we are around 40% of the way through the season. i don't know what szerbiack is talking about when he says the knicks are solid on defense. the knicks are pretty bad defensively, and here is a list of
defensive real plus minus for the main players, notably:
1) afflalo's defensive real plus/minus is ranked 77th among shooting guards at -2.32. this is just awful, even unacceptable. he is hurting the team in this regard. combined with his selfishness with the ball, and it's like having a shorter version of the "old Melo" out there, and in a prime position in the triangle offense too. overall rpm he is ranked 34th. not starting material on a winner.
2) calderon is ranked 42nd among point guards at -1.53, 27th overall in rpm. a starter on a bottom feeder.
3) galloway is ranked 31st among shooting guards at -.56, 21st overall. he could be a starter on the knicks.
3) carmelo's is ranked 37th among small forwards, at -.16, which is, relatively speaking, a welcome surprise. overall his rpm is 7th, so this season he's a starter on a winner.
4) lance thomas's, ranked 68th among sfs, is a surprisingly bad -1.59, but at least it's better than afflalo. he's ranked 42nd overall this season.
5) derrick williams, ranked 80th among pfs is also negative at -.23, which is not as bad as some might think, but still below average. ranked 47th in rpm among power forwards.
the team may be in need of a shake up. if i were derek fisher, i would consider benching afflalo and calderon and inserting lance thomas at the shooting guard and galloway at the point guard.... in the triangle offense, this is entirely doable. lance is a better playmaker than afflalo and a better defender, and galloway the better defender.
second unit would be a lot stronger with afflalo, calderon, oquinn, williams, and the triangle would not have to be run as much.
knicks win 38-43 games in 16-17. rose MUST shoot no more than 14 shots per game, defer to kp6 + melo, and have a usage rate of less than 25%
12/27/2015 11:54 PM