BRIGGS wrote:I don't really know what we are playing for as an 11th seed--but removing Shumpert and giving heavy minutes to THJ and J R Smith will make the team better.

nyk4ever wrote:

fishmike wrote:we need a healthy involved Shumpert. This guy has been so mishandled in every way from playing out of position to getting yanked around, the trade rumors, etc etc

Its a lot for a young man.

one of the many problems with shumpert (the biggest one if you ask me) is that he can't stay healthy. he's 23, he's had 2 major knee surgeries and now this latest knee injury. can he ever be counted on to be healthy?

MEMPHIS—Knicks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. has enjoyed a highlight-filled first half of the season. The first-year guard out of Michigan leads all NBA rookies in three-point percentage, and he electrified a national audience on Saturday with a 36-point outburst in the All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars Challenge. The performance solidified what most fans already knew about Hardaway: The 21-year-old can score in bunches and has nearly limitless range on his jump shot.

Now, with 30 games left in the regular season, the Knicks 2.5 games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff slot, and third-year guard Iman Shumpert failing to make a consistent impact on offense, has the time come for Hardaway to join the starting lineup?

The answer is no, although many fans would surely disagree. Hardaway has seemingly done more to space the court for Carmelo Anthony, since he has been more accurate from long-range than Shumpert this season. And there is no comparison when it comes to converting fast-break opportunities: Hardaway is scoring on a team-high 59% of his chances, while Shumpert has scored on just 38% of his.

Plus, Hardaway scores more easily than any other Knick guard. His 15.7 points per 36 minutes dwarf Shumpert’s 9.3 points per 36, and even outpace J.R. Smith’s 14.5.

But despite all that, giving Hardaway starting minutes would almost certainly hurt the team more that help it—at least right now. Simply put, there is no reason to shake up the team’s current starting lineup of Anthony, Shumpert, Raymond Felton, Pablo Prigioni and Tyson Chandler.

Even with Shumpert pressing badly on offense, the Knicks’ starting five has outscored opponents by 20.5 points per 100 possessions this season, the most in the NBA for any five-man lineup that’s played at least 100 minutes together. The Knicks run into problems when they break up the starting crew as the game progresses.

On the defensive end, Hardaway is a liability. Whatever offensive skills he flaunts, opposing shooting guards are outscoring him by 5.3 points per 48 minutes on the season. His problem is a general lack of court awareness and basic inexperience. In the Knicks’ overtime loss to Sacramento before the All-Star break, the Kings ran screens for Jimmer Fredette when Hardaway was guarding him, knowing Hardaway wouldn’t be able to get around the picks.

There’s data to prove it: According to Synergy Sports, Hardaway has run into the screener a whopping 46% of the time when defending pick-and-rolls. As such, the Knicks surrender 5.8 more points per 100 plays defensively with Hardaway on the court, per NBA.com.

Once an opponent’s shot is in the air, Hardaway isn’t even half the rebounder Shumpert is. At 6-foot-5, Shumpert is an inch shorter than Hardaway, but his 9.8% rebound rate (the percentage of missed shots he grabs while on the floor) is more than double Hardaway’s. In fact, Hardaway’s team-worst 4.1% rebound rate is the league’s lowest among players 6-foot-6 or taller, according to Basketball Reference.

All told, the Knicks grab 76.8% of opponent misses when Hardaway is on the bench, and 73.8% when he’s on the floor. If that doesn’t sound like much, it drops the Knicks from being the NBA’s third-best defensive-rebounding team to the 20th best.

So, defensively and on the boards, Hardaway isn’t helping the Knicks. What about offensively? Believe it or not, he’s not doing them much good there, either.

The Knicks average 105.1 points per 100 plays with Hardaway on the bench, up from 102 when he’s playing. And the team’s other three wing starters—Felton, Prigioni and Anthony—have shot worse when sharing the court with him. Felton’s and Prigioni’s shooting percentages fall by 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, while Anthony’s falls 5.8%. In fact, among all of Anthony’s 14 teammates, his shooting percentage falls most when he plays with Hardaway.

Some of that stems from Hardaway’s unwillingness to share the ball—only 10% of his passes put teammates in position to score, according to SportVU tracking technology. But with Hardaway sporting the best shooting percentage of any Knicks guard, it isn’t completely clear why Anthony and the Knicks’ offense have been worse with him on the court.

Whatever the case, until Hardaway learns how to contribute more than just his scoring, the Knicks should cut his minutes rather than increase them if they hope to make the playoffs.

yellowboy90 wrote:
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-457084/

MEMPHIS—Knicks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. has enjoyed a highlight-filled first half of the season. The first-year guard out of Michigan leads all NBA rookies in three-point percentage, and he electrified a national audience on Saturday with a 36-point outburst in the All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars Challenge. The performance solidified what most fans already knew about Hardaway: The 21-year-old can score in bunches and has nearly limitless range on his jump shot.

Now, with 30 games left in the regular season, the Knicks 2.5 games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff slot, and third-year guard Iman Shumpert failing to make a consistent impact on offense, has the time come for Hardaway to join the starting lineup?

The answer is no, although many fans would surely disagree. Hardaway has seemingly done more to space the court for Carmelo Anthony, since he has been more accurate from long-range than Shumpert this season. And there is no comparison when it comes to converting fast-break opportunities: Hardaway is scoring on a team-high 59% of his chances, while Shumpert has scored on just 38% of his.

Plus, Hardaway scores more easily than any other Knick guard. His 15.7 points per 36 minutes dwarf Shumpert’s 9.3 points per 36, and even outpace J.R. Smith’s 14.5.

But despite all that, giving Hardaway starting minutes would almost certainly hurt the team more that help it—at least right now. Simply put, there is no reason to shake up the team’s current starting lineup of Anthony, Shumpert, Raymond Felton, Pablo Prigioni and Tyson Chandler.

Even with Shumpert pressing badly on offense, the Knicks’ starting five has outscored opponents by 20.5 points per 100 possessions this season, the most in the NBA for any five-man lineup that’s played at least 100 minutes together. The Knicks run into problems when they break up the starting crew as the game progresses.

On the defensive end, Hardaway is a liability. Whatever offensive skills he flaunts, opposing shooting guards are outscoring him by 5.3 points per 48 minutes on the season. His problem is a general lack of court awareness and basic inexperience. In the Knicks’ overtime loss to Sacramento before the All-Star break, the Kings ran screens for Jimmer Fredette when Hardaway was guarding him, knowing Hardaway wouldn’t be able to get around the picks.

There’s data to prove it: According to Synergy Sports, Hardaway has run into the screener a whopping 46% of the time when defending pick-and-rolls. As such, the Knicks surrender 5.8 more points per 100 plays defensively with Hardaway on the court, per NBA.com.

Once an opponent’s shot is in the air, Hardaway isn’t even half the rebounder Shumpert is. At 6-foot-5, Shumpert is an inch shorter than Hardaway, but his 9.8% rebound rate (the percentage of missed shots he grabs while on the floor) is more than double Hardaway’s. In fact, Hardaway’s team-worst 4.1% rebound rate is the league’s lowest among players 6-foot-6 or taller, according to Basketball Reference.

All told, the Knicks grab 76.8% of opponent misses when Hardaway is on the bench, and 73.8% when he’s on the floor. If that doesn’t sound like much, it drops the Knicks from being the NBA’s third-best defensive-rebounding team to the 20th best.

So, defensively and on the boards, Hardaway isn’t helping the Knicks. What about offensively? Believe it or not, he’s not doing them much good there, either.

The Knicks average 105.1 points per 100 plays with Hardaway on the bench, up from 102 when he’s playing. And the team’s other three wing starters—Felton, Prigioni and Anthony—have shot worse when sharing the court with him. Felton’s and Prigioni’s shooting percentages fall by 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively, while Anthony’s falls 5.8%. In fact, among all of Anthony’s 14 teammates, his shooting percentage falls most when he plays with Hardaway.

Some of that stems from Hardaway’s unwillingness to share the ball—only 10% of his passes put teammates in position to score, according to SportVU tracking technology. But with Hardaway sporting the best shooting percentage of any Knicks guard, it isn’t completely clear why Anthony and the Knicks’ offense have been worse with him on the court.

Whatever the case, until Hardaway learns how to contribute more than just his scoring, the Knicks should cut his minutes rather than increase them if they hope to make the playoffs.

Good find. We really have no good options in the backcourt.

sealy wrote:We should better if we hire a real coach for next season.

one that does not have to start Prigs!