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New York Knicks: A Potential Obituary For The Jose Calderon Era

By Owen Sanborn

Feb 1, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks guard Jose Calderon (3) dribbles the ball around Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (17) during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won 92-70. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 1, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks guard Jose Calderon (3) dribbles the ball around Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (17) during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won 92-70. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jose Calderon —  and all of his Spanish goodness — was supposed to be a solid get for the New York Knicks this offseason.

The cost of acquiring his services was Tyson Chandler, an elite rim protector, pick and roll kamikaze extraordinaire and a much renowned glue guy. (Imagine what Chandler would have hauled at this year’s trade deadline in a world where Timofey Mozgov is swapped for two first-round picks??)

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In comparison to Chandler this season, Calderon has been a disappointment. He has struggled with different injury issues, most recently involving his Achilles, and has had a difficult time adjusting to the triangle offense.

Despite his topsy-turvy season in New York, Calderon’s professionalism has never wavered. Playing for a team destined to have a draft pick within the top five and is clearing

tanking

rebuilding cannot be the easiest thing for a player of his age.

Even when he has been given the perfect excuse to shut it all down (his sore Achilles) he is still adamant on being out on the floor with his teammates.

Calderon talked about what it means to be on the floor with his Knicks to the NY Daily News:

“If there is nothing, they tell me there is nothing that can go wrong, I want to play and be with my team for the rest of the season … I want to be, because when you go through the bad part of this rebuilding process you want to be part in the good part, too. I think the good part is coming.”

In today’s NBA where so many players are so focused on elongating their careers as much as possible, Calderon’s comments are refreshing. Sure, he is playing on a team that is in another stratosphere in terms of the playoff race and his Achilles MAY be a bit sore. But who cares, he says. I want to be on the floor with my teammates.

Carmelo Anthony‘s absence makes Calderon the quasi-captain of the team now, a role he obviously takes with much pride.

An obituary for Calderon’s tenure with the Knicks at this point in time I will admit may be jumping the gun a bit. After all, he does still have two years left on his contract. But it is not a secret that he was available at the trade deadline and will most likely be dangled again once summer rolls around.

Thirty-three-year-old point guards with aching Achilles tendons do not make sense for a Knicks team that is in desperate need of some athleticism at that position to compete with the rest of the league. For all of Calderon’s savvy and moxie (buzzwords for veteran white point guards), he is incapable of keeping up with John Wall and Kyrie Irving.

Bless his heart, but the man has no chance.

Calderon’s Knicks tenure (again we assume it is going to end soon because this is a potential obituary) will be remembered as a lousy mess. That guy cost us Chandler is what most Knicks fan will say. And that’s OK because it’s true. But remember this, Calderon WANTS to be out on the floor with this sorry cast of characters right now because he is a professional.

And in a world of tanking, shutting down and players resting for preservation, he should be more celebrated.

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