NY Knicks: 3 Players Who Will Benefit from the Return of Derrick Rose

Kemba Walker can still learn a lot from NY Knicks’ Derrick Rose

The Knicks made an extremely surprising move when they signed the 4-time All-Star after his contract was bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Walker is expected to start at point guard, and he likely won’t share a ton of minutes alongside Rose.

However, that’s precisely why Rose helps him, as we’ve mentioned in articles before.

The Bronx native has struggled with knee injuries as he’s entered his early thirties, and he’s no longer the 25+ ppg scorer he was with the Charlotte Hornets.

In fact, he’s missed a combined 45 games over the past two seasons due to various injuries.

He averaged a respectable 19.3 points and 4.9 assists per game last season with the Boston Celtics, but he was only able to suit up in 43 contests.

It appears that the stress of a 10-year NBA career has finally started catching up with him, and he’s not able to play heavy minutes for all 82 games.

That’s where Rose comes in.

With arguably the best backup point guard in the NBA, head coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t need to have Walker on the floor for 32+ minutes every night.

He can stagger their playing time so that they both record around 25 minutes while occasionally sharing the floor together as an ultra-small backcourt.

The Celtics tried to experiment with a reduction in playing time a bit last season, and the results were encouraging.

Walker actually had a higher field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and net rating in games where he played 20-29 minutes compared to games where he played 30+ minutes.

It’s clear that Walker performs at his best when given a slightly reduced starting role at this stage in his career, and the presence of Rose should allow him to remain and thrive in that role.