Knicks Drop Third Straight, Is It Time To Make Rotation Changes?

It’s been an up and down season thus far for the New York Knicks, but a three straight losses, the most recent coming Wednesday night to the Utah Jazz, has many questioning whether it’s time for head coach Derek Fisher to make rotation changes.

There’s little debate that Wednesday night was an embarrassment for the New York Knicks and their fans.

The team scored just 11 points in the first quarter, went into halftime down by 25, and eventually lost 106-85 at the hands of the Utah Jazz.

It would be easy to chalk the loss up to being “one of those nights” where the shots aren’t falling and the entire team is out of sync. But after three consecutive losses where the Knicks were never competitive, it may be time for Derek Fisher to shake up his lineups.

In some ways, Fisher has already begun to play around with the Knicks rotation. Previously a team that would routinely empty the entire bench and play all 13 roster members, New York has played all of their options just once over the past four games. Fisher has slowly moved Lou Amundson, Kyle O’Quinn, and Sasha Vujacic into reserve roles while giving increased minutes to Kevin Seraphin and Lance Thomas off the bench.

But with the Knicks sliding in the surprisingly competitive Eastern Conference, Fisher may have to tinker even more if he wants his team to be contending for a playoff spot come spring time.

Perhaps the Knicks biggest question in regards to their rotation is how to handle a quietly stacked backcourt.

The starting tandem of Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo have been extremely efficient for the Knicks since Afflalo returned from a preseason hamstring injury, and a turnover differential of plus-7.0 per 100 possessions makes it difficult to see either man pulled out of the starting lineup.

With that being said, the duo of Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant have already been crowned as the future at the Knicks guard positions. Despite Galloway, who’s in his second season, and Grant, a rookie, having some struggles as of late, the duo still holds the third highest point differential of any Knicks duo, sitting at plus-2.8 per 100 possessions.

So what exactly should Fisher do here? Does he pull the trigger on letting the young bucks get more experience, or stick with the veterans?

Personally, I’d love to see a mixture of the two. Having a starting backcourt of Galloway and Afflalo gives the Knicks a bit more pop, hopefully allowing for fellow starters Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony to get easy transition buckets. It’s been a goal of coach Fisher’s all season to get the Knicks out and running, with Galloway often leading the charge off of defensive rebounds.

Of course, the move would also allow for Jose Calderon to move to the bench alongside Jerian Grant. Grant has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his rookie campaign and still projects as a future starter, but also could use a veteran presence to play alongside. Plus, it gives the bench a more steady shooting presence in the form of Calderon, who has shot 48 percent from the field and 41 percent from deep, a welcome presence compared to Galloway’s recent struggles (9-for-46 over his last six games).

Another key issue for the Knicks has been the play of superstar Carmelo Anthony. While Melo has become a more willing leader this season, he has struggled over the first quarter of the season. With a career-low 40 percent shooting mark from the field and just 21.0 PPG –Anthony’s lowest since his second season in the league — many have called for Melo to have some minutes cut, despite him already playing the lowest amount of minutes per game in his career at just 33.7.

While watching Anthony play has certainly been frustrating at points, I’ve actually liked how Fisher has handled his star player. In reality, there isn’t much tweaking coach Fisher can do here, as Melo’s jumper has simply ran cold so far this season.

Anthony’s favorite place to shoot, the mid-range, has been a struggle thus far, as the Knicks star sits at just 40 percent on the in-between game. That number is down three percent from last year’s injury-riddled season and four percent from 2013-2014.

It might be difficult to do, but right now the Knicks must continue riding Anthony and just hope that he figures out his shot. Melo is amongst the games best scorers of all time and has earned the right to have a shooting slump. If anything, New York should just remember how much they’re paying Melo and that should be enough to maintain his current minutes through the end of the year so long as the slump doesn’t significantly worsen.

Finally, we get to the Knicks frontcourt options.

Kristaps Porzingis and Robin Lopez have earned their stay as starters thus far. In fact, they’ve arguably been the Knicks best overall duo, boasting a defensive rebound differential of plus-5.9 and a scorching hot block differential of plus-3.1, good for second-highest on the team behind only Jose Calderon and Lopez (we can only assume Calderon and Lopez are number one because Calderon gets blown by so often).

The bench, however, has a much more muddled picture. Over the last few weeks, coach Fisher has decided to essentially give the second unit’s frontcourt duties almost exclusively to Kevin Seraphin, Derrick Williams and Lance Thomas.

Thomas has quietly been putting together an excellent season in New York, shooting 44 percent from the field and becoming a genuine offensive threat off the bench. Williams, meanwhile, has shown flashes of excellence offensively (remember opening night when he casually dropped 24?), but continues to struggle on the defensive side, with opponents shooting an eFG% that’s nearly 20 percent higher with the former top pick on the court. Finally, there’s Seraphin, who much like Thomas has been a revelation for the Knicks. He might not be the flashiest player, but Seraphin’s willingness to post up gives New York a steady presence in the paint off the bench, an increasingly rare commodity in today’s NBA.

While I like the athleticism that Williams gives to the Knicks wing and power forward positions off the bench, he has struggled to be efficient and hasn’t put up double-digit points since Nov. 6. His defensive ability, or lack thereof, is a genuine setback to a team already not particularly great on that side of the ball.

Instead, I’d like to see Fisher get Kyle O’Quinn back into the rotation on a somewhat consistent basis. O’Quinn struggled a bit earlier in the season, but his defensive tenacity and effort on the boards could help give the Knicks a second unit front court that rivals the starters dominance.

At the very least, we’ll get to see that magnificently groomed beard a bit more. Man, that thing is beautiful.

It’s still a long season and we’re only one-fourth of the way done with it, but that doesn’t mean that Derek Fisher can sit around and wait for the Knicks rotation to figure itself out. Tinkering a bit in the back and frontcourts while maintaining confidence in Carmelo Anthony may just be the secret to pushing New York back into the playoffs come Spring time.

All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and ShotAnalytics.com