[外電] Auditing The Knicks 2007-08 Season
As has become customary, the Knicks were easily the worst in the NBA in blocked
shots and third worst in field goal percentage against.
Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas clashed early in the season, which fully
derailed any hopes for normalcy and competitiveness. Eddy Curry and Zach
Randolph were not a match, and the remainder of the roster proved to be
decidedly unspectacular.
Their per game FIC differential was -16.8, which was 29th in the NBA, and it
was a regression of -9.9 per game from the 06-07 season.
Nine of their 15 players were overpaid according to my objective Reina Value
metric.
The hiring of Mike D'Antoni will surely help, but if they are just going to
tinker with the roster to clear cap space while waiting for the possibility of
one of those 2003 draft class guys, it will be another frustrating run of
seasons.
Player: Overall Rank, Season FIC, Per 40 FIC, Reina Value
- David Lee: 49th, 904, 15.3, +960%
Lee was the highest ranked Knick in both season and per 40 FIC, but his 07-08
season can only be categorized as a step backwards to a firm step on his
plateau. In 06-07, he had a per 40 FIC of 17.6, which was 13th in the NBA
amongst those ranked in the top 100. This meant he was more productive in this
metric than players like Kobe, Dwight Howard, LeBron, Chris Paul; the list can
go on. In 07-08, it dropped down 2.3 points, which was due to significant drops
in his rebound rate and field goal percentage.
In nearly identical minutes, his rebounds and assists per 40 minutes of play
dropped substantially as did his field goal percentage (60.0% to 55.2%).
He remains the Knicks' most valuable commodity and a very good, hard-working
player who will do whatever it takes to adapt to D'Antoni, but projections have
to be tempered.
- Jamal Crawford: 57th, 855, 10.7, +20%
Crawford continues to be productive primarily when the team isn't expected to
win, and pressure is minimal. He is a great freelance player, and I've always
believed he would thrive in the triangle, but there are reservations of how he
will perform in a Phoenix style of offense. With his ability to beat people off
the dribble, he can be a pseudo-Barbosa, but he must be a more consistent
perimeter shooter (35.6% from three).
His 10.7 per 40 FIC follows a 9.7, 10.7, and 10.4 during his previous three
seasons in New York. The uptick was largely due to an increase in 3-point
accuracy and an improvement of his assist/turnover ratio from 1.6 to 2.1.
- Zach Randolph: 63rd, 826, 14.7, -32%
Randolph was virtually the same Randolph we became familiar with in Portland.
Good scorer, volume rebounder, bad defender.
Playing beside Curry was a disaster, but when playing beside Lee, he was
actually quite effective.
They will unquestionably attempt to trade Randolph, but finding a taker without
aversely affecting their future cap situation will be improbable. Holding onto
him at this point doesn't really hurt the club since he, at least, does have
talent and could prove useful depending on whom they walk away with from the
draft.
- Nate Robinson: 145th, 509, 10.8, +259%
The VSL MVP exits this season as one of the Knicks' only attractive commodities
beyond Lee. He shot just 33.2% from beyond the arc, which is a continued
decline from when he entered the league as a 39.7% 3-point shooter.
This club was unquestionably better when he was on the floor, and he exhibited
more maturity as he became less turnover prone.
- Fred Jones: 200th, 380, 8.6, -9%
Jones was the closest thing the Knicks had to an efficient 3-point shooter,
hitting 38.5% of his attempts, but his time in New York is likely over.
- Eddy Curry: 213th, 365, 9.5, -69%
Finally and unquestionably, Curry showed that he will never be the dominant
low-post center many qualified basketball minds expected him to become. I still
believe much of that is within him, but there are quite a few intangibles he is
missing.
The Knicks were almost always atrocious when he was on the floor especially
defensively. Playing Curry and Randolph together utterly killed them nearly
every single moment in which they were paired.
Whatever he delivers offensively is negated and then some with his amazingly
poor ability to shot block, defend, and rebound, which cannot be understated
and this is coming from someone who has been a defender of Curry and 'The Curry
Trade' for sometime now.
- Quentin Richardson: 217th, 357, 7.8, -67%
Richardson dropped from 11.8 per 40 FIC to just 7.8 this season; a four point
drop in one season is dramatic, and his inability to rebound as he did when he
averaged 7.2 per game in 06-07 season is the prime culprit of the fall.
- Renaldo Balkman: 249th, 243, 10.2, +64%
Balkman, who shot 43.2% from the floor, will never be the kind of shooter that
commands anything more than fringe rotation minutes. He is unquestionably an
impact player on the defensive side of the ball, but his spark plug abilities
would be better served on a team that had multiple high-quality scorers, like
Bowen has in San Antonio.
- Jared Jeffries: 253rd, 239, 7.2, -65%
I don't really like to knock Isiah for the two bad MLE signings, but Jeffries
and Jerome James have clearly been a waste of everyone's time and Dolan's
money. John Salmons and Jannero Pargo both would have been much better options
with the MLE cash that summer in which Isiah must have felt as if he was in a
'use it or lose it' situation.
- Stephon Marbury: 272nd, 199, 9.9, -91%
Marbury was the ninth highest ranked player in season FIC during his first full
season with the Knicks, but the 15.4 per 40 FIC dropped to 11.5 with Larry
Brown and 10.7/9.9 under Isiah Thomas. It is now laughable to call him a Hall
of Fame point guard, but he looked like he was when the Knicks acquired him
from Phoenix. The nose dive that he and Steve Francis have gone through is
really dumbfounding and not at all gradual.
He hasn't been able to adjust to the loss of his athleticism as climbing the
ladder to finish the way he used to is no longer a physical option.
Marbury can still shoot it (37.8% three during those ever so brief 24 games is
a career high,) and he also can handle the rock, but his effectiveness beyond
these two aspects of the game are severely limited.
The good news for 2008-09 is that Marbury's $20.8 million contract is an
expiring one.
- Wilson Chandler: 290th, 154, 9.0, +35%
Chandler had a nice finish to the season, scoring 12 points on 48.6% shooting
to go with 5.6 rebounds over eight games in April. There really is no reason to
give Richardson minutes that could just as easily be spent on seeing what they
have with Chandler.
- Mardy Collins: 329th, 98, 6.2, +0%
Collins shot just 32.6% from the floor and 25.0% from three and is on the quick
track to Europe as soon as his current contract is up. He was one of their
worst performers and is wholly inadequate at the point position and clearly
isn't a good enough shooter to be an off-guard.
- Malik Rose: 348th, 73, 5.9, -89%
Because he became a casualty of his own contract and the current era that
produces him, Rose has patiently been in this purgatory and missing out on two
additional rings and many weeks of playoff basketball in San Antonio.
He had several very good seasons with the Spurs, but he is hanging on by the
thread of the $7.65 million that remains on his contract for 08-09.
- Randolph Morris: 413th, 13, 2.8, -52%
The Knicks believed they were pulling off a steal when they signed Morris as a
free agent, but the big man shot just 36.2% from the floor and showed himself
to be a below average rebounder.
- Jerome James: 435th, 5, 41.6, -99%
James was actually incredibly outstanding during his five minutes of play in
07-08, making his only shot and going 2-for-2 from the line while grabbing
three rebounds. James literally made $1.16 million per minute played this
season.
How The Knicks Were Acquired
- Balkman, Chandler, Collins, Lee, and Robinson were acquired via draft
selections.
- Crawford (S&T), Curry (S&T), James, Jeffries, and Morris were free agent
acquisitions.
- Jones, Marbury, Randolph, Richardson, and Rose were acquired via trades.
- Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM and the creator of The
Reina Value which determines the value of players in relation to their contract.
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