New York Knicks: Langston Galloway’s Shooting Struggles

The New York Knicks need Langston Galloway to break out of his recent shooting slump sooner rather than later.

With the return of Carmelo Anthony in 2015-16, the New York Knicks figured to be a better team than the 17-win abomination that depressed Madison Square Garden last season. With Melo back and Kristaps Porzingis Fever sweeping the Big Apple, the Knicks surged to a solid 8-6 record to start the season, suggesting this team might be better than people thought.

Despite Derek Fisher favoring Jose Calderon and Sasha Vujacic as his starting backcourt early on, the Knicks were winning games, and an underrated part of the whole process was super sub Langston Galloway, who was probably New York’s second best player on the roster in the early going with Porzingis still finding his footing.

Through the first 14 games of the season, Galloway averaged 10.7 points and 4.1 rebounds in 26.3 minutes per game off the bench while shooting a remarkable 47.2 percent from the floor and 55.3 percent from three-point range — the best mark in the entire NBA during that span — on 3.4 long range attempts per game.

More from New York Knicks

The Knicks were outscoring opponents by 2.6 points per 100 possessions with Galloway on the floor, he was averaging more minutes than starters Calderon and Vujacic, and New York was starting to look like it had a brighter future outside of Melo and the Zinger.

But over the last four games, Galloway’s production has drastically dropped to 3.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game. He’s shot a horrendous 6-for-32 from the field (18.8 percent) and 1-for-13 from three-point range (7.7 percent), while also posting a team-worst -46 point differential over his 94 total minutes during that span.

It’s no wonder the Knicks are also 0-4 over that stretch.

New York Knicks — Langston Galloway’s 2015-16 shot chart over the last four games, per NBA.com/stats

On the one hand, nobody should’ve expected a second-year player like Galloway to shoot over 50 percent from three-point range for the whole season. His shooting numbers were bound to drop off eventually, and Arron Afflalo‘s return has probably been a factor in Galloway’s slightly decreased playing time.

But Galloway’s shooting slump has also robbed the Knicks of their best bench scorer, even with Afflalo stepping into the starting lineup — averaging 13.2 points per game on 38.9 percent shooting from deep — and starting to push Vujacic to the end of the bench where he belongs.

It doesn’t help when Dwyane Wade is making Galloway look bad on the other end of the floor too.

During the losing streak, Galloway has the second worst defensive rating of anyone on the roster, with the Knicks surrendering 117.0 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, per NBA.com. However, according to Basketball-Reference, the Knicks have actually given up 0.3 more points per 100 possessions with Galloway on the bench this season.

More from Hoops Habit

On both ends of the floor, it appears that Galloway is going through a bit of a slump. Whether this is something he can brush off or whether his confidence has been shaken in a crowded backcourt of Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant, Afflalo and Vujacic remains to be seen.

There are plenty of reasons behind the Knicks’ recent struggles. Melo missed one of those four games and Derek Fisher has yet to set his rotation in stone, which has led to questionable decisions like Robin Lopez sitting for long periods of time or Lou Amundson and Kevin Seraphin getting extended minutes over Derrick Williams and Kyle O’Quinn.

Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 6

But even though this team still belongs to Melo and Porzingis, the Knicks need their primary bench threat to bust out of his recent shooting slump if they want to go back to exceeding expectations here in 2015-16.