New York Knicks Rumors:Why Arron Afflalo Comes Off The Bench
New York Knicks Rumors: Why is Arron Afflalo coming off the bench? Interim coach Kurt Rambis gave some insight to the reasoning behind it.
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New York Knicks rumos continue to pop up despite the regular season coming down its stretch run. The most recent one involves shooting guard Arron Afflalo. Afflalo has appeared in 61 games for the Knicks this season, starting 57 of them. He had started the first 56 games that he appeared in, but has come off the bench in four of the last five.
In his place, Sasha Vujacic has been starting. It is something that fans have not been happy with, as many people would rather see Vujacic stapled to the bench than getting minutes, especially in the starting lineup. It is what interim head coach Kurt Rambis has decided to do though, and he gave a little insight to the decision.
“This is not a punishment,” Rambis told Newsday. “I think it’s more his natural position coming off the bench and it helps us distribute some of our scoring. He’s a player that can provide a lot of defensive energy and offensive punch.”
Rambis has done little to nothing to garner the respect of the fan base, so this is probably not something that will sit well with fans. He has not made many decisions to get the Knicks into positions to win, as they have played as poorly, if not worse at times, than they did with Derek Fisher. That stats also do not back up what Rambis is saying.
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Despite being a small sample size, the numbers say that Afflalo is actually worse coming off the bench scoring wise than as a starter. In 57 games as a starter, Afflalo is averaging 13.8 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting and 39 percent from deep. In the four games off the bench, Afflalo is averaging 11.5 points per game, shooting less efficiently at 39.1 percent overall.
Coming off the bench Afflalo is more of a vocal point of the offense, but it is clearly not a spot that he is more comfortable playing as his stats are worse despite playing only one minute less per game off the bench. While it does slightly bolster the Knicks scoring off the bench, the starting backcourt is greatly diminished as Vujacic and Jose Calderon do not give much production consistently.
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This is also a move that is stunting the growth of younger players such as Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant. Those are players that should be getting minutes down the stretch run of the season to evaluate them and get them experience. Having Afflalo off the bench for almost 34 minutes a game, and Vujacic starting and getting some, it is only hurting the younger players. It is time for the Knicks to begin evaluating the talent they have and start deciding who may be building blocks for the future.