NY Knicks Offseason Checklist: How Cleanthony Early Can Improve His Game
New York Knicks rookie Cleanthony Early was like a baby deer: a little wobbly, easily startled, often caught in headlights, occasionally bursting forth with impressive displays of quickness, strength and bravery.
During the 2014-15 season, the 6'8", 220-pound small forward out of Wichita State showed glimmers of greatness—particularly when he'd soar to the rim and draw contact. Mostly, though, his shooting was mediocre, his turnovers were frequent, and he often looked wide-eyed and lost.
Yet, Early is still young, talented and one of only five men to have a guaranteed contract with the Knicks right now. So for the fans' sake, Early better do some homework this summer. Here are his top assignments.
Jump Shot
First things first. Early needs to call his team captain, Carmelo Anthony, and ask for some pointers on sinking jump shots.
Early's overall field-goal percentage was a mediocre 35.5 percent, and his jumpers were particularly bad—he only hit 28.2 percent of them. He was nearly as bad from mid-range (26.7 percent) as he was shooting threes (26.2 percent).
Put it all together, and it earned him the worst effective field-goal percentage of all the players on the lowest-scoring team in the league. That's bad.
Part of Early's trouble was he'd hesitate to put up the rock, and that little hiccup would allow defenses to get the drop on him.
Instead of pausing to face up to the bucket, Early should do what he's best at—use all that athleticism to go to the hoop. He can finish above the rim, isn't afraid of contact and was an and-1 machine at Wichita State.
Yet, in New York, he's been more prone to taking jumpers despite his shaky stroke. We've seen he's still got the ability to go to the hole and finish with rim-shaking slams. He just needs to make the decision to go for it.
Mental Focus
An injury disrupted Early's season and kept him out from mid-November to January. By the time he was able to play, the Knicks' playoff hopes were effectively dead, and the roster unrecognizable. It was an unsteady place for a rookie to find his footing.
Surely, that's partly to blame for some of Early's lapses of judgment, right? Let's hope so.
Early was turnover-prone—reckless when handling the ball, misfiring his passes, missing passes that were coming his way. At times, he looked as wide-eyed as any other tourist from Kansas: an easy mark for a ball-stealing pickpocket. Per game, Early averaged more turnovers than assists.
A ball lost out of bounds, a Hedo Turkoglu steal and two bad passes even marred one of Early's greatest games of the season—an 18-point, four-rebound performance March 25 versus the Los Angeles Clippers.
Maybe Early was not quite ready for the bright lights, big city and big-name ballers. He did seem to play looser and have better chemistry with his younger teammates than with the stars and veterans.
The perfect example: On January 8 versus the Houston Rockets, Early and Langston Galloway put the pressure on Trevor Ariza and forced him to turn the ball over. Galloway, Early and Shane Larkin ran it down the court with Ariza in hot pursuit. Galloway dodged Ariza with a behind-the-back pass to Larkin. Larkin lobbed it up to Early, who rose up to throw it down and swung on the iron for good measure.
If Early can tap back into that plane of consciousness, he could be a big producer for the Knicks bench.
Perimeter D
The Knicks' perimeter defense was so bad, everyone in the organization—from President Phil Jackson to the assistant sweat-mopper-in-training—should be studying it this summer.
Cleanthony Early should be particularly studious because opponents shot 6.3 percent better than their average from behind the arc when Early was guarding them. He gives excellent three-point shooters too much room to rain down wide-open long balls instead of contesting them closely or forcing them inside the arc.
Early can play some good D on the interior, using his long arms to block the shots of taller, bigger players, but in today's game, every small forward needs to be able to nail down the perimeter.
Hopefully, while the rest of the NBA is focused on the Finals and the upcoming NBA draft, Cleanthony Early is sitting on a mountaintop right now, in lotus position, beside a yogi who will help him find inner peace, mental focus and the hoop.
Early should also work on his handles, and some strength training couldn't hurt. However, his top priorities must be scoring efficiency, mental clarity and all of the Melo shooting drills and Jackson Zen teachings necessary to achieve them.
All stats from NBA.com/stats. Follow Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
