The New York Knicks have their point guard. It’s New York city’s, Kemba Walker. Here’s a closer look at what he brings to the team.
Kemba Walker is coming home. After reaching a buyout with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Walker reportedly intends to sign with the New York Knicks.
The Bronx-born Walker will play his first NBA home games at Madison Square Garden next season, but his Garden heroics date back to when he was just a kid.
Kemba starred at Rice High School, where he faced off against his new teammate Derrick Rose and for the New York City Gauchos – the country’s No. 1 AAU team.
Then he went to college.
If you’ve been on Twitter since Woj dropped the Kemba bomb, you’ve watched Kemba’s step back vs. the University of Pittsburgh in the 2011 Big East Tournament Quarterfinals.
College basketball looked completely different in 2011. Pitt was the class of the Big East, and they entered the conference tournament as the clear favorites. It would’ve been the program’s second conference title in four seasons.
Kemba threw a wrench into those plans.
This move was a signature moment in one of the most incredible post-season runs in college basketball history. Walker’s University of Connecticut Huskies ripped off five wins in five days en route to the Big East Championship.
If that wasn’t enough, UCONN ripped off six more to win a National Championship. All this from a team that finished ninth in the Big East after dropping four of their last five games.
Kemba did everything a college basketball player can do in his junior season at UCONN. He was a consensus All-American and the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Then it was off to the NBA.
Walker spent most of his career with the Charlotte Hornets before spending the last two seasons with the Boston Celtics.
Overall, Kemba’s had an impressive ten years in the NBA, but it’s yielded very little team success. Charlotte was literally the worst team of all time in Kemba’s rookie season. It couldn’t have been easy going from first to the actual worst.
Like RJ Barrett, Kemba was left off both rookie teams. Like Julius Randle, Kemba was a late bloomer – not making his first All-Star Game till his sixth season.
Walker has made four All-Star teams but only made it out of the first round of the playoffs once. Signing with the Celtics was supposed to fix those postseason woes, but poor roster construction and knee injuries nixed those playoff dreams. Brad Stevens’ fondness for Al Horford is what forced a trade to OKC.
Now, Kemba finds himself in a seemingly perfect fit.
He’s coming home to a fan base desperate for something more than a get-rich-quick scheme to fix the point guard position. Decades of falling for the same old crap will do that to you. If Kemba looks like the Kemba we all fell in love with, he can be part of that plan.
Don’t worry about Kemba fitting in on a Thibodeau team. In Charlotte, he played the best basketball of his career under another Van Gundy disciple, Steve Clifford. Kemba agreed to an unprecedented amount of money on a contract buyout to play for this team.
Let’s take a closer look at what Kemba can do for the Knicks next season.
Some essential numbers to point out: Just two seasons ago, Kemba was named a starter in the All-Star Game, third team All-NBA, averaged a career-high 25.6 points per game, and played all 82 games. In fact, Kemba’s played all 82 games twice – and played in 80+ four times.
In the last ten games of the regular season, he was regaining his usual form – averaging 24.4 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.5 made threes per game on a slash line of .488/.393/.820.
Despite a “down year” from the four-time All-Star last season, he still averaged 19.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 3.0 made three per game, on a .420/.360/.899 slash. Even if he put up those exact numbers, he’d be the most productive Knicks point guard since Stephon Marbury.
Kemba’s three-point percentage looks average but it’s more impressive when you consider the lack of quality long distance opportunities he received in Boston last season.
As Prez says here, playing with Julius Randle should improve Kemba’s impact from beyond the arc. There were few players better in the league last season at setting up their teammates for three-point looks.
Randle connected with Reggie Bullock on 87 of his 3-point makes last season, per pbpstats. Only the Draymond-Steph connection was more potent. Randle assisted on 35 corner triples to RJ Barrett last season – more than any other assist combo in the NBA.
When Kemba was “wide open” last season (no defender within 6+ feet of the shooter) Kemba converted at a blistering 45.4 percent rate, per NBA Stats.
Kemba’s drives are slightly down, but he still converted at a respectable 50 percent from the field when he drives to the hoop, per NBA Stats. One alarming stat is that he shot a career low in file goal attempts at the rim – although he did convert a career high in percentage in the same area, per Cleaning the Glass.
Adding Kemba gives New York another player capable of hitting a pull up three. Immanuel Quickley was the first real threat in that department that the Knicks have had since Carmelo Anthony.
Quickley hit 59 pullup triples last season, but Walker hit 82 in just 43 games. The addition of Walker’s Celtics teammate Evan Fournier gives New York three pull up three-point shooters.
It will be nice for New York to have another pick and roll point guard threat too.
The NBA Stats database began recording play type data in 2015-16. The Knicks’ highest pick and roll ball handler possessions were from Derrick Rose – the first time he played for the Knicks in 2016-17. The highest amount since then? Rose again – last season. The former MVP is still a threat, but he’s coming off the bench this time around.
Kemba is a proven threat as a high volume, high efficiency player in the pick and roll. Two seasons ago, he finished in the 92nd percentile on 9.6 possessions as the P&R ball handler, per NBA Stats.
With Rose and Kemba, the Knicks have two attacking point guards who can pick and roll when the starters are out there and with the bench unit.
The key to this trade, of course, is Walker’s health. He missed 39 games in two seasons with the Celtics. In eight seasons with the Hornets, Kemba missed 34 games total.
But the possibility of a healthy Kemba is the reason everyone is so excited about next season. With an annual salary reported to be around $8 million for two seasons, Walker could become one of the best contracts in the NBA.
Kemba turned Madison Square Garden into his playground for five straight days during the Big East Tournament. Ten years later, he has a chance to make it his home.
Let us know your thoughts on Kemba Walker returning to Madison Square Garden! Leave us a comment in the comment section below or in the social media comments section of where this piece is posted!
