Now Is Not the Time for New York Knicks to Call Up Thanasis Antetokounmpo
For the New York Knicks, 2015 has been all about waiting. In the first full year of Phil Jackson's regime, yet with a number of holdovers from the previous one, this season was a planned transition before the true rebuild could take place this coming summer.
One key cog in that rebuild has yet to step on the floor for the Knicks. Yet to sign a pro contract, second-round pick Thanasis Antetokounmpo has grown in the NBA Developmental League all season. And to see him suit up at Madison Square Garden, Knicks fans will likely need to do some more waiting.
The 51st overall pick in last year's draft has enjoyed moderate success with the Westchester Knicks, averaging 14 points and six boards over 32 minutes. He's shot it at 46 percent from the field but just 23 percent from three. At 6'7", 215 pounds and with a 7-foot wingspan, the 22-year-old will presumably be able to play multiple positions once he reaches the NBA.
But for a number of reasons, the NBA Knicks would benefit from holding off on the prospect until next season.
The Financials
First, the most glaring reason: money.
Should the Knicks call Antetokounmpo up this season, they'd be unnecessarily starting his service time clock, and thus his rookie contract, a year early. Especially under the current collective bargaining agreement, a premium has been placed on young talent with cheap salaries.
It behooves a team to keep promising young players under its control for as long as possible. If the Knicks were to sign Antetokounmpo to an NBA contract now—simply so that he can play the last 23 games of a meaningless season—2014-15 would count as Year 1 of his rookie deal.
| Cleanthony Early | $507,336 | $845,059 | RFA | |
| Langston Galloway | $235,762 | $845,059 | RFA | |
| Thanasis Antetokounmpo* | 0 | $525,093 | $874,636 | RFA |
| (2015 First-Round Pick)** | 0 | $3,745,980 | $3,914,580 | $4,083,120 |
| *If TA signs two-year minimum-salary deal | ||||
| **Average salary of picks 1-5 |
The team currently has Cleanthony Early and Langston Galloway in the first year of rookie contracts, both counting for $845,059 next season and a qualifying offer of $1,180,431 the following summer. If both perform to the expectations New York holds them to, 2015-16 could be their last season under rookie deals, as they'd enter restricted free agency the following summer and would be due raises in salary.
Calling Antetokounmpo up now would put him in the same boat as Early and Galloway. With this in mind, it's generally better to stagger those affordable contracts whenever possible. Especially for a team as draft-pick deprived as New York, the risk of losing several youthful assets in a single summer would be a significant blow.
The Scheme
Aside from the financials, Antetokounmpo's D-League upbringing has hurt his chances of making an immediate impact with the Knicks.
All along, New York has planned on transitioning him into a shooting guard, where he would use his tenacious defending and 7-foot wingspan to defend backcourt players. Except under head coach Kevin Whitted in Westchester, Antetokounmpo has been used primarily at the forward positions.
The W-Knicks run the triangle, which is helpful for Antetokounmpo's transition to Derek Fisher's Knicks. But running him out at (a) a position he isn't familiar playing at or (b) one he won't stick with in the future doesn't make sense in the long run.
Staying on the topic of Fisher, his rotation patterns are yet another reason why Antetokounmpo is better off in the D-League over these last six weeks.
After Amar'e Stoudemire's buyout and Carmelo Anthony's season-ending knee surgery, the post-All-Star-break Knicks have completely set their sights toward the future. But, curiously, Fisher has neglected to play two rookies who perhaps need the most playing time of all.
In Early and Travis Wear, the Knicks have two potentially versatile and helpful young assets in their first years. New York nabbed Early with the 34th overall pick in the draft, while Wear made the team as an undrafted free agent out of training camp. Early seems to have the motor and athleticism to compete but needs NBA minutes for New York to truly figure out what it has in the 23-year-old. At 6'10", Wear possesses wing-like attributes in a long frame, but what he can produce against NBA competition is a virtual unknown.
With just 23 games left in their rookie seasons, the Knicks hardly know more now about the pair than they did on opening night. Even after Stoudemire and Anthony left the picture, Fisher has still been reluctant to award them significant minutes.
After returning from knee surgery on Jan. 2, Early has averaged just 17 minutes per game, appearing in 16 of the Knicks' 24 games. Wear has averaged 12.5 minutes this season and has logged 16 minutes, 19 minutes and six minutes, respectively, in his three post-All-Star-break appearances. He hasn't played in two of New York's five games over that time.
If Antetokounmpo was in the mix today, Fisher could very well give him the same treatment Early and Wear are receiving now. In the D-League, the organization is at least figuring out the type of player Antetokounmpo can be. That's more than what can be said about Early and Wear in the NBA.
The prospect of adding an energizing piece to this snoozer of a season has to be enticing for Knicks management, whose fans are undoubtedly restless during the team's worst campaign in its 69-year history.
The Greek import has approached the situation the right way and would even accept a minimal role with the big club.
“If I was to get that chance to go to the next level, I’ll put all my heart into it and give everything into it," he told Marc Berman of the New York Post. "Even from not playing at all to being a good teammate to being the guy who plays 40 minutes, I’ll do whatever it takes for the team to win.’’
But, according to RealGM's Shams Charania, Antetokounmpo will be staying put until next season. And as tempting as this particular forbidden fruit may be, holding off until next year will reward New York in the long run.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders. Stats from Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
Follow me on Twitter at @JSDorn6.
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