Let’s Compare This Years Knicks To Last Years Team And Have A Laugh
When we compare and contrast the 2014-15 and 2015-16 New York Knicks, one thing is clear — there’s finally some reason for optimism in the Big Apple.
The New York Knicks 2014-2015 campaign was a complete and utter embarrassment.
Carmelo Anthony failed to play in the second half of the season due to a knee injury, the starting lineup often was led by stars such as Alexey Shved and Andrea Bargnani, the lone bright spot was a D-Leaguer named Langston Galloway, and it all culminated in a 17-win season — the worst in New York Knicks franchise history.
But the past is the past and the Knicks entered this season with a renewed sense of hope around the franchise. Kristaps Porzingis was the fourth overall selection in the 2015 Draft and seemed like a pretty splendid fellow, Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo were signed to add a veteran presence, and Carmelo Anthony appeared to be completely healthy.
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Through 15 games, that sense of hope has only strengthened in New York.
Anthony has been a revelation and is playing the best team basketball of his career, RoLo and Afflalo appear to be adding plenty of pop defensively and offensively, and of course there is the man-beast known as Kristaps.
But what exactly is so improved? And how so?
For one, the Knicks are actually scoring the basketball. What a concept!
Last year’s unit was dead last in scoring, averaging only 91.9 PPG. Their leading scorers without Carmelo Anthony? The dynamic duo of Andrea Bargnani and Alexey Shved, both of which put up 14.8 points a night.
This year’s team is already 23rd in the NBA, not reason to celebrate, but still vastly improved. With a healthy Melo, the team is still seeing double-digits from Langston Galloway (10.1 PPG), Arron Afflalo (12.4 PPG), and Kristaps Porzingis (13.7 PPG).
The Knicks may be shooting the ball worse than last season (42.8 percent last season, 41.5 this year), but their willingness to shoot the three ball has helped mask that. They’re chucking up about three more shots per game from behind the arc, resulting in 7.7 makes per game, up from last years 6.8.
Not surprisingly, the basic concept of having scorers that can also play some defense has improved the Knicks previously-porous 23rd ranked defense all the way up to eighth in the league.
Much of that can be attributed to Porzingis and Robin Lopez.
While Lopez is off to a bit of a slow start, he boasts a +/- of +1.6 while on the court compared to -1.7 when off. He may not be the defensive stopper the Knicks have paid him to be, but he is at the very least a legitimate help to the still young defense.
Porzingis has gained much of his notoriety through his shockingly advanced offensive skill set, but his defense has been plenty exciting too. Teams are shooting just 41.4 percent when the Zinger is on the court. When he’s off? 43.2.
The two have also made New York into one of the better rebounding teams in the league. Last year, the Knicks were the second worst in the league at crashing the boards, averaging only 40.4 a game. This year, they’re up to 10th in the league, as KP and RoLo have pushed the team’s average number of boards up to 45.3.
At the end of the day though, there is only one statistic that truly measure how improved the Knicks are, and that would be wins.
New York is 8-7 on November 24, 2015. When did they snag their eighth victory of the season last year? January 23.
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There’s still a long way to go until the Knicks are truly relevant and in the championship conversation, but with seemingly all of Phil Jackson‘s offseason moves working out for the better thus far, there’s no reason not to be optimistic about the NBA’s most improved team.
All Statistics Courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com/stats