unless otherwise cited.
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