Power Ranking New York Knicks Players Heading into Final Month of Season
The word "powerful" should not be applied to anyone playing for the 14-58 New York Knicks. "Tough" or "scrappy," maybe, but not even star forward Carmelo Anthony can be feeling robust right now.
Nevertheless, players are suiting up for New York, gritting their teeth and staggering their way through the final 10 games of the season to fight for a spot on a 2015-16 NBA roster.
Who's likely to be wearing blue and orange again next year? It's quite possible, likely even, that before October rolls around, Action Jackson will have parted ways with eight or nine of these gentlemen, as opposed to just a handful. So try not to get too attached to your favorites, Knicks fans.
Except for Bargnani. You might want to keep digesting him regularly in small doses—like building up a tolerance to a poison.
Based upon their performances and usage after the All-Star break, and the word around town about the team's future plans, here's a ranking of which Knicks should be feeling the most powerful—or, more accurately, the least unempowered—right now.
Bottom of the Heap
1 of 11
For the purposes of this exercise, we're only talking about players who have been active after the All-Star break, so that rules out Anthony, who ended the season early to get much-needed knee surgery. 'Melo is still The Man in New York and the only player whose future is relatively in his own hands.
This also effectively counts out veteran point guard Jose Calderon, who's been out with an Achilles injury since Feb. 25 and may not return before season's end. If he were still playing, Calderon's greatest asset would be the simple fact that he has a contract other teams might not want to pick up in a trade, because his performance this season has been an abject disappointment. He had the worst plus/minus and turnovers of any guard, by far.
Without Calderon, the team went 7-18. With him, the Knicks were 7-35.
A few others on the roster might struggle to make the top-10 cut.
Quincy Acy
The 24-year-old, 6'7" power forward is a perplexing case. Acy was getting big playing time in the autumn and even started 21 games, but he's seen a lot less action in the past couple of months.
Sure, Acy has been known to commit foolish fouls at inopportune moments, but he is one of the game's great hustlers. He's a bulldog who will fight tooth and nail for a rebound (and is probably good with children and nice to cuddle with off the court).
Travis Wear
The 6'10" forward never seems intimidated as an undrafted rookie like him "should" be. Wear has been one of those rare third-string backups who doesn't make your heart immediately sink to the floor when he walks onto the court.
He's an excellent catch-and-shoot guy who's bailed the team out of many a shot-clock violation, and he's used his size to slow down some of the league's best scorers, including LeBron James. Wear isn't a guy the Knicks are likely to work hard to keep a roster spot for, but he's done plenty to earn his modest income and then some.
Ricky Ledo
Ledo has only played three games so far for the Knicks, who signed him to a 10-day contract last week after the Dallas Mavericks waived him last month. Mavs owner Mark Cuban told Marc Berman of the New York Post that Ledo is "incredibly talented" and "could be a steal for the Knicks," explaining that Dallas only waived him because they did not have minutes to spare for player development.
Ledo is only shooting 31.8 percent from the field for New York so far, but it's too soon to start making jokes about how that would be just about right for a Knicks shooting guard or trying to persuade John Starks to come out of retirement.
Cleanthony Early
2 of 11
Rookie small forward Cleanthony Early shows flashes of greatness. In Wednesday night's 111-80 bloodletting courtesy of the Los Angeles Clippers, Early was the only thing preventing Knicks fans from gouging out their eyes.
He scored a season-high 18 points and looked good doing it. He drilled a couple of threes. He flew up to the rim like those wings tattooed on his shoulders gave him a lift. He swooped to the hoop, drew fouls and nailed all six of his free throws.
Overall, though, Early's rookie season has been peppered with injuries, lapses of judgment and poor shooting. He's only averaging 34.3 percent from the field and 27.4 from three-point range. A hiccup in his stroke has caused him to badly misfire the long ball, and he's shown a hesitation to shoot that's letting defenses get a step ahead of him.
A great performance like Wednesday night's might be just the thing to get his NBA career on track. Nevertheless, Early might actually be better served by a longer stint in the D-League for the Westchester Knicks.
Tim Hardaway Jr.
3 of 11
To put it lightly, this has not been a good year for Tim Hardaway Jr. He's a shooting guard and has one of the worst field-goal percentages on the team—39 percent, ahead of only Early and Ledo (another shooting guard, damn the luck).
Midseason Hardaway did begin to enhance his game and assuage some of his shooting woes by being more aggressive—driving to the hoop and drawing fouls—but he gets into old habits and falls back into the old outside jumper all too often.
After being yanked off the court by Derek Fisher repeatedly for defensive failures at the beginning of the season, Hardaway has tightened up his D a bit, but it's still an issue. Shooters' field-goal percentages shoot up by 5.1 percent when Hardaway is defending them.
Had the Knicks known at the time that Hardaway would struggle so, they might not have given him a longer contract in the fall. As it is, he will either be a troubled sophomore that head coach Derek Fisher molds into a sophisticated junior or a trade asset for someone else to deal with.
Shane Larkin
4 of 11
Shane Larkin should be higher than this, but a surplus of combo guards on the roster and his own recent timidity have him tumbling backward now.
The 5'11" Larkin's greatest strengths are his lightning speed, relentless defense and excellent court vision. He directs the triangle better than anyone else who plays the point, leads the team in steals and protects the ball well.
Yet, he's lately dialed back some of the speed and aggression. Instead of speeding past defenders as we've seen him do hundreds of times, he putters around and lets the defense get set. Instead of driving and putting up a floater or layup, he's driving and passing it out, even when he has a better shot—as though he was taking cues from Pablo Prigioni.
Maybe confidence is a factor. Larkin was at his finest when he was thrust into the starting lineup ahead of Prigioni as Calderon was out at the beginning of the season. Since then, Calderon returned, and Langston Galloway and Alexey Shved joined the roster. If Larkin wants to keep his spot, he needs to turn on the talent that he showed in November.
Jason Smith
5 of 11
Seven-foot center-forward Jason Smith has been a bit unpredictable this winter. Defensively, he's gone from disinterested liability to growling beast to sloppy foul-prone benchwarmer. Offensively, he's started to go to the hoop more often, which is good, because his usually automatic mid-range jumper hasn't been as automatic.
Smith can conceivably be an offensive weapon off the bench, and he's developed into more of a defender than he was when he entered the season. Yet he's still a hard guy to know where to place.
Smith's fate is a bit of a mystery, because it rather depends upon what other moves the Knicks make in the frontcourt.
Andrea Bargnani
6 of 11
Against all odds, the Andrea Bargnani conversation has gone from "huge, expensive failure we couldn't trade who finally comes off the books this year" to "hey, maybe should we re-sign him."
True, Bargnani has averaged 16.5 points and 4.5 rebounds since the All-Star break. And yes, he's generally avoided the kind of game-blowing boneheaded maneuvers that he was so famous for last season.
Yet, before we go signing new contracts, let's review his defense. On the inside, man-to-man, he's gotten better. But with help defense, he's still lackadaisical, and despite the fact that he's a big man who shoots threes, he's reluctant to defend the perimeter. Three-point shooters average 47.8 percent behind the arc when Bargnani is guarding them.
Two months ago, the very idea of re-signing Bargnani would have been laughable. It must be approached now with healthy skepticism.
Lance Thomas
7 of 11
Small forward Lance Thomas committed three unforced turnovers in the first quarter of Monday night's game, simply by stepping out of bounds with the ball; he committed two more turnovers after that. Protecting the rock is not one of Thomas' great strengths, but even that was bad work for him.
On the other hand, the night before, he scored 24 points, shot 75 percent from the field and hit the first two three-pointers of his career. Thomas has been the go-to small forward since 'Melo's season ended, and in some games, he's produced big numbers for the Knicks when they needed them most.
He also pulls his weight on the defensive end and brings plenty of hustle to the squad. He is not meant for the starting lineup, but Thomas might have earned a spot on the bench next season, stepping in when 'Melo sits down or when the team needs a bit more D.
Cole Aldrich
8 of 11
Cole Aldrich may not be fancy or sexy (sorry Cole), but he's a fundamentally sound old-school center who's proved to be a reliable reserve, and even starter, for the Knicks.
He isn't just a muscle-bound post-up player who will overpower all defenders, but he does have a mean baby hook shot that's hard to beat, and he's strong enough inside to not get pushed around. Aldrich is also great at moving the ball inside with the guards, dishing and creating shot opportunities.
After spending much of the first five seasons of his career keeping benches toasty and sweat suits zipped, Aldrich seems to have carved out a role in New York.
Langston Galloway
9 of 11
Combo guard Langston Galloway had a smart agent who got him a partially guaranteed contract for next season while Galloway was thrilling crowds with wild high-flying putback jams every night...before the rest of the league had him on their scouting reports.
Since then, defenses have held Gallo in check a bit better, scaring him away from the bucket more. Yet, he's still been an asset at both the 1 and 2 spots and on both ends of the court.
For a guard, he's a superb rebounder. He also does an excellent job of protecting the rock. Plus, he is the only guy in the backcourt who consistently keeps opponents scoring beneath their usual percentage. He averages 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists and could add a few more points to that stat sheet if he got to the line more often.
Although the Knicks now have more combo guards than they probably want, Galloway will certainly remain a key piece of the roster.
Lou Amundson
10 of 11
Lou Amundson is the kind of guy you want to visit you in the hospital when you're in a full body cast. He just seems to exude an indomitable, contagious can-do energy.
As Fisher said of Amundson, per Fred Kerber of the New York Post: "Every time he gets a chance to put on a jersey, just goes all-in and he’s willing to go through a brick wall for himself and for his team. Things changed a lot since he’s been here. It’s great to have guys like that."
Scoring isn't Amundson's strong point, but he has logged two double-doubles since joining the Knicks, including one in the surprising win against the San Antonio Spurs on March 17 when he scored 12 points and wrestled down 17 rebounds.
It's that hustle, defense, sloppy bun and willingness take hard fouls that makes Lou Lou. He has the best net rating on the team, so regardless of who the Knicks pick up in the offseason, expect to see Amundson as a key reserve in 2015-16.
Alexey Shved
11 of 11
When Phil Jackson brought on sleepy-eyed Russian point guard Alexey Shved, who already played for two other NBA teams this season, it seemed unlikely that he would rocket his way into the starting five. Yet, he's become the Knicks' second-leading scorer after Bargnani, averaging 16.1 points, and he has basically nailed down a spot on next year's roster.
Shved has a pretty jumper and scores in transition, but what really make him special are his wild drives. He catapults his soft, slender frame toward the hoop with reckless abandon, gets to the free-throw line more than anyone else and hears his last name mispronounced by Walt "Clyde" Frazier more often than not.
His defense leaves quite a bit to be desired, unfortunately. He also doesn't protect the ball as well as one would hope, but for now, his offense is so productive that the struggling Knicks don't care.
The "scoring point guard" they expected to have, Jose Calderon, has been a disappointment. Larkin is a strong defender but less of a willing shooter. Galloway has been playing the 2 spot more often than the 1. Put all those things together, and Shved has bought himself a contract for next year.
Unfortunately the Knicks will have to stumble through the last 10 games without him. Shved was sidelined by a rib fracture after getting kneed in the ribs by the Toronto Raptors' Patrick Patterson. It was an inadvertent but exuberant injury, with Patterson flying through the air, knees first, and Shved choosing not to dodge the blow. The team announced Wednesday that he will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks, per ESPN's Ian Begley.
All stats from NBA.com/stats. Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.
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