Game 39: New York Knicks (22-15) vs Dallas Mavericks (22-16)

[surfpuckmd]

Absolutely right.

The team obviously needs what he brings to the table pretty desperately. However, there seems to be a misconception that the good things he does will somehow offset his inability to shoot, should that trend continue. That just isn’t true. You can’t have somebody out there who the other team doesn’t have to guard. The end, period.

Because I enjoy what DJJ brings to the table so much, I sincerely hope he starts hitting shots again. He doesn’t have to be Hardaway, but he has to hold a defender in place.

This is complicated.  I think he's still one of our better players despite the 3-point slump.  His defense and ability to finish at the rim and in transition are still giving us winning minutes.  I think he can maintain this in the regular season and especially in lineups without Luka.  He's been much better than Grant Williams because of all else he brings.  

In the playoffs though, DJJ will have to be able to hit 3 point shots when playing with Luka.  Otherwise, he's a liability. We'd have to restrict his minutes to when Luka sits.  I think the freneticism of the Kyrie, Hardy, Green and DJJ lineups allow DJJ to still thrive even when he's not hitting the 3.  That's only gonna be about 10 minutes though in a playoff series.