Getting to the point: Has the point guard culture finally arrived in New York?
The NBA is a league run by point guards. Finally, the New York Knicks are on board and it’s paying dividends.
Don’t blame the New York Knicks. They are pretty much always late to the party. Anyone who has been following over the past few decades knows that the Knicks are usually a few giant leaps behind whatever trends are ruling the NBA. But have they finally got this one right?
Fact: point guards run this league.
Another fact: the Knicks haven’t trotted out a truly deserving starting point guard in almost 20 years… sorry, an overweight Raymond Felton in 2012 looked more like Carmelo walking his bulldog than a starting caliber floor general.
But here we are. It’s November and the Knicks are shocking the world with unprecedented behavior: moving the ball, playing defense, and, wait for it… winning! Yeah, it’s kind of hard to believe but what’s even crazier is this actually seems to be the real deal. Why?
Point guards.
Knick fans might have been crestfallen when the organization decided to pass on pursuing guys like Jeff Teague or Ricky Rubio this summer, but as far as building a core of guys on the same age-timeline, they may have gotten this rebuild right for once.
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Jarrett Jack, despite his unfortunate string of injuries in the past few seasons, has been one of the most competent and consistent point guards in the league. He can lead the break, rebound, be vocal, and obviously pass. In this case, he doesn’t even need to score. All he needs to do is teach the young French guard who had bust written all over him: Frank Ntilikina.
Look, it’s clear that the New York Knicks put their stock in Frank the Tank, but between offensive woes and injuries, it’s hard to blame Knick fans for being cynical about him. But here is what people need to see in this situation: he possesses elite size for a point guard, he plays defense at an elite level already, and he has some serious basketball IQ.
Best of all, due to the absence of Carmelo Anthony, Ntilikina can actually play his position without worrying about a black hole eating up all the touches and staggering the movement on both ends of the floor.
Next: New York Knicks: Keys to a successful rebuild
There’s no denying it: guards are in. And for the first time, the New York Knicks are on that right path.