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2,015 Questions- #2001: Which Knick is the best at Twitter?

The Knicks have several athletes experienced in the use of social media, but how do they rank against each other?

By ChristianBaber
Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

It's only a slight exaggeration to say that Twitter is as important to one's identity as the clothes we put on every day. Twitter affords people the ability to connect with and speak to others across classes and country borders. It's an immensely powerful tool, and it is in that light that we examine the Knicks' ability to manage their social media presences.

The goal is simple: To rank the players on the Knicks' roster in ascending order by how good I deem them at the art of Twitter. The athletes will be graded on the quality of their avatars, their Twitter bios, and their their top recent tweet. 'Recent' here refers to their last ten tweets, because honestly you have to be able to put out a one hot tweet per every ten on average. Those scores will be weighted against any other relevant information I find on their accounts and used to create a ranking. Please follow all of these men if you do not already, and you may follow me @mistertoastman as well. I grant you permission. Let's rank 'em!

#15 - Jason Smith (@JasonSmith014)

Avi Quality: 2.5

Photoshopping yourself into a jersey for a team you've yet to play for is a power move, and I respect that.

Bio: 2.5

"Video gamer. Movie fanatic. Always trying to live life to the fullest!!!"

Aren't we all, Jason.

Best Recent Tweet: 1.5

Overall: 1.5

Jason runs a fairly normal Twitter account, which is to say that it's tremendously boring. The RiFF RAFF reference in his hashtags saved him from being graded a 1. At least he's not a parody account.

#14 - Samuel Dalembert (@SamDalembert)

Avi Quality: 1

Just a picture of a Knicks jersey with his name on it. Yawn.

Bio: 1.5

"Center for the NY Knicks"

V factual.

Best Recent Tweet: 3

Overall: 2

Dalembert has only tweeted ten tweets since April 18th. That's about two tweets a month. Unacceptable, but he does make up for it with some solid twitpics.

#13 - Amar'e Stoudemire (@AmareIsReal)

Avi Quality: 4

Now here's an avi. STAT is a stylish guy, and the bowed head against a brick wall is classic pose for social media pics.

Bio: 2

"Official page of New York Knicks Amar'e Stoudemire - Pro Basketball Player, Actor, Author, Producer, & Philanthropist."

Best Recent Tweet: 1.5

Overall: 2

STAT's timeline is filled with Instagram posts and his business ventures. Phenomenally corporate.

#12 - Andrea Bargnani (@AndreaBargnani)

Avi Quality:1

Another pic of a jersey. This one with a filter.

Bio: 1

"Made In Italy / instagram: andreabargnani777"

Could this be less interesting?

Best Recent Tweet: 3

Overall: 2

After tweeting fortnightly for much of his recent Twitter career, Bargnani has managed to launch four in the past day. Could he be finally turning the corner and becoming the Twitter superstar we always expected?

#11 - Pablo Prigioni (@PPrigioni9)

Avi Quality: 2

Guess I can't knock him for being proud of the Argentine national basketball team, but he could have at least thrown a filter or some special effects on the avi.

Bio: 2

"Jugador profesional de Basketball. Hombre de familia. Esposo y padre de dos hijos."

I am proud to say that I can read this without resorting to Google Translate. Prigioni calling himself a family man makes me think of the classic Guile quote, which makes me smile. Pablo makes me smile.

Best Recent Tweet: 2.5

Overall: 2.5

Oh my god this happened:

I should have put Pablo #1.

#10 - Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony)

Avi Quality: 5

Very good avi here. High-resolution, unobtrusive filter, and crowd support combine with the sneaky appearance of some of Melo's notable sponsors to form a high value pic. This is how you do a celebrity avi.

Bio: 1.5

"Official Page of Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks"

Best Recent Tweet: 3

Overall: 2.5

Melo's actual Twitter #content is too corporate to really push him higher on this list, but he'll give you a gem every so often. The absolute highlight of his career was, of course, the time he called that dude "glazed donut face." God, that was good.

#9 - Jose Calderon (@josemcalderon8)

Avi Quality: 3

Jose's is a decent twitcon. It's simply him holding an international basketball in shooting position, and it works because it's understated. This avi is a good match for Jose.

Bio: 2

"Humildad y Sacrificio-Humility & Sacrifice #3 New York Knicks NBA"

Best Recent Tweet: 3

Overall: 3

Jose's hashtag game is strong. Calderon tweets fairly often and uses a lot of exclamation points, which I support!

#8 - Travis Outlaw (@LastOutlaw25)

Avi Quality: 3

Awkward closeups are endearing.

Bio: N/A

Boo. F for effort.

Best Recent Tweet: 2.5

Overall: 3

This is Travis' new account, and it's pretty normal. He and I share the same birthday, which I just noticed. Outlaw tweets about Mississippi State pretty often, so if you're a fan he makes a good follow #HowAboutDemDawgs

#7 - Cole Aldrich (@colea45)

Avi Quality: 2

The flags in the background save this somewhat, but I really expect more from Cole.

Bio: 1.5

"Husband, Son, Brother & Christ follower"

Best Recent Tweet: 3.5

Overall: 3

Aldrich should tweet more often, because I suspect that he's much better than his low volume would indicate. He's produced some really quality tweets in limited bursts. Hopefully he gets an opportunity to really showcase his full tweeting ability this season.

#6 - Tim Hardaway, Jr. (@T_HardJR)

Avi Quality: 3

It's a computer illustration of Tim's face, but it was clearly part of a larger image and was cropped down here. That kind of clumsy work gets you points where I'm from.

Bio: 2

"#5 #Knickstape WWJD / PPW/ IG-TimJr5 Maize&Blue--Orange&Blue"

I can't lie: I have no idea what those acronyms stand for. I'd like to think he's asking, "What would JR do?" and answering, "Pure pipe work."

Best Recent Tweet: 2

Overall: 3

Here's the thing. THJ is used to social media, but his Twitter account is really just an extension of his Instagram account. He probably should have received harsher penalties for this, but there is some good stuff in there. If he wants to elevate past some of his teammates, he'll need to come up with some real tweets more often.

#5 - Quincy Acy (@QuincyAcy)

Avi Quality: 3.5

Very strong avi here. Cute kid, and a great beard.

Bio: 2

"Forward for the New York Knicks #4, God First, Dallas Cowboys, Baylor Bears & Family before everything else!! Straight Outta Texas!!"

Best Recent Tweet: 4

Overall: 3.5

This is a good Twitter account. One that's worth a follow even if the athlete doesn't play for your favorite team. Acy does put up a couple of inspirational Instagram pics on the timeline, but also posts original thoughts and seems to be a funny guy.

#4 - Shane Larkin (@ShaneLarkin)

Avi Quality: 2

I'm docking points for featuring MySportsLegion's @ in the photo.

Bio: 2

"#KnicksTape Former Miami Hurricane ACC Champion Luke 12:48: To whom much is given, much is required IG: @ShaneLarkin_3"

Best Recent Tweet: 3

Overall: 3.5

Larkin is a better Twitter account than these scores indicate. His overall is getting bumped up because he writes up some good tweets and is comfortable dropping emojis. A better balance of the Twitter-to-IG ratio will help place him among the truly elite tweeters on the Knicks.

#3 - Iman Shumpert (@I_Am_Iman)

Avi Quality: 4

His is a simple avi, but Shump gets rated high here because it's his own logo and his own idea and it's based off of his own head of hair. Shumpert has arguably the best hair in the NBA, and is wise to utilize that in his #brand.

Bio: 4

"I'm Iman Shumpert. Odis n L'Tanya's son. First of my kind. #cathedral #crown #iMurk"

He makes a statement with few words. Iman has always been good at subtly reinforcing his persona, and the "first of my kind" reference helps him push his new angle as Iman Shumpert I.

Best Recent Tweet: 3.5

Overall: 4

I'm going to be honest with you: This is a legacy spot. Kind of like Kobe making All-Defensive teams over the last few years over clearly superior defenders like Tony Allen and Andre Iguodala. Apparently, Shump recently turned his account over to his PR people, and so the excellence of his tweet game has been placed on hold. When he was in charge, Shump was good for fan interaction and referred to himself in the third person fairly often, which is endearing if you can pull it off. Alas, his account no longer holds such whimsy, and he's likely due for a steep drop from this top-3 ranking this season. For now, we pay homage. He's earned it.

#2 - Cleanthony Early (@Clearly_BallLyf)

Avi Quality: 3

Just a cool pic from his rookie photoshoot. Cle can rock with this for a little bit, because being an incoming rookie has to be an insane feeling, but eventually we'll need a more homemade avi.

Bio: 3

"6'8 215 Cool Calm & Collected. Wichita State Alum. SF Drafted to the New York #Knicks ...Motto: Grinding Hard Now Live Good Later...God 1st & Know your Worth!"

Makes great use of every available character and works hard to give you a ton of information on Early's personality. Again, I expect this to mature as his reputation grows within the league.

Best Recent Tweet: 4

Overall: 4

Tweet for tweet, Cleanthony Early ranks among the best accounts among active players. The window his Twitter provides is just far more transparent than what's offered by his peers. Even just among his last twenty or so, Early comments on music, waxes philosophy, and of course thanks God for today. You feel like you're getting to know him when you peruse his timeline, and that's rare among pro ballers.

#1 - J.R. Smith (@TheRealJRSmith)

Avi Quality: 5

Clean. Shows off another of JR's crisp outfits, and the typeface on his hat blaring, "DANGEROUS" is perfect for him. Ranks right up with Melo in terms of the efficacy of his avi. Also, the red background is lowkey blever clever.

Bio: 5

"Living My Life..."

SOOOOOO RIIIIIIGHT

Best Recent Tweet: 5

#FreeMeekMill

Overall: 100

As if there was any question. This is the gold standard of Twitter accounts. That to which all other athletes should aspire. I don't even care that he's truthfully been off of Twitter for a while and his timeline is populated by his IG. JR Smith has earned the right to sit at the top of this list through years of hard work on the 140. Few NBA players boast an account rivaling JR's. He has given us such classics as "You trying to get the pipe?", the salacious Tahiri photo, and #STARER. He may have gotten himself into trouble a few times, but a hero like JR doesn't let such things keep him down. He dusts himself off to tweet again. No matter what your interests in life are, you should be following JR Smith. WWJD.

What did you think? Did I miscalculate on any accounts? Where would you rank prominent members of #KnicksTwitter in comparison to the athletes?

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