The New York Knicks have announced the last pieces that will be part of their 2014-15 coaching staff. Said additions include Joshua Longstaff, Rasheed Hazaard, Brian Keefe, and Jim Cleamons.
Jim Cleamons has worked with president of basketball operations Phil Jackson and won five NBA titles as a member of Jackson’s staff with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, further reinforcing the team’s commitment to the triangle offense.
However, as much as the team commits to the triangle offense, their success won’t lie within their coaching staff since this is not the NCAA. Triangle’s success will lie in the team’s ability to anchor and make it work.
More importantly, success comes from a well-balanced team including an unselfish and above average point-guard.
The Bulls had John Paxson and Steve Kerr (even though almost all the offense ran through Michael Jordan). The Lakers had Derek Fisher. The New York Knicks have Jose Calderon and Pablo Prigioni.
So, working under the same premise as we did here of movement being key for the triangle’s success, let’s look at how Calderon and Prigioni match up against Paxson, Kerr, and Fisher.
| Rk | Player | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | FT | FTA | FT% | AST | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Calderon | 3.9 | 8.2 | .479 | 1.1 | 2.7 | .411 | 2.8 | 5.5 | .512 | 1.3 | 1.5 | .874 | 6.8 | 1.7 | 10.2 |
| 2 | Derek Fisher | 2.9 | 7.2 | .399 | 1.0 | 2.6 | .374 | 1.9 | 4.7 | .413 | 1.6 | 1.9 | .817 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 8.3 |
| 3 | Steve Kerr | 2.2 | 4.7 | .479 | 0.8 | 1.8 | .454 | 1.4 | 2.9 | .494 | 0.7 | 0.8 | .864 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 6.0 |
| 4 | John Paxson | 3.1 | 6.2 | .499 | 0.4 | 1.0 | .355 | 2.8 | 5.2 | .527 | 0.6 | 0.8 | .804 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 7.2 |
| 5 | Pablo Prigioni | 1.3 | 2.9 | .457 | 0.8 | 1.9 | .431 | 0.5 | 1.0 | .511 | 0.2 | 0.3 | .892 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 3.7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/3/2014.
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As a 6.8 assists per game player, Jose Calderon leads:
- Derek Fisher by 3.8 assists per game.
- Steve Kerr by 5 assists per game.
- John Paxson by 3.2 assists per game.
- Pablo Prigioni by 3.6 assists per game.
Calderon is way ahead of his triangle peers in this one as he almost doubles all of them in the previous category. (Who would’ve thought Steve Kerr is a 1.8 assist per game player. Sheesh.)
Last time we talked about the Knicks we evaluated Carmelo’s chances on leading this new offense by measuring his ball-movement capabilities and effectiveness at shooting the ball. Today, we’re going to do the same thing with Prigioni and Calderon but, because of them being point-guards, instead of apraising their shot we’ll be looking at their ball-moving skills.
Career Assist Percentage:
| Rk | Player | G | MP | AST% | USG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Calderon | 634 | 18264 | 37.3 | 16.8 |
| 2 | Derek Fisher | 1287 | 32719 | 17.4 | 16.2 |
| 3 | Steve Kerr | 910 | 16207 | 15.0 | 14.0 |
| 4 | John Paxson | 772 | 17257 | 21.3 | 14.0 |
| 5 | Pablo Prigioni | 144 | 2546 | 26.5 | 10.5 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2014.
Calderon, at 37.3 percent, has an overwhelming advantage over his peers. By averaging a career 29.3 minutes per game (61 percent of the game), in a perfect world where total game points are scored consistently throughout the 48 minutes, Calderon is assisting in 37.3 percent of the points scored during said period of time.
Let’s put that into perspective:
| Rk | Player | G | MP | AST% | USG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Calderon | 634 | 18264 | 37.3 | 16.8 |
| 2 | Goran Dragic | 424 | 10405 | 29.4 | 22.3 |
| 3 | Kyrie Irving | 181 | 6102 | 33.2 | 29.0 |
| 4 | Tony Parker | 940 | 30685 | 33.0 | 25.8 |
| 5 | Chris Paul | 617 | 22448 | 46.5 | 23.7 |
| 6 | Russell Westbrook | 440 | 14932 | 36.1 | 30.1 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2014.
Calderon trails only point-god Chris Paul in assists percentage. Nevertheless, he trails everyone but Dragic on minutes per game so his high assist percentage takes a huge hit.
Nevertheless, he has the lowest Usage Percentage (percentage of a team’s possessions that a player shot/got fouled/turned the ball over) out of the six at 16.8%. This means he’s a pass-first point-guard, a great thing when Carmelo Anthony is on your team.
As an older NBA player Calderon’s minutes per game are expected to be lower than the ones on younger players like Paul, Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook. Despite that, Calderon should still be considered a key piece in New York’s triangle offense. At 6.8 assists per game he’s bound to find shooters at will and, once the ball gets there, it will be their duty to do their best to put points on the board.