There is a mess in New York. 20 games have been enough for Tom Thibodeau to decide to leave Kemba Walker, who is having a very irregular season, out of the rotation of the New York Knicks. His spot has been taken by Alec Burks, who scored 25 points in their defeat against the Brooklyn Nets.
This summer the New Yorkers added a recent All-Star player who, despite not being the same one compared to his time in Charlotte, arrived through an affordable contract (18 million dollars for two seasons) and the motivation to return home after cutting his contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now after only 20 games, Thibodeau has made the decision to leave Kemba Walker out of the rotation. This way, he has been pointed as the main problem of his team.
Taking a look at Kemba’s stats, the decision by the Knicks’ coach seems the right call. The player has the worst +/- of his team with -122 and is averaging 11,7 points, 3,1 assists and 2,6 rebounds in more than 24 minutes per game. This numbers are the lowest of his career.
Another fact to take into account in order to understand the decision of taking Kemba Walker out of the rotation is that the Knicks have the best defense of the league with a 99 defensive rating whenever he is on the bench. On the opposite side, they are the worst defense by far with him on the court (116,3).
The offensive aspect does not make up for it either, as they are 9th without him and 27th whenever he plays. When Kemba and Fournier arrived this summer, it was clear that the defensive level would decrease compared to the previous season, but they were confident that they would improve their attack and being able to hide the lacks on defense with their second unit players.
The rumors on a possible trade have started to come up. Journalist Sherrod Blakely has informed on Bleacher Report of a possible exchange with the Houston Rockets for John Wall, who is not going through the best moment at his franchise. Due to the fact that his contract is easy to move, it would not be surprising that other teams might be interested in taking the risk with Kemba Walker before the end of the market.
Translated by Guillermo Bermejo.
Main image: New York Knicks.
At ELXIIDEAL we have a great opportunity to advertise your business via our website and social media network.
