I’m not saying that
Jose Calderon can’t play basketball anymore… I’m just saying maybe he shouldn’t.
And if you listened closely after the New York Knicks dropped their home opener to the Atlanta Hawks by a final score of 112-101 on Wednesday night, you could probably hear head coach Derek Fisher suggest the same.
“The bigger problem was the 52 points in the paint,” he told the assembled media, suggesting that the 10-for-24 shooting from the three-point line isn’t what did his team in.
“Jeff Teague, Dennis Schroder laying the ball up at the rim, that hurts us much more than them hitting threes.”
And in all fairness, even after Calderon was removed, Teague and Schroder—who combined to shoot 13-for-23 from the field for 36 points—continued to do whatever they wanted.
But while it may be a bit harsh to suggest that Calderon shouldn’t play anymore, it’s probably time to face the fact and admit that in a league dominated by lightning quick point guards, he is no longer starting caliber.
It’s also probably time to wonder whether the Knicks would be better served by starting Langston Galloway or Jerian Grant at the point guard position.
On Wednesday night, in 18 minutes of action, Calderon managed to shoot a blistering 0-for-5 from the field. More impressively, he accomplished the rare feat of of costing his team a full point for every minute he played, as his final plus-minus was—you guessed it—a minus-18.
Sure, he had a few decent showings in the preseason, but those games are played at half speed, and what the Knicks encountered on Thursday night, those Hawks, was the real deal. It’s safe to assume that he is no longer up to the challenge of chasing point guards 10 years his junior around screens and racing them up the floor. And although he was never regarded as a defensive stalwart, historically, Calderon at least made up for his defensive deficiencies by being a superb offensive player.
That appears to no longer be the case, though.
Many moons ago, as a member of the Toronto Raptors, the idea of Calderon being a net-negative was difficult to imagine. He has a reputation as being a poor defender, but on the offensive end of the floor, he was a maestro. The 10 points per game he averaged over the course of his career as well as his 41 percent career three-point shooting mark tell us that, but some could have (and did) make the argument that Calderon was one of the best distributors of this generation.
Playing for the Raptors and for his Spanish national team in FIBA competition, Calderon routinely displayed the same superpower as Jason Kidd and Steve Nash—on the basketball court, he was able to see the future and put the ball where it needed to be before opposing defenders knew what was coming.
A fairly simple and effective barometer for measuring a point guard’s effectiveness is his assist-to-turnover ratio. In order to be considered a “good” point guard, your ratio should probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5 assists for each turnover. Anything above three is excellent, and accomplishing anything above that is both superb and basically impossible to sustain.
For context, consider the following: Magic Johnson’s career assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.89. Rajon Rondo’s is 2.94 and Steve Nash’s is slightly better at 2.97. Jason Kidd clocks in at 3.02 while John Stockton—regarded by many as the greatest point guard to ever play—has an amazing 3.72.
The best ratio in NBA history belongs to Tyrone “Mugsy” Bogues, who boasts a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.69. So, when I tell you that Calderon’s assist-to-turnover ratio entering the 2014-15 season was 4.08, realize that this was not just good, it was historically good.
Today, Calderon clocks in with a 3.83 assist-to-turnover ratio, and while that’s still excellent, it can be used as evidence to suggest that he is not the same player he once was. That’s much easier to buy when you consider his recently passed 34th birthday.
When Phil Jackson agreed to send Tyson Chandler to the Dallas Mavericks, he did so with the hope that Calderon, even as he approached his 33rd birthday and had about $22 million due to him over the next three years, would continue to be the player that helped Sam Mitchell and Chris Bosh turn the Raptors into division champions.
Thus far, though, that has not been the case, and unfortunately, in the world of NBA point guards, when it goes, it goes.
The gross majority of NBA players do not improve or get any healthier as they get older, so if you’re waiting for a 34-year-old point guard to revert to his former self, well, you may be waiting in vain.
“It has been two games,” Calderon said dismissively of his poor performance on Thursday night.
“Let’s not make a big deal about it,” he said.
But if you won’t, then I will. I may have grown up in Hempstead, Long Island, but I claim New York City and believe I have earned that right after living in Manhattan and Queens for the past 12 years. If there’s one thing I know about this town, it is that it doesn’t take long for a New Yorker to make up their mind about anything.
So in typical New York fashion, despite the season being just two games old, let’s just go ahead and state the obvious and agree that Calderon would probably serve the Knicks best by holding Derek Fisher’s clipboard and handing Jerian Grant towels.
It may be harsh, but you know what? It’s also probably true. The only one hoping to see Calderon remain in the starting lineup for the Knicks next contest would be John Wall, whom the Knicks will see on Saturday night.
Hamilton: At 34 years old, Jose Calderon can no longer keep up
Meanwhile, KP is a superstar with his 30% to 40% struggle buckets and 2-8 rebounds at 7'3''.
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I see you breh.... Low key spitting game
