New York Knicks: Is Landry Fields the Answer at Shooting Guard?

Landry Fields generated a ton of buzz as an exciting second-round pick of the New York Knicks last season, but his role moving forward remains largely undefined.

When Fields' name was called, the Stanford product wasn't exactly welcomed by the fanbase. Many were confused by the selection and could have never imagined that he would go on to play ahead of Andy Rautins, let alone in such a meaningful role in his first full season in the league.

However, as soon as the regular season got underway, Fields was inserted into the starting lineup and responded rather favorably as a result.

Averaging 11.0 points and 7.3 rebounds on 50 percent shooting through his first three career games, Landry gave Knicks fans something to be excited about as they were actually reaping impressive production from the No. 39 overall selection.

While those initial numbers were certainly impressive, Fields' success didn't sustain throughout the entire season.

Finishing the year with averages of 9.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 steals, Fields' rookie numbers are certainly nothing to overlook, but the final numbers are somewhat misleading.

With his performance steadily declining throughout the season, there were some overtures made that his struggles were related directly to overexposure.

Here are his numbers from both before and after the All-Star break from the 2010-11 season:

Before: 10.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.1 stl, 51.9 FG %, 76.1 FT %

After: 9.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.8 stl, 45.3 FG %, 78.2 FT %

While there is no doubt that his performance on the stat sheet was impacted after Carmelo Anthony's arrival in New York, Fields' play clearly took a step back in a big way as the season progressed.

He's a phenomenal story and a great piece to have on a competitive club, but we haven't seen enough from him yet to determine as to whether or not he could possibly sustain as the team's starting two guard in the future.

As the landscape of the Knicks team will undoubtedly change in the very near future, Fields' role could ultimately be determined by the pieces that the club places around him.