The New York Knicks have a whole gaggle of old, creaky guards, two of which -- Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo -- could wind up back on the team in 2016-17.
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I'll give you a minute to throw furniture around the room.
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We good? Cool, because both players gave some insight into their plans for next season, and there's is much cause for hope.
Let's start with Calderon, who is fully guaranteed for next season at $7.7 million. Unless they waive him using the stretch provision -- not the wisest choice for a team so far away from contention -- he will likely remain a Knick. The good news: He finally seems comfortable with accepting a backup role, per Marc Berman:
"For sure, 100 percent,'' Calderon said Saturday before he sprained his left ankle in the third quarter in the 99-89 loss to Washington. "A couple of years ago, if my team needed me to do that? I'm not the one putting me in the starting position. That's question for coach but, yes, 100 percent.''
He also had some encouraging words for fellow point guard Tony Wroten:
Jose Calderon on Tony Wroten: "If he can help, everybody's welcome."
— Marc Berman (@NYPost_Berman) March 19, 2016
Calderon is considered an excellent teammate, so hopefully he's genuine in his desire to do whatever it takes to help the club. Make no mistake, the Knicks can find a use for a 40% three-point shooter off the bench, provided they surround him with complementary players.
As for Afflalo and his $8 million player option, the dude is fortunately all about that cash. Per Stefan Bondy:
"Usually it's just finances, really," Afflalo said. "You can obviously look at team opportunity. But mainly it's just team opportunity and finances."
That's the best news I've heard in weeks! You can pretty much guarantee that Afflalo will use the opportunity of the 2016 salary cap explosion to seek more money on the open market. While there's still a chance the Knicks could freak out and give him a long-term deal, the organization seems less enamored with him than in months past. Dude lost his starting spot to friggin' Sasha Vujacic, after all.
My dream scenario is that Phil Jackson order Kurt Rambis to bench Afflalo knowing it would drive him off. I have absolutely no faith that either Phil or Rambis thought that way, but it's still fun to dream. Whatever gets Afflalo off this team is alright by me.