The New York Knicks have gotten two straight victories over the Chicago Bulls in impressive fashion, but overall this season, which once showed a lot of hope, has been a disappointment. The Knicks did discover that they have a potential future star in Kristaps Porzingis, but they were hoping to compete for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
One of the major issues for the Knicks this season has been the play of their backcourt, more specifically the point guard position. Jose Calderon has been the starting point guard throughout the season, and although he has been pretty good on offense the Knicks realize they need an upgrade.
The issue the Knicks face is that Calderon is under contract for another season. They plan to solve that problem though, by using the stretch provision on him. What the stretch provision would do is take Calderon's salary for next year ($7.7 million) and stretch it out over several years so that it saves the Knicks some cap space for next season and gets Calderon off the team.
Using the stretch provision is essentially a buyout, but instead of paying the player what you owe him in just one season you can pay smaller increments over several seasons. Whle the Knicks see this as a very realistic option, it reportedly will be influenced by how Tony Wroten looks in summer league.
The Knicks signed Wroten a couple of weeks ago but are not allowing him to play this season. Wroten was cut by the 76ers after he struggled coming back from an ACL tear, and the Knicks think he needs more time for the leg to heal. New York gave Wroten a multi-year deal, so clearly they like him as a player, but they want to see that he is healthy enough before they move on from Calderon.
Of course the Knicks can get busy in free agency to sign a point guard, and they will likely try to get their hands on Mike Conley, but that isn't exactly realistic. Going into next season with Wroten and Jerian Grant as the point guards wouldn't exactly be ideal, but they are both young guys who could be future assets for the Knicks.
The problem with Calderon is not his offensive game. The 34-year-old is a good shooter (41 percent from three this season) and a gifted passer (check out this three-quarter-court alley-oop), but his issue is he can't stop opposing point guards. This season Calderon has regularly been beaten by his man, and that doesn't just effect him as it has gotten Porzingis in foul trouble on occasion. Calderon is only getting older, so this issue will continue to be there as long as he is on the team; at least going in a younger direction should help on defense in theory.
