FanPost

We love you Raymond Felton but....

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You gotta step up your game dude!

As you may have noticed, the Knicks aren't on a winning streak anymore (a 1 game win streak does not count as a streak) and it may have a lot to do with our schedule (we lost to the Kings...), but I am putting all the blame on our Ray Ray.

Jump with me and hear me out before you start clobbering me to death!

As Henry Abbott of ESPN put it:

When the Knicks were winning like crazy, point guard Raymond Felton was playing incredibly well.

For a lot of Knick fans, it was easy to project that he had turned over a new leaf, and to start projecting more of the same off into the future.

More recently, however, Felton's production has plummeted, and Knick wins have become scarce.

Remember when the Knicks were 3-8 and we all wanted Mike D'Antoni fired. We were naive at such times and just didn't want to accept the fact that the Knicks needed some time to get in a rhythm (we got 10 new players on our roster). Raymond Felton's failure to orchestrate this rhythm was what hurt the most, but we gave him leniency because we knew it would take some time for him to learn the system and start the pick-and-roll with Amar'e.

But then out of nowhere, Felton got the pick-and-roll going with Amar'e and saw him running the offense like the general we knew that was in him. He cut passes through helpless defenses, he got the ball to Amar'e at the right spots, he shot down some threes, etc. New York fell in love with him and showered him with many nicknames (Felt, Ray Ray, Goose, etc).

When Raymond learned the system and got the offense rolling with Amar'e, we won 12 of the next 13 games, including one against the Denver Nuggets. Even when we began our tough schedule in mid-December, Raymond played on a level no one really expected. He tore through the acclaimed Boston Celtics defense (even though we lost) and stared down the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls defenses (we got the wins). We thought the sky was the limit was for Felton at this point.

Then the calender turned to January.

We held high expectations for Raymond and thought he would lead us to even more great wins. We saw a glimpse of that in our win against San Antonio Spurs but it all fell down from there. The Knicks won a couple more games before going on a six game losing streak. Now I originally blamed this on lack of interior presence on the court, but I have come to realize its all Felton's fault.

Stats wise, Raymond has dipped significantly in January. In comparison, Raymond averaged Felton averaged around 8.17 assists (career high) through the end of December. He was also averaging a .447 FG% through the same time period, also a career high. He shot shot lights out during this time period while shooting a .334 3P% (near his career averages). He was also averaging 38.6 minutes per game (a career high we have blamed D'Antoni for).

But in January, Felton began shooting .373 FG%, averaged 8.7 assists (only consistent stat), .332 3P% (trust me this should probably be lower), and and 37.9 minutes per game.

Felton continued to pass and orchestrate the offense like we needed him to (he ranked 9th among all points guards in the league in assists per game in the month of January as opposed to 3rd during December), but he fell down to below his career averages in FG% and 3P%. Sure he hit some great free throws in crunch time, but his shots in the game just were not falling. Some shots were just a result of bad shot selection and others were a result of bad timing. As a result, he averaged 15.5 points per game in the month of January, as opposed to the 17.5 points per game he averaged from October to December.

As fans, we cannot pinpoint the exact problem Felton is having. Maybe the big minutes from the beginning of the season have begun to take a toll on him or maybe it is the wrist injury he suffered recently. All we know is we need Felton step up his offensive game like in 1st half of the season for the Knicks to be winning games again like crazy.

Let me know what you guys think about my view of Ray or Felton himself in the comments below.

Raed247