Reasons Why the New York Knicks Roster is Terrible
The New York Knicks, one of the most valuable franchises in basketball, have a roster that makes absolutely no sense at all. They, mostly Phil Jackson, made some moves this off season that are honestly cringeworthy. First they traded for Derrick Rose who for once is looking like he is pretty healthy. Even with him being healthy, he has not been even close to half of what he used to be. Rose still does this weird thing where he will dribble the ball for about 13 seconds of the shot clock and then jack up a three and brick it. D-Rose shoots 28% from beyond the arc. 2-8 percent. Not good, not even average, just terrible. His offensive rating is much lower than his defensive rating by a lot which is never good. Not only is he a shell of himself, but he's a ball hog playing with another ball hog (Melo).
Carmelo Anthony is no longer the best player on the Knicks and theres nothing wrong with that because everyone starts to fall off at some point. What is wrong with this is the fact that Melo and the rest of the Knicks don't realize that he's not their best player anymore. His scoring is currently under his career average, his defense is at a career worst, and he still does not pass the ball. His assists per game are the lowest they've been since 2013 and its tied for the worst of his career. Carmelo Anthony has always been pretty one dimensional and as his skill diminishes he is just hurting his team more.
Joakim Noah getting starters minutes on this team is honestly a travesty. This guy really is just so bad, so so so bad. 80% of his shots come from at least 3 feet from the basket and he still can't shoot 50% from the field. Not to mention his 31% free throw shooting which Im pretty sure is what high school bench players average from the charity strike. The Knickerbockers gave a 4 year, $72 million contract to a defensive minded Center who doesn't even get a full block a game while getting starters minutes. He hasn't gotten hurt yet but that will most definitely happen so Knicks fans get ready for him to miss a pretty big amount of games. Not that I want him to because that would be terrible, but Joakim gets hurt just about every year.
All that ranting about this bad roster leads me to the one and only bright spot in New York, Kristaps Porzingas. This guy is a monster, a true basketball unicorn. A 7'3" guy who guy move, give you buckets from every spot on the floor, and all he has to do to block shots is stick his arms straight up in the air without jumping. Pretty much all of his numbers have gone up and if you've seen him play it is obvious his game is only going to get better as it has since his rookie year. He is shooting better from the field and three point range than Rose and Melo, is a better rebounder and probably the better scorer now as well. Look for yourself:
Porzingas is doing all of that while not even getting the amount of touches that he should be getting. When the Knicks lose, Derrick Rose has WAY more touches than everyone else and not close to as many points per touch.
But, when the Knicks actually win, Porzingas is getting more touches (like he should) and is still scoring at a better pace than Melo and D-Rose.
So weird that when the best player touches the ball more they win, crazy concept I know. I truely didn't even know those stats were a thing before I started writing this. Only thing that made me think this was seeing the Knicks a couple times on TV and seeing a handful of box scores. So if the Knicks want to actually be a good basketball team heres what you do: First, have the 7'3" guy starting at Center because not a single guy at that position can stay in front of him. Second, get Joakim Noah and his broken jumper off the court for as long as possible. I would say trade him but I don't think theres a team in the league that wants him and his contract. All Joakim Noah does is talk shit about Cleveland which leads to his team getting stomped by Cleveland. Third, somehow convince Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose that Kristaps Porzingas needs to take more shots than them. He's better, younger, and actually has a future in basketball. The two games that Joakim Noah has been inactive for the Knicks won both games, one of the games Porzingas had a double-double, and in the other he dropped 31 points. This is not rocket science here people. Phil Jackson, Jeff Hornacek, Im begging you to give Porzingas the keys to this offense. If Phil Jackson ever decides he cares about this team it will probably happen.
