New York Knicks: One Area In Which Every Starter Must Improve

Brandon Jennings: Willingness To Score

Position: Sixth Man
Age: 27 (9/23/1989)
Experience: 8th Season
2016-17 Slash Line: .395/.328/.756
2016-17 Season Averages: 23.6 MPG, 8.5 PPG, 5.1 APG, 2.8 RPG, 0.9 SPG, 1.1 3PM

Brandon Jennings has displayed a disheartening tendency to pass up shot attempts for an opportunity to facilitate. That’s a selfless approach to the game, but it’s also a mentality that limits his individual potential.

The New York Knicks benefit from Jennings’ proficiency as a facilitator, but he must be willing to score when the opportunities to do so are presented.

Jennings has an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 57.2 percent when he holds the ball for fewer than two seconds. That number plummets to 44.2 percent when he holds the ball for between two and six seconds, and drops to 43.3 percent when he holds the ball for six seconds or longer.

Those numbers are a fair reflection of what’s plagued Jennings in 2016-17: he’s over thinking when he should be naturally reacting to what’s in front of him.

Jeff Hornacek has been pleading with Jennings to shoot when he has a chance to do so. Jennings is the Knicks’ primary facilitator and one of the craftier passers in the NBA, but he’s also a tremendous scoring threat who has 33 career games with at least 30 points.

There’s nothing wrong with Jennings picking his spots as a scorer, but he must not be afraid nor hesitant to let it fly when the opportunity to score presents itself.

Must Read: Defense remains the reason for failure

The question is: can the Knicks’ core players turn things around before it’s too late?