It’s 15 days away from the trade deadline, and what has been a foregone conclusion all season will hopefully be happening soon. Some terrible NY rapper will have his opportunity to remix Wiz Khalifa and make a “S.T.A.T. and Melo” song (see what I did there?) Melo wants New York, New York wants Melo, we’ve established he wants out, now we’re just bargaining on the price. But at what point does the price become too steep?
The deal supposedly on the table sends Carmelo to the Knicks in exchange for Wilson Chandler, a Timberwolves first round pick, and Corey Brewer. Anthony Randolph would go to the Timberwolves, along with Eddy Curry’s expiring contract. I think in everybody’s mind, this is a steal. Anthony Randolph looks like a kid whose dog got hit by a car at the end of the bench every game. Chandler is a nice piece, but everything he does well, Melo does better (except defend, but that can be replaced with a defensive specialist this summer-Tony Allen?) And the idea of getting rid of the guy who shows to every camp overweight by more than I way total has to be cathartic to every Knick fan.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it will go this way. Denver has been less than enamored with Chandler since the Knicks floated his name in Melo talks this summer. His very recent complaints about his ankle raise the red flag of an injury risk. He’s had three surgeries in three years, and I don’t believe that’s the only issue.
Chandler has a bad relationship with his outside shot, he can’t get away from it, and his December only exacerbated the issue. In December, Chandler caught fire and shot 43% from three, which was great in the short term because he became the 2nd scoring option we needed when Felton had off nights. But for his career, Wil is a 28% 3 point shooter, and the farther away December gets, the more his good shooting seems like an aberration. January showed a HUGE drop off, where he shot a terrible 29%. I don’t think he’s that bad, but I think that’s closer to what to expect of him than December. The most maddening part about him as a player is that he doesn’t need to shoot outside nearly as much as he does.
Anyone who’s watched a Knicks game in the past 3 years can tell you Chandler is good for at least one spectacularly athletic finish around the hoop per game. He has a deft touch on floaters and layups inside of 10 feet, and he’s an 80% free throw shooter, and yet in the 28 games he’s played from December until now, there were 10 games in which he didn’t even take a free throw. He’s depriving himself of possibly the most effective part of his game. If he’s not picking up on that in his third year in the league (whether it’s his own decision or that of the coaching staff), there’s a chance that he may not fit in this system. Combined with his injury risk, I’m fine with letting him go.
Another subject entirely is Landry Fields. With the deal as it is, if I had the choice of including Fields in the deal or rolling the dice and waiting until the summer, I would definitely opt for the latter. Fields’ closest NBA comparison in my mind is Shane Battier: the quintessential glue guy who you can be confident will not make mistakes when he’s on the floor. He was supposedly not a great 3 point shooter coming out of college, but he’s shooting 39% this year. He was not a great college foul shooter, but he shot 91% from the line last month.
Championship teams need a guy like Landry Fields. The Lakers had Ron Artest, and previously Trevor Ariza. The Celtics had James Posey and Tony Allen. You can’t underestimate the benefits of letting the guys like Amar’e, Gallo, and Felton focus on scoring and leading the team on offense, and Fields will take a load of their shoulders on the other end while being minimally invasive when they run the offense.
Fields provides everything that Melo does not, and is continuing to get better in almost every statistical category as the season goes on while Chandler is tapering off. Chandler is still neglecting the best part of his game in year 3. Fields knows his limitations in terms of what he can and cannot do, and he figured it out in less than a year. And as Spike Lee said in a recent interview, and as Fields' stats show, it's apparent that he's done work on some of his less refined areas (shooting), which is encouraging work ethic from a rookie. People need to stop thinking of Fields as a great steal, it's the wrong moniker and somewhat demeaning to the player he's become. He's a good player, and although he has some athletic limitations, I believe he can definitely surpass all of the players that I previously compared him to in terms of on court impact.
**UPDATE**:
Apparently the Knicks are talking about taking on Chauncey Billups and sending Raymond Felton to Denver. I’d like to dignify this thought with no more than an “Oh please god no”, but to expound on that point, Billups is a temporary solution to a long term problem. He may have better shooting numbers than Felton, although I think the difference at the line is negligible, but he’s a full 8 years older. Billups, in his prime, played in the textbook definition of a half court offense in Detroit, and he was very good at what he did. Although in those days he was known for his defense, that has seemingly gone the same way as Jason Kidd’s formerly revered skills. It’s no fault of his own, but he’s a step slower, and putting him on the floor instead of Felton would make the starting unit even weaker on defense.
Felton’s recent struggles don’t mean that he’s not the point guard who carried the Knicks for certain games during the first quarter of the season, it means the guy is tired. D’Antoni needs to give Toney Douglas a realistic shot to prove that he can run this offense, by playing him on the floor by himself, instead of with Felton as his drivers ed teacher at the other guard spot. If he can do it, the Knicks have a very solid back up PG who has been tenacious on defense since his days in college. If not, there are plenty teams who would be willing to play Let’s Make a Deal with Donnie Walsh for TD’s services.
Trading Felton, who was a big reason why we’ve been so successful, for an aging Billups will do nothing to alleviate the Knicks guard problems. There will still be no reliable backup, and the new starter will be an older, less athletic version of the incumbent, not to mention a downgrade on defense at this point in his career. So to conclude, please James Dolan, put the gun that you’re jamming into Donnie Walsh’s back down and trust his judgment on the long term interest of this team.
No comments:
Post a Comment