The New York Knicks have a problem on their hands because point guard Derrick Rose is stunting the growth of Kristaps Porzingis.
Guard play always plays pivotal role in developing young big men.
The New York Knicks acquired Derrick Rose in the offseason to finally improve their play at the one-spot after a decade of futility. While Rose has certainly played better than previous Knicks point guards, he will simply go down as yet another failed band-aid that has fallen off the scab that is the dreadful history of the New York Knicks’ ball handlers.
Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks’ only light at the end of the tunnel, is being held back by Rose because of his inability to create for anyone but himself.
By evaluating Rose’s ability to create for others, you see just how poor he has been in creating easy looks for his teammates.
Rose ranks 44th in potential assists among all guards who have started in at least one game. In addition, his 11.1 assist points created ranks among the lowest in the same group of players.
Rose has finished well when driving to the rim in his first year with the Knicks. He is shooting 52.7% on drives to the rim. But Rose simply does not do enough to help his teammates when driving. He has an atrocious pass percentage of 25.5% on drives and an assist percentage of 6.4%.
RELATED: The Knicks are at fault for the regression of Porzingis
Rose has no intention of helping big-men, like Porzingis, get easy buckets inside. When Rose drives, his only intention is to score.
This mindset is not necessarily a bad thing, but on a team trying to develop young talent you simply can not have this objective as a point guard.
Porzingis has started to receive some criticism from the media recently about his “regression.” Aside from the fact that this is false (he has improved his numbers from last year drastically), it’s hard for a 21-year-old to have to try and create his own shots without help from his point guard.
Taking a look at the last game against the Nuggets, Porzingis only had four catch and shoot opportunities. This simply can not be the case. The Knicks need a better playmaker than Rose to get Porzingis more catch and shoot opportunities. These are easy looks that Porzingis needs to get going in games.
Porzingis also only touched the ball inside the paint one time. The reason for this? Rose missing Porzingis under the basket when driving to the rim, as evident by his aforementioned low Pass and Assist Percentages.
Kristaps Porzingis is a special talent. The Knicks know this. The fans know this. But pairing up Porzingis with a shoot-first point guard like Rose has damaged his progression tremendously.
FYI
1. In Hornacek's 2 POINT GUARD (Rose/Jennings) system, Derrick Rose has been playing off ball = not Point Guard.
* Which means that Rose hasn't had the ball in his hands.
* Which means that Rose cannot facilitate because he's receiving the ball at the end of the shot clock in this configuration.
2. Many fans on Twitter are counting how many Derrick Rose created wide open shots are being missed by his Knicks teammates...
...And Porzingis and Melo are the biggest offenders.
* Which means Porzingis is hurting Derrick Rose's reputation as a facilitator (amongst novice fans and writers).
3. Kyrie Irving would absolutely bury Porzingis development - according to your logic.
4. Steph Curry would absolutely bury Porzingis development - according to your logic.
5. This was one of the most unanalytical writings I've ever read.
* The premises of the article is any point guard who doesn't live to get Porzingis every shot taken during the game is "hurting Porzingis development."
GTFOH!
Hopefully your Basketball IQ will increase before you waste your time writing another Basketball related article.