Derek Fisher’s first season as head coach of the New York Knicks was a tumultuous one. However there was a silver lining for Coach Fish and his squad as the 2014-15 season rolled toward the end, the opportunity to develop some of the younger players on the roster.
Adversity in the form of injuries and massive roster turnover had the New York roster looking dramatically different from the beginning of the season to the end of it. In fact, not a single player from the team’s opening-day starting lineup was in the starting five for Game 82.
But by the time the season was over the Knicks were in the midst of a youth movement, with the average age on the team’s season ending roster checking in below 27 years old (26.7). So Coach Fish spent the latter part of the year grooming several players still in their first few years of professional basketball and as a result, player development became a late season theme for New York.
Now the Knicks enter a pivotal offseason with critical decisions to make on who stays in blue and orange and who goes, and with his first-hand knowledge of his players, Derek is sure to have plenty of input.
Throughout the season, Coach Fish had plenty of positive remarks about all 15 players who finished the season on the Knicks.e’ve already seen Derek’s thoughts on his team’s frontcourt options. Now here’s a looks at his analysis of the New York backcourt players.
QUINCY ACY
Quincy Acy was acquired by the Knicks late in the 2014 offseason and followed the acquisition with a solid preseason that showed Coach Fish from the outset that the third-year player out of Baylor had the mettle to contribute for New York night in and night out.
He had a big impact early, pitching in 10 rebounds and eight points to help Coach Fish achieve his first career win on the second night of the season in Cleveland. Later in the season he posted his first career double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds in Memphis. All told, Acy played in 68 games, including 22 starts, and averaged just under six points per game, along with 4.4 rebounds per contest. His production was ups and down all season, but Acy proved that he was always willing to sacrifice anything and everything for his team.
“Quincy, from day one, has always given us maximum effort and energy,” Derek said. “That’s what we’re trying to ask of every guy. Even though guys will make mistakes, if you’re giving everything you have, we can’t ask any more of you.”
JOSE CALDERON
Like many other Knicks, Jose Calderon’s season was limited greatly by injury. After a trade with the Dallas Mavericks brought him to New York, Calderon was pegged as the Knicks starting point guard. But a calf injury caused him to miss the first month three weeks of the year and he spent the closing stretch of the season in a walking boot due to an achilles injury.
But while he was on the floor, he helped to make D-Fish’s offense hum. In 42 games, he averaged better than nine assists and four assists per game while providing effective shooting from deep, where he stroked it at a 41.5 percent clip, which ranked him 11th in the league in that category. He also had a knack for getting to the line and knocked down better than 90 percent of his free throws for the fourth time in his career. After a close loss to the Indiana Pacers while Calderon was out, the N.Y. coach was pining for the return of his point guard.
“That’s why we like to have Jose on our roster,” Derek said. “He’s a 90-percent free-throw shooter, he’s a 40-percent three-point shooter, he makes good decisions with the basketball.”
LANGSTON GALLOWAY
To say Langston Galloway was a sparkplug for Derek’s squad would be accurate, but it’s still an understatement. The rookie out of Saint Joseph’s was called up from the D-League in January, and cemented himself as a gutsy gamer from his first night in the NBA.
In 45 games with the Knicks, including 41 starts, Galloway averaged 11.8 points per game, fourth on the season-ending roster. He was instrumental in New York’s three-game win streak in January, averaging 15.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and one steal per game. Despite his lack of experience, Galloway tallied 12 games of 15 points or more during the season and hit numerous clutch buckets. He never shied from the spotlight, and earned the respect of his head coach time and time again.
“He continues to make plays and do what he’s shown the ability to do,” Coach Fish said of Galloway. “He can make shots and he’s tough minded. Through mistakes and different experiences out there on the floor, he just continues to keep coming back no matter what happens. That’s what’s impressive about him.”
TIM HARDAWAY JR.
While Coach Fisher made his NBA coaching debut in October, Tim Hardaway Jr. began working with Derek from the actual outset of his coaching tenure with the Knicks Summer League team in Las Vegas in July, then spent the entire season with him in New York, playing in 70 games.
It was a bit of a roller coaster, but Hardaway Jr., a second year player, was with Derek for the whole ride, and concluded the journey memorably by scoring a combined 48 points in the final two games of the season. In between, but Derek saw plenty of growth in the young guard, who averaged 11.5 points per game in year two—particularly during a time where the game was taken away from him late in the year.
“Tim learned a lot about himself and what’s possible out there on the floor when he was out with the injury,” Derek said. “I think he has been a different player since he’s been back. He’s attacking the basket, being aggressive, talking and communicating more on defense, which was a big area of growth for him.”
SHANE LARKIN
Another key piece in the offseason trade with Dallas, Shane Larkin also followed Fish from the Summer League to Madison Square Garden and was one of Derek’s most prized pupils, as he worked this season to help groom the second-year player into a NBA-caliber point guard.
Larkin played in 76 games for the Knicks, including 22 starts as he tried to get accustomed to the learning curve associated with a long NBA season. He seemed to take to it, however, and was most consistent over the final two months of the year, averaging 7.5 points and four assists per game in March and April. Larkin came through with numerous strong outings during the closing stretch of the season, including three games of 14 points or more in a four-game stretch in April, highlighted by a near triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a win over Philadelphia.
“Shane is learning a lot every single night, and he’s showing signs that he can be a good guard in this league,” Derek said. “We just have to all stay positive and keep working with him and helping him to maximize who he can be.”
RICKY LEDO
A late season addition after he was waived by Dallas, Ricky Ledo appeared in just 12 games after joining the Knicks in March, but he did manage to turn a 10-day contract into another and then turned that into a contract to end the season with the team.
Coming into the team so late in the year and trying to fit into the squad was a challenge, but Ledo made the most of his opportunity, breaking double figures in scoring four times. That span included am eye-opening 21-point night against the Washington Wizards on April 3. But Derek could see that production coming from the moment Ledo took the court in blue and orange. After the second-year guard’s debut against Toronto on March 22, Fish knew he had a solid scoring option in the backcourt.
“I thought Ricky handled the minutes well,” Fish said. “It’s tough to go out there and only know portions of what you need to do. He’s a guy who can put the ball in the basket and do some things on the offensive end, and over the next week, as he gets more opportunities, I think he’ll get more and more comfortable.”
ALEXEY SHVED
The Knicks backcourt was in a constant state of flux throughout the season, with different pieces being shuttled in and out of the lineup on an almost nightly basis. But few of those flashed as brightly as Alexey Shved. Acquired by the Knicks in February, Shved played in 16 games for New York in February and March before a rib injury brought his season to an abrupt end.
But Shved was stellar when he was on the court, scoring eight or more points in all 16 games he played, doing so in seven straight games off the bench to begin his Knicks tenure earned Shved nine consecutive starts before he suffered the injury. He tallied double doubles in two of his first three starts, then closed his season strong with 20+ point outputs in his final three full games before suffering the injury during a mid-March game in Toronto and sitting out the rest of the season. Though Shved’s impact was brief, Derek was nonetheless impressed with the ability of the third-year guard.
“He’s one of the guys who, even if things are breaking down on an offensive possession, his ball skills, his passing and his shot making allow him to figure some things out,” Fish said of Shved. “It’s great to see him playing with that kind of confidence. We want all of our guys to play with that type of belief in themselves.”
