thelesterlee
Kemba Walker appears to be an overall nice guy, hard worker and new york native living his dream of playing basketball for the New York Knicks. Cute. He also gets devoured by screens, lost in defensive rotations and his brittle knees make him tortoise slow in transition.
So when it was announced this week that Kemba Walker would not only be moved from the starting lineup to the bench but totally out of the rotation altogether, it came with mixed feelings. He’s a former all-star who took a discounted contract to play for the Knicks. He was replacing Elfrid Payton, one of the worst NBA players I’ve ever seen.
But in the Knicks first game with Kemba sitting out, the Knicks looked like they’d be juuuust fine without him.
Julius Randle was having the most trouble fitting in offensively with Kemba. Coming from an All-NBA season where he did most of the ballhandling to now having to watch Kemba orchestrate the offense, Randle looked like shit chucking up an absurd amount of 3’s and missing most of them.
Here’s how he performed against the Brooklyn Nets with Kemba sitting courtside:
- 40 minutes
- 24 points
- 11-22 from the field
- 0-2 from 3
- 9 rebounds
- 8 assists
- 2 steals
And although he’s still missing his 3’s, at least he only took 2 and was attacking the rim and shooting from where he’s more comfortable.
Julius Randle and-1 on Kevin Durant 💪🏽😤pic.twitter.com/5B9gkxnoaM
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 1, 2021
There was even a stretch at the end of the first half where he was putting Kevin Durant through hell off the dribble.
The Knicks would still go on to lose 112-110 to the Brooklyn Nets but you can say the refs made themselves the main characters and the Knicks were missing keys guys. Whatever. At least it went down to the final possession. If Kemba was on the floor, this game could’ve gotten much worse.
A statistical summary of why the Knicks are pulling Kemba Walker from the rotation:
Knicks have the best defense in the league when he’s on the bench (99.0 DRtg) & are dead last (116.3 DRtg) when he’s on the floor.
They are 27th in offense with him playing, 9th with him off.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) November 29, 2021
No doubt in my mind the Knicks would’ve lost by 90 if Kemba dribbled the ball based on how negatively he’s impacted this team thus far.
BUT, there’s good news for the worst player on the team:
In light of Thibs removing Kemba Walker from his rotation, sources say three teams have already reached out to the #Knicks inquiring about a potential trade for Walker.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) November 30, 2021
Apparently, 3 teams are still interested in acquiring him. Perhaps the Knicks can even still a first round pick away that they can later package and swap for a point guard that’s way better. Maybe someone like Damian Lillard?? Who knows???
