When you take a look at the Knicks point guards from the 2019-2020 season, you can only come to one conclusion: the Knicks are still meandering on what seems like their never-ending quest to find an above average starting level point guard.
I took a deep look at Frank Ntilikina a couple of weeks ago and concluded the chance he becomes the team’s primary creator and initiator is remote. For this story, I’ll focus on the three other point guards on the roster.
Elfrid Payton was the best point guard on the Knicks last year by nearly every metric. He started the season hurt, but by the end of the year he averaged 10 points per game. With Marcus Morris no longer on the roster, it was the fourth-highest total on the team behind Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Bobby Portis.
Payton led the team in assists at 7.2 per game and 9.4 per 36 minutes thanks to his ability to penetrate and dish. He only averaged 2.1 turnovers per game. Throw in his 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game and it paints the picture of a complete player.
Payton had the team’s second best Net Rating (plus/minus per 100 possessions) per 100 possessions after Mitchell Robinson. The team was 5.5 points better per 100 possessions when Payton was on the court versus when he was on the bench. The Knicks won more games because Payton was on the team.
That doesn’t mean Payton is the answer for the future. He might have been the best option on the team but that doesn’t make him a quality NBA starter at point guard. It starts with his shooting, where he finished the year .439/.203/.570. It’s nearly impossible to be a starting NBA point guard with those poor shooting numbers.
Payton’s shot is broken.He has played six years in the league and is 26 years old. He has never shot better than 33% from behind the three point line in any of his NBA seasons. His shot is flat and form is unorthodox. There’s very little chance it gets better.
Defensively, Payton is good as a ball hawk, and gets his hands into passing lanes and takes chances to accumulate steals. The problem is that too often those risks backfire and turn into easy baskets. Off the ball, he too often loses his man that gets a wide open look. The consistency on every possession isn’t there.
Offensively, Payton gets a lot of his stats by holding the ball too long and overdribbling. Too often he seemed to only have eyes for Julius Randle. His lack of shooting makes it impossible to spread the floor.
Payton is a solid backup, but nothing more than that. The Knicks have him under contract for $8 million dollars next season, but only $1 million of it is guaranteed. If the Knicks draft a point guard or go after an upgrade in free agency such as Fred Van Vleet, Payton is unlikely to return.
Dennis Smith Jr., the primary player acquired in the Kristaps Porzingis trade last season, was a disaster. It is nearly impossible to overstate how poorly he played. He might have been the worst player in the NBA last season. Just three seasons after being the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, his NBA career is in serious peril.
Due to a combination of personal tragedy, injuries and poor play, he only averaged 15.8 minutes in his 34 games played. He averaged only 5.5 points per game and had a putrid 2.9/1.7 assist to turnover ratio. After an offseason where it was widely circulated that he fixed his jump shot, he shot only 34% from the field, 29.6% from behind the three point line, and 50.9% from the free throw line. Every single one of those numbers were career lows.
Smith also had the worst Net Rating on the Knicks, and one of the worst in the entire NBA at -17.1. The team was an amazing 13 points better per 100 possessions better when he was on the bench. There was virtually nothing redeemable about his third season as a pro.
Luckily for Smith, he will only turn 23 years old in November and still has physical tools that give him potential to be an effective NBA player. He needs to improve his shot, consistency, and concentration level on both ends of the floor if he wants to realize any of that potential. It is as much between the ears as it is physical issues for Smith at this point in his career.
There’s a good chance Smith is back on the Knicks next year because he is under contract and probably has close to no value to any teams in the NBA. There’s a better chance he resurrects his career than the Knicks get something positive in return for him.
Kadeem Allen is also on the Knicks roster but he is nothing more than a depth player that is not going to play sizable role on a decent team.
In short, the Knicks still need to find their future starting point guard. It might come in the draft in the form of LaMelo Ball, Killian Hayes or Tyrese Haliburton. Maybe it will come in the form of free agent Fred Van Vleet. The bottom line is that if the Knicks ever want to break through in any meaningful way it has to start at the point guard position. They need a primary ball-handler and initiator in the worst way. All good teams have one and the Knicks need theirs.
You can find John on twitter at @Schmeelk for everything Knicks, Giants and the world of sports. The most recent episode is part two of his interview with Dallas A’mico that find here: https://t.co/4rp8GxlhRX?amp=1 You can subscribe to The Bank Shot, my Knicks podcast, here.