The Difference

Both Kobe Bryant and Wilson Chandler took 20 shots last night.  Wilson hit 5 of his.  That's 25% shooting.  Bryant hit 14 of his.  That's 70% shooting.  The Knicks lost by 10.

But that's what guys like Kobe, LeBron and Wade do.  On any given night, they're likely to hit about 50% of their shots.  Sometimes more, sometimes less, and occasionally they have a clunker.    Also, Bryant plays defense, which kind of cements the advantage he has over other teams.  He also has a couple of guys on his team (Gasol and Bynum) who pretty consistently shoot high percentages as well.

The Knicks have guys like Chandler and Harrington and Duhon, who get a lot of minutes.  Some nights, these guys are efficient shooters, and when they are, the Knicks tend to win or at least compete.  But unlike with Kobe, they have A LOT of games where they hit 25% of their shots.  Or less.

Good teams need guys who can be efficient scorers game in and game out.  Not one out of every three games.  I think that's why we all clamor to see Gallo get more touches.  We need a guy that can consistently score 10 or more baskets in a game.  Gallo appears to be that kind of shooter, but he's barely getting 10 shots a game.  If Gallo got 20 shots a game, I think he'd hit 9 or 10 of them a night pretty consistently.

These are your efficient Knick shooters from last night's game.

Toney Douglas - 8 shots, 5 makes, 2 threes, 0 Free throws in 17 minutes.

Nate Robinson -11 shots, 5 makes, 4 threes, 1 free throw in 27 minutes.

Danilo Gallinari - 10 shots, 4 makes, 3 threes, 0 free throws in 32 minutes.

David Lee - 8 shots, 5 makes, 0 threes, 3 free throws in 20 minutes.

Jordan Hill - 4 shots, 3 makes 0 threes, 1 free throw in 16 minutes.

All together, 41 shots,  22 makes, 9 threes, 5 free throws.   58 points in 112 minutes.  There are 240 total minutes available in a basketball game.  So in less than half the minutes, these 5 score 57 points.  The Knicks scored 90 points last night.  Projected over 240 minutes, these guys score 124 points.

So.... why exactly isn't this your starting lineup?

Sure, some of this could be an aberration.  A lot of these minutes were garbage time minutes. 

Toney Douglas probably won't hit 5 out of 8 shots every night.  He's bound to have 'dud' nights.  But his defense mitigates that, right?  And Duhon is shooting 27% for the season. 

As for Nate, he had a good stretch last year where he was a pretty consistently efficient scorer.  He'll have 'dud' nights too.  But the alternative, Larry Hughes, has lots of 'dud' nights, and while he can do some things well, I think Robinson is the more efficient scorer in the long run.

We all know Gallo can shoot.  He's already in the starting lineup.  But he's not getting a lot of shots.  That should be worked on.

Lee has always been an efficent scorer - his line is not an abberation.  But he doesn't create his own shot much - he gets his points opportunistically, or through the pick and roll.  Harrington can certainly do some things Lee can't do, but he can also go 1-6 from three on any given night.  Lee can hurt you defensively, particularly guarding 5's, but he also very rarely misses 75% of his shots.

We don't have a big sample with Hill, but so far this season he's shooting 63%.  Curry, when last healthy, was also an efficient scorer.  But Hill's starting to look pretty good out there.

Yes, there's not a true point guard in this lineup.  But there also aren't any 'me first' ball hogs either.  Douglas - Robinson - Gallo - Lee - Hill.  All unselfish, good attitude guys.  There's enough size, enough ball handling there.  Also, the backups to these guys, Duhon, Hughes, Chandler, Harrington, and Curry, provide some different looks and contrast.  For example, if Douglas' lack of floor general experience is hurting you, you can bring in Duhon to take care of the ball and run some pick and rolls.  If you need a 4 that can create his own offense, bring in Harrington for Lee.  If Nate's lack of size is hurting you, bring in Hughes for a bigger, more defensive look.  Bring in Curry to get some post offense going.

D'antoni seems to be using the 1st quarter to determine which of his generally inefficient players is having a good night that night, then he goes with those guys.  But by that logic, Garnett would have been bench warming instead of hitting the winning shot the other night.   With the Knicks, a different guy is 'the man' every night.   Guys have to get comfortable in their roles.  This is not the way to do it.

You've got to put your most efficient, consistent offensive players out on the floor for the bulk of the minutes.  It's possible that efficient offensive players are defensive liabilities.  It's also likely that efficient players become less efficient with more minutes, and if that happens, you readjust, but I don't see why D'antoni doesn't trot Douglas/N8/Gallo/Lee/Hill out there to see what they can do.

C'MON, D'antoni.  ENOUGH with the Duhon loyalty.  DO this.