Chris Duhon was the starting point guard in a very tough time for the Knicks, but that didn’t stop him from running the show fairly well.
Under offensive aficionado Mike D’Antoni, he ran an offense that ranked top-10 in the league in points per game in both of his seasons. Given the less than stellar talent on those Knicks teams, it’s an impressive feat.
Duhon was great at reading the floor, usually making the correct play, whether that meant dishing off to the open man or taking a shot for himself. Coming off the pick and roll, he was fairly quick going to the bucket and could drop bounce passes past defenders to teammates diving to the rim.
An underrated fact about Duhon is that he actually holds the record for most assists in a single game for the Knicks after he dished out 22 assists against the Golden State Warriors in December of 2008. This is a testament to his abilities running the show for an NBA team.
Given the combined 61 wins the Knicks won in Duhon’s two years with the team, his skill set didn’t lead to much winning.
However, that can’t possibly all fall on the shoulders of Duhon. He was the orchestrator to one of the better offensive teams in the league. Duhon was always patient and methodical with the ball in his hands, sometimes looking to score and other times trying to get his teammates involved.
Time likely won’t be very kind to Duhon’s tenure in New York, but he still proved an adequate floor general who could carry out coach D’Antoni’s gameplan and execute it well enough to consider it a success.