New York Knicks: The Case For Ricky Ledo?

The New York Knicks signed guard Ricky Ledo for the remainder of the season on April 8, following his signing of two 10-day contracts beginning on March 19. This move maintained the second half trend of the New York Knicks who also signed Langston Galloway, Lance Thomas, and Louis Amundson in the same manner.

While Galloway has already signed on for next season, Lance Thomas has been praised by Derek Fisher, and Amundson is not expected back, the fate of Ricky Ledo is still up in the air. Or is it?

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Ledo, a 6-foot-7, 22-year-old guard, has gotten his first real taste of playing time since joining the Knicks in late March. Despite being a second-year player, Ledo played in just 11 games as a rookie (3.0 minutes per game) and five games this season (2.2 minutes per game) with the Dallas Mavericks prior to being waived on Feb. 18 to make room for the signing of Amar’e Stoudemire.

Additionally, Ledo never played a game for Providence College, due to academic ineligibility, during his one year in college prior to being selected in the second round of the 2o13 NBA Draft. Apart from numerous D-League stints, the former McDonald’s All-American has had little opportunity to showcase his talents prior to his Knicks stint.

Unfortunately, his Knicks tenure has barely justified his lack of playing time.

Ledo played in 11 of 14 games since joining the Knicks, averaging 7.6 ppg in 19.5 mpg. The most telling stats for Ledo are his 2.0 turnovers per game and .361 shooting from the field. Although Ledo is a strong ball handler, he has been careless with the ball while rarely creating shots for others (only 1.5 assists per game and never more then 4).

Despite mediocre numbers across the board and the fact that Ledo plays double the amount of minutes in Knicks losses vs wins, the young guard has still shown a flash or two on the way to a positive net rating in April (5.7).

On Friday April 3rd, Ledo scored 21 points on 6-13 shooting (including 2-4 from deep) with 9 rebounds and 7-8 from the free throw line in a blowout loss to the Wizards. This was career high in minutes played (32), points scored, rebounds, and free throws made/attempted.

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Overall, the biggest strength in Ledo’s game has been his 3-point shooting. His Knicks 3P% sits at .391 and his career mark is a respectable .375.

The shooting ability of Ledo is why the Knicks should keep him around … in the D-League. Obviously, Ledo’s overall play leaves a lot to be desired in terms of becoming a dependable player but he has two legitimate strengths in ball handling and 3-point shooting.

While Ledo still needs to improve upon his two weaknesses: overall efficiency and decision making, the Knicks would be wise to invite him to their 2015 Summer League team and feel out his performance. If they like what they see, they should sign him to the Westchester Knicks and see if he can develop further.

Young talent can be difficult to come by and when a guy like Mark Cuban thinks your’e a talented player, it would be wise to not at least give it a little more time in a low risk scenario like the D-League.

This is not to say that Ricky Ledo will become a future rotational player but rather that the team has little to lose by giving the 22 year old more looks in the Summer League and D-League. Alexey Shved is the perfect example of a former castoff finally putting it all together. In a few years maybe Ricky Ledo can be the same guy.

Next: The 30 Best Shooting Guards of All-Time

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