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New York Knicks Rumors: John Jenkins Being Pursued?

By Kenneth Teape

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New York Knicks Rumors: The Knicks are one of a handful of teams pursuing former Atlanta Hawks shooting guard John Jenkins. Jenkins would bring much needed three-point shooting to a Knicks team that ranked 15th in percentage and 20th in makes per game.

When you sign four free agents your funds are bound to begin running low. But for a team like the New York Knicks, there is still plenty of work to do filling out what was essentially a barren roster outside of Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon and Cleanthony Early, the only owners of guaranteed contracts on the Knicks roster. Armed with only a $2.8 million room exception and minimum contracts, the Knicks will be digging deep on the free agent market if they are to sign anyone else.

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It would seem that they have their sights set on one player; John Jenkins. According to Ian Begley at ESPN New York, the Knicks are one of a number of teams recently to express interest in the free agent shooting guard. With most of the big names off the board, role and bench players such as Jenkins should begin getting plenty of calls as team’s look to find cheap players to fill a specific need on their roster.

Jenkins has spent the first three years of his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks, but became expendable when they acquired Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Knicks on draft night for the rights to Jerian Grant. As the 23rd overall pick in the 2012 overall draft out of Vanderbilt, Jenkins was actually someone the Knicks were interested in adding to their roster. But, like many of the drafts in the past decade and some future ones, the Knicks had traded their first round pick in a previous deal and were armed with only a mid-second round pick, trading their own second round pick previously as well.

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Jenkins hasn’t been able to find consistent playing time yet in the NBA, as the Hawks became one of the best teams in the NBA in recent seasons, leaving Jenkins stapled to the bench. But, one thing that he has done well thus far even in his limited playing time is shoot the ball, as he connects at a 37.5 percent clip from deep in his career.

With the Knicks, Jenkins could show that he is still a serviceable NBA player as they could use all the shooting help they could get. With the Knicks, Jenkins could also find consistent playing time, as they are very limited on the wings. Currently on the roster, the Knicks only have Arron Afflalo at shooting guard and Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant as combo guards behind him with not much else.

Players on the Summer League such as Ricky Ledo or Thanasis Antetokounmpo could also be brought aboard for the season with a contract. It will all come down to who the Knicks feel fit a need they need most.

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As it currently stands, with the additions they made in free agency and players being held over from last season, the Knicks have four roster spots available assuming Galloway receives a spot. They are required to fill only two more of those spots, and Jenkins could easily be one of those players.

If the Knicks do choose to sign Jenkins, it will more than likely not be more anything more than the minimum, as the Knicks will more than likely hold onto the $2.8 million exception to try landing a veteran such in the way they landed Jason Smith with their mid-level exception last season.

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