NYK at the halfway point

Through the seasons first 41 games the Knicks stand with a record of 22-19 and hold the #6 seed in the Eastern Conference. This is obviously quite a turnaround from a team that has not had a winning record in a decade. The popular notion that most of the reason for the comeback fo the Knicks is that the arrival of Amar'e Stoudemire has propelled this team from the doldrums to at least being competitive. Looking at Wins Produced, the numbers tell a different story. Currently Amar'e has produced 3.2 wins for the Knicks and on a per 48 minute basis produced .102 wins per 48 minutes. The average NBA player will produce .100 wins per 48 (WP48). A little caveat is that Stoudemire has played 75% of his minutes at the center position instead of his normal power forward spot. Although I have no idea why a 6'10 player with incredible strength and speed can't play at the center position.

Who should we credit for the turnaround for the Knicks? According to the numbers by Andres Alvarez Landry Fields currently leads the Knicks in wins produced with 7.9 and following him is Raymond Felton with 4.5 wins. Both players have started every game for the team this year. This is quite a different backcourt than the Knicks featured last year which was comprised of Chris Duhon, Sergio Rodriguez, Larry Hughes, and Tracy McGrady, all of whom were below average performes. Another bright spot has been the improved play of Wilson Chandler, despite playing out of position at the power forward spot his WP48 stands at .062, if he was playing his normal guard/forward, Wilson would be a very much above average performer. The addition of Shawne Williams has helped, and even though he will not continue to shoot 50% from three point land, he should be a productive player. Here is a rundown of every Knick player and their contribution to the cause this season:

Knicks through 41 games

In a separate story with the Nets pulling out of the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes (which means they will end up acquiring him) the Knicks have turned up as the front runner to attain him. The New York Post is reporting that the Knicks will be prepared to offer Landry Fields, Danilo Galinari, Bill Walker, the Corpse of Eddy Curry, and a first round pick attained for the center piece in the David Lee trade: Anthony Randolph.

The sum of the trade is the Knicks giving up three players 23 and under, cap space, and draft picks for Carmelo Anthony who is past his peak year of age 24-25. Would this be a wise trade?

Caremlo for the Nuggets has netted 3.5 wins this season and a WP48 of .141. Assuming this trade goes through and every player involved stays at the current level of production the swap would be sending 11 wins to Denver between Landry Fields, Gallo, and Bill Walker and the Knicks would acquire 3.5 Wins. The net result being the Knicks would be expected to perform 7.5 wins worse over the course of the next 41 games by completing the trade.

Hollinger hates Landry Fields

I was browsing Hollinger's Player Efficency Ratings today and noticed that our man Landry Fields rates below average in his system. It is interesting that Hollinger calls his system the Player Efficency Rating or (PER) as it is more commonly known as because it really has nothing to do with being efficent. As has been chronicled in the past by the Wages of Wins, the PER has no penalty with respects to shooting efficency which is the primary driving force behind Wins Produced per 48 minutes (WP48). Although this should not be surprising since the PER is heavily driven by scoring totals, which is why Landry Fields can be rated as a below average player in this system.

PER average player - 15
Landry Fields- 14.67

WP48 average player- .100
Landry Fields- .296