New York Knicks Rumors: Wait, See On Brandon Jennings

Before Phil Jackson makes any moves on Brandon Jennings, he must first wait and see if Jennings can still return to form after suffering a torn Achilles last season.

To put it simply, the New York Knicks need a guard that can get himself to the rim and penetrate a defense.

The Knicks already have a superstar on the wing that has shown signs of becoming a capable two-way player in Carmelo Anthony, a couple of bigs willing to both play defense and stretch the floor in Kristaps Porzingis and Robin Lopez, and also a nice youth presence the team can grow off of in Kristaps, Jerian Grant, and Langston Galloway.

However, the backcourt has been a constant source of frustration among fans this season, mainly because the players in it have not been consistent.

Point guard Jose Calderon has recovered from a bumpy start and is bordering respectable from the mid-range and out, shooting 45 percent from beyond 10 feet.

Arron Afflalo, meanwhile, has started opposite Calderon at the shooting guard position and has given the Knicks a steady scoring option behind star Carmelo Anthony, dropping 38 points in his last performance on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.

Even the Knicks backcourt options off the bench have been solid, with Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant showing that they can be the guards of the future in New York.

Galloway has gone 40.8 percent from behind the arc, but has struggled after an early season hot streak, while Grant has had his minutes tinkered with by coach Derek Fisher, but gives the Knicks the athletic guard they haven’t had for years now.

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But this is the NBA, baybay! Solid every so often doesn’t cut it and Phil Jackson and company know it. Calderon and Afflalo have both been great for what they are, but neither gives the Knicks the ability to penetrate a defense from the outside and either finish at the rim or dish to the outside.

While Galloway and Grant may have the athleticism to get past a defender, they haven’t yet shown the consistency to warrant a legitimate minutes boost or even more drastic, a push into the starting lineup.

The Knicks inability to penetrate has had them searching both the free-agency pool and the trade market in hopes of finding someone capable of filling the role, according to ESPN’s Ian Begley.

Tony Wroten is supposedly on the team’s radar and, with 10-day contracts becoming eligible onable to be offered beginning Tuesday, could be in a Knicks jersey soon. Wroten has shown the ability to get himself to the rim as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers last season and for a few games this year, putting up 37 shots at the rim in only eight games played.

The Knicks duo of Calderon and Afflalo, who have played in 35 and 27 games respectively, have shot only 59 field goals at the basket.

But then again, Wroten has played almost all of his career for the 76ers, a team jam-packed with players that in all reality, do not belong in the NBA. It’s a system designed for average or below average players to run around and put up big numbers, making it difficult for scouts to see who on the team is a genuine threat.

It seems as if the most likely asset the Knicks can acquire is Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings.

Jennings returned last month after tearing his Achilles tendon last season and has played in four games since, with coach Stan Van Gundy only playing the 26-year-old 19 minutes a game.

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Jennings, formerly known for his athleticism and scoring ability, has struggled out of the gates. He’s gone 6-for-18 from the field and only 2-for-10 from behind the arc, but has shown flashes of his old self — getting to the rim, going 3-for-6 at the basket coming into Monday nights matchup.

And speaking of those flashes, almost all of Monday nights game was one for Jennings, who dropped 17 points in just 18 minutes of play and shooting 5-for-9 from the field.

A torn Achilles is as brutal an injury as there is in today’s NBA, especially to a player so predicated on his speed and ability to create. Regardless of modern medicine and its advances, Jennings may never have the same pop he once did and then it will become a question of if he can adjust his game.

Will he still be able to create his own shot? How will he get past defenders now? Can a guy who has taken a majority of his shots within the 3-point line adjust?

Those are all fair questions for Jennings as he reaches this new stage of his career, but perhaps the most important for Phil Jackson are A) What can he bring to New York, and B) What would New York have to give away to get him.

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To answer the first half of that question is tremendously difficult. Jennings is just five games into a much longer journey. It will likely take weeks for Jennings to shake any rust off and then we’ll be able to see what his athleticism post-surgery will be like. He could revert to his old, high-scoring self or he could be forced to settle back and become more of an outside threat, something the Knicks don’t necessarily need right now.

Of course, many fans are still sour after the Carmelo Anthony trade, where owner James Dolan forced the GM to blow up the solid team he had built around Amar’e Stoudemire to acquire Anthony from the Denver Nuggets, not to mention the Andrea Bargnani trade that sent fan-favorite Steve Novak and a couple of first rounders to the Toronto Raptors.

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Phil Jackson seems weary of making those same mistakes and it’s part of why the Knicks haven’t been seen as huge trade possibilities for big stars like Dwight Howard. Because of that, New York seems unwilling to move on any deal that they deem less-than-fair.

The Knicks have a relatively deep bench, especially in the frontcourt. Guys like Kevin Seraphin and Kyle O’Quinn would likely gain interest from Detroit as potential backups to Andre Drummond, with future draft picks also maybe being added in.

The problem is that right now, the Knicks really don’t know the value of Brandon Jennings, making it extremely difficult to answer either of their biggest questions. Sure, he had a big game Monday, but can he consistently score like that with defenders keying on him?

It is because of that the team absolutely must exercise caution and wait before making any type of move.

Jackson and Steve Mills have both hinted at being willing to take the longer road to rebuilding opposed to the quick fix, meaning that you don’t want to give up any future assets for an unknown.

With the trade deadline still over a month away, the Knicks can wait it out, see if Jennings can shake the rust off, then make a move. In the meantime, the team can focus on signing 10-day deals with D-League standouts like Jimmer Fredette (who Jackson is apparently a fan of) or Toure’ Murry, while also looking into Tony Wroten.

Patience in the Knicks front office, imagine that.

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Knicks Must Wait And See On Brandon Jennings

By Sean Linhares | Jan 5, 2016

Before Phil Jackson makes any moves on Brandon Jennings, he must first wait and see if Jennings can still return to form after suffering a torn Achilles last season.

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