Jose Calderon acknowledges he should have been a backup on the Knicks
Jose Calderon may have been the worst starting point guard in the league last season, and even he isn’t trying to sugarcoat it.
Some three weeks after he was traded by the Knicks in a package for former MVP Derrick Rose, Calderon opened up about his time in New York in an interview with Marc Berman of the New York Post on Friday, admitting that he would have been better suited as a backup.
“It’s something they needed,” Calderon said of the Knicks’ acquisition of Rose. “Like I said, I was ready for a different role and I was ready for a different role the last couple of years. Maybe there wasn’t the player to put ahead of me.
“I always said I wasn’t the one putting me in the starting role or playing me 35 minutes,” he continued. “It could’ve been a guy like a Derrick Rose and I would’ve been the backup point guard. It’s a tough position to play. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. I’ve been in the league 12 years and I know what I do best or not do as well. It’s nothing personal. It’s what the team needed. Hopefully it will work better.”
The 34-year-old Calderon started all 72 games he played in for the Knicks in 2015-16, averaging 7.6 points per game, 3.2 rebounds per game, and 4.2 assists per game. Though serviceable as a distributor and a spot-up three-point shooter, he was tasked with too much as New York’s starting point guard, resulting in his inadequacies on defense and at creating his own shot being augmented.
After being traded to the Bulls in the Rose deal, Calderon was promptly flipped to the Lakers several days later so that Chicago could create the necessary cap space to sign Dwyane Wade. The Spaniard will, in all likelihood, be coming off the bench for the Lakers next season behind young lads D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson, which is the perfect low-usage tutoring role for Calderon at this juncture of his NBA journey.
Image Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
H/T theScore
