What Happened To Toney Douglas
Just a few months ago Toney Douglas was the man. The former First Team All-ACC Selection (Florida State) was the starting point guard for the New York Knicks. After acquiring Tyson Chandler through free agency, fans in the Big Apple were excited as they now had a defensive big man with championship experience to pair with Melo and Amare Stoudemire. Throw in Landry Fields at the 2, and it seemed like Toney Douglas was just handed the keys to a 600 Benz.
But then everything changed, and now Douglas is buried on the bench of a team that may actually be too deep for its own good. In his last three games, Douglas has only played 23 minutes in total. Seven of those minutes came in his last appearance against the Kings, all the way back on February 15th.
However, the disappearance of Douglas can be traced back to the events that occurred on February 4th. Otherwise known as the birth of Lin-Sanity. Since Lin’s breakout performance against the Nets, Douglas’ stat line has been full of DNPCDs.
Did Not Play, Coach’s Decision.
But while Mike D’Antoni did admit that he was riding Lin “like freakin’ Secretariat”, that rise of Lin-Sanity isn’t the only variable that has led to the disappearance of Douglas. Once Baron Davis was cleared to play, he was automatically pegged as Lin’s backup. Putting another person ahead of Douglas on the depth chart. Toss in the athleticism and defensive prowess of rookie Iman Shumpert, and now D’Antoni has too many players and not enough playing time.
Knick fans were however waiting on Davis to be cleared, and Shumpert was expected to get some minutes even though he was badly booed on draft night. The signing of free agent of J.R. Smith was the ultimate blow to Douglas’ chances of returning to the rotation. In Smith, the Knicks added an excited scorer who is a streaky 3-point shooter and someone who already knows how to play with Melo. The two had spent years playing alongside each other in Denver.
So now the Knicks have a roster full of viable able bodied guards who like to run-n-gun. Add in the emergence of Steve Novak who has been the Knicks best 3-point shooter of late, and now D’Antoni has another issue to deal with. It started with not having a point guard after Chauncey Billups opted to suit up for Lob City, then there was concern about whether Lin, Melo and Amare could all coexist. But now D’Antoni’s current situation maybe his most difficult to overcome because the Knicks currently have 11 players who predominantly play in the backcourt or on the wings.
In Sunday’s overtime loss to the Celtics, Landry Fields (a starter) only played a total of 15 minutes in a 53-minute game. Novak and Shumpert came off the bench to nearly double Fields’ minutes as they played 27 and 31 respectively.
With less than two months left the Knicks are currently in eighth place in the East, giving them the final playoff spot if the season ended today. However, that would match them up with Chicago as the Bulls have 2.5 game lead on the Heat. As the season progresses and Lin, Melo and Amare become more familiar with each other, the Knicks rotation will eventually have to tighten. But the question is whose minutes will suffer? Fields is a starter, but Shumpert is the Knicks best perimeter defender; a quality that a D’Antoni team will definitely need in the postseason. Davis is a lock at the backup point guard position as Lin can learn from the veteran. Novak maybe the team’s best pure shooter, and fills the void that Danillo Gallinari left when he was traded.
So the question is what will happen to J.R. Smith?
As of right now it looks as if his spot is secure as he’s been averaging at least five minutes a quarter in his last three games. But as the Knicks try to catch some ground on the Celtics and Hawks, eventually someone will lose their spot in the rotation and join Mike Bibby and Douglas at the end of the bench.
But who will it be?
ThePlayingField 