New York Knicks: Most Cost Effective Players and Lineups

There was a Hostess Factory Outlet near my house growing up. That is exactly what it sounds like. The store sold discounted Hostess snack cakes, and, bubba, it was Shangri-La to a kid like me.

Per Forbes Magazine, the New York Knicks are the most valuable franchise in the NBA. James Dolan and company obviously do not need to shop for nearly stale Twinkies and Ding Dongs, but I’d argue you don’t get to that coveted slot without some thrifty spending.

So which Knicks players are Honey Buns (the best Hostess cake) worth buying and which ones are Fruit Pies (the worst Hostess treat) that are not worth the nickel?

The Knicks are sporting a playoff-contending team with a whole bunch of cap space still available. They’re probably the best “budget” team in the league, but exactly how cost-effective is the Knicks’ roster?

Determining which players are the most cost-effective just involved some pretty simple math. I took a player’s Offensive Points Added, Defensive Points Saved, and Total Points Added (all per NBA Math) and divided it by their salary according to Basketball-Reference.

Your gut, like mine, might be telling you right off the bat that Mitchell Robinson with his $1.66 million salary figure is obviously the most cost-effective.

Max, did you write this article just to discuss Hostess Snack Cakes?

Not entirely.

Robinson is actually not the most cost-effective player on the Knicks currently. He’s actually a fairly distant second in this data set.

The most cost-effective New York Knick by nearly 3 points added per million dollars paid over the second-place Robinson is Immanuel Quickley. Quickley boasts a TPA/million dollars of 10.2. Robinson’s number for the same figure is 7.48.

If Quickley is the Honey Bun, Robinson is definitely the Twinkie. I’m taking both of them at the current price.

Julius Randle is pretty high on this list as well. He clocks in third at 5.05 TPA/million dollars. Let’s call him the Snoball.

You probably guessed the fruit pie. Your heart knows exactly who the fruit pie is even at his fairly reasonable salary.

It’s Elfrid Payton. Go figure.

Payton costs the New York Knicks 9.56 points per million dollars paid. The next two Knicks on that list are Reggie Bullock who deducts 5.99 points per million dollars paid and RJ Barrett who subtracts 5.32 points per million. This is yet another reason why we here at Daily Knicks have tried to hypothetically trade Elfrid Payton more times than kids trade their Hostess snacks in the cafeteria (I swear we aren’t sponsored, but at this point, we should be).

Curiosity dictated that I find out the most cost-effective offensive and defensive line-ups as well.

The most cost-effective Knicks line-up for offensive firepower is a five-man group of Derrick Rose/Quickley/Alec Burks/Obi Toppin/Julius Randle. What’s interesting to note here is that Toppin has an OPA of -1.33 per million dollars paid. This squares with the eye-test that says the New York Knicks still have some room for growth on offense. Only Rose, Quickley, Burks, and Randle are currently in the plus column of OPA. This is especially glaring as Randle is the only frontcourt player on that list.

The most cost-effective Knicks line-up for Defensive Prowess is a squad of Robinson/Noel/Bullock/Gibson/Randle. Toppin and Burks currently post a positive DPS figure well though not at much bang for the buck (0.41/million and 0.48/million, respectively). Again, you see an interesting breakdown here as the positive DPS numbers heavily tilt toward front-court players with the guards lagging behind.

Finally, I constructed the most cost-effective overall line-up. It was an easy five-man team to construct as they are the only five players who currently have a positive TPA figure for the Knicks. That group is Quickley/Burks/Noel/Randle/Robinson.

I don’t know about you, but I’d buy that sleeve of powdered donettes at the Hostess Factory Outlet. I might even splurge and pay full price!