The New York Knicks Need to Create Stability at PF

By Matt Constas on October 13, 2014

Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani are the first and third highest paid players currently on the New York Knicks‘ roster. Once upon a time, both players had promise. Stoudemire, selected with the ninth overall pick in 2002 from a Florida high school, turned into one of the NBA‘s most dominant post players of the 2000s. Bargnani was selected first overall in 2006, sent from Rome to grace the league with his Italian charm.

Fast forward to now, a time when both are playing at a far inferior level than their contracts’ worth. Stoudemire is past his prime and Bargnani never even reached his, failing to meet expectations up to this point in his career. The unfortunate thing for the Knicks is that they are stuck with these two for the time being.

Both players had chances to opt out of their contract after last season was completed, and many Knicks fans hoped they would enter free agency. Those prayers were left unanswered, and understandably so. It is hard to believe that Stoudemire (owed $23.4 million in 2014-15), Bargnani (owed $12 million) or any sane human being would turn down that kind of money to test the free agency market, especially when you know you will never see your name and those many digits in the same contract ever again. With Carmelo Anthony set to play more minutes at small forward in the new triangle offense, the Knicks are stuck with these two guys as their primary sources for the power forward position. It looks like they will have to find a way to make the best out of a crappy situation.

Bargnani and Stoudemire can’t be on the court at the same time. It just can’t happen. The duo is too bad together for that to even be a thought in head coach Derek Fisher‘s mind.

Good visual on why Bargnani & Amare present such a lineup challenge for Fisher. Def can’t play em together: pic.twitter.com/0ZOQaqEOm3

— Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) October 13, 2014

So the Knicks play their worst with them and best without them both. So benching them seems to be the only reasonable answer, right? Well, that probably won’t happen, so let’s look at some options.

One personal favorite would be to keep options open with Anthony. He has proved he can play the four, and at times during the season it will be the right matchup depending on the opponent. Fisher should always keep his eyes open for that.

From there, it is hard to predict what he will do with the two, especially since Stoudemire can’t really be judged too much based on his preseason play and Bargnani has only played in one of three games due to a hamstring injury. What Fisher will look to do is play both players at separate times, like I said before, and find which player’s strengths mesh well with other players. At this point in their careers, neither will add much defensively, but can hopefully produce on offense. In a situation where the Knicks might be looking for more three-pointers and will look to stretch the floor, Bargnani will be their man. If they are looking to have more of a post scoring presence, then it is Stoudemire. If the two can produce a little on offense and keep it efficient, then the Knicks can hopefully skate by.

These two are not the only players that could play the position. Quincy Acy started their preseason game on Tuesday and Jason Smith, who feels as though he fits the triangle offense very well, can also play the four while mostly playing at the five. There will be a lot of moving players around and searching for the correct lineups at the beginning of the season, but whatever earns wins will be what Fisher ultimately sticks with.

It is hard to tell what Bargnani and Stoudemire will bring to the Knicks this season. If it is anything like last year, it won’t be much. The one bright side to their huge contracts is that after this season they are expiring, so Phil Jackson and company will be able to go on a little shopping spree next summer if they so please.