New York Knicks: The Case For Starting Tim Hardaway Jr. At SG
The New York Knicks have three capable shooting guards in J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. Which one is most deserving of being in the starting lineup when New York takes on the Chicago Bulls on opening night?
The 29-year-old Smith is a proven scorer entering his fourth season with the Knicks. While he’s easily the most accomplished player in the bunch, Smith may also be the one best suited for a sixth-man role.
A streaky shooter who can carry an offense for brief periods of time, Smith had his most prolific season in 2012-13, when he averaged 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists while playing 33.5 minutes a night. Smith didn’t start a single game that season.
Shumpert is the incumbent at the position, having started 58 games for New York a year ago, as well as each of the club’s last four exhibition contests. Defensively he’s easily the best option of the three, to the point that The Wall Street Journal‘s Chris Herring even claims Shumpert is the most important player the Knicks have:
"Yet there’s no denying that Shumpert’s defense, while clearly overaggressive at times, was generally light years better than that of his teammates last season. And from a statistical standpoint, Shumpert’s role with the defensively challenged Knicks was comparable to the Dutch boy holding his finger in the leaky dike."
However, it’s also possible that defense shouldn’t be the primary concern for New York at shooting guard.
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Last season the Knicks surrendered 99.4 points per game, good for eighth-best in the NBA. But they only scored 98.6 points on average themselves, ranking them No. 20 of 30 teams in the league. Entering 2014-15, New York may have even greater scoring struggles as they adjust to implementing
Phil Jackson‘s triangle offense.
New starting center Samuel Dalembert is as offensively challenged as any player in the NBA, and he’s coming of a season in which he scored just 6.6 points per game. The power forward situation still remains unclear, and point guard Jose Calderon will need somebody in addition to Carmelo Anthony to get the ball to–which is where Hardaway Jr. comes in.
Chosen 24th overall in the 2013 draft, Hardaway Jr. had a very impressive rookie season in which he averaged 10.2 points in 23.1 minutes per game. The 22-year-old appears capable of taking on a bigger role this year. Via Peter Botte of the Daily News, Anthony recently said the following about his young teammate:
"I see a lot of confidence in Tim, knowing how good a player he could be. I think he believes that now, he believes in himself a lot more now and it’s only going to grow. I need Tim’s confidence to be sky high."
Granted it is a small sample, but through five games Hardaway Jr. is the second leading scorer (behind Anthony) on the Knicks this preseason, averaging 14.2 points over 21.7 minutes per game. Hardaway Jr. is also shooting 46% from the floor and 45% from beyond the arc, while connecting on a team-leading 1.8 3-pointers per contest.
If the Knicks were a serious contender this season, the veteran Smith or the defensively minded Shumpert might be the best option at shooting guard. But considereing they are a rebuilding franchise likely to battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, what do they have to lose by giving the up-and-coming Hardaway Jr. a chance to prove himself?