The Knicks are Idiots: Allonzo Trier vs. Theo Pinson
I know this doesn’t seem like a big thing because the Knicks aren’t even traveling to Orlando, but what the hell are they doing? Why is getting rid of Allonzo Trier the move that seemed smart to them? I wasn’t following the Knicks religiously this year, but I followed them enough that I knew Trier wasn’t getting too much playing time. He only appeared in 24 games for the Knicks, meanwhile the previous season he played in 64. To put that into perspective, Theo Pinson has appeared in 51 games throughout both of his first two years in the league. Before I go any further, I want to state again that while this may not seem like a huge deal, it’s just a move that baffles me so I wanted to dive a little deeper into it.
Through his first two seasons, Trier has shot 45.4% from the field and 38.4% from three. For a spark plug off the bench, these are some pretty solid percentages. I’d love to have a guy like him on the Celtics, even though I don’t think there’s anyone I’d waive right now to pick him up. Meanwhile, Theo Pinson has shot 30.7%... from the field. To make things even worse, he’s shot 21.4% from three. Why would New York claim a guy off waivers who shoots a very significantly worse clip than the guy they’re waiving? The move just doesn’t make sense to me.
Coming into the year, I assumed the Knicks would roll out a lineup of Elfrid Payton, RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson, with Allonzo Trier playing the Lou Williams-esque sixth man role. I would even argue that Trier should have been playing the end of games in place of Knox, thus bumping RJ to the three. Evidently, New York decided to simply not play Trier that much at all.
What makes it even worse, is that Trier started off the year pretty well. Out of the first 15 games he played, he only really struggled in 2 of them. In 2 of them he didn’t get enough shots to make an impact, and in those other 11 he was good. In 6 out of the 15 games, Trier took 5 or more shots. Out of those 6 he only shot below 44% from the field once, and only shot below 50% twice. Then when you look at his percentages from 3, it looks even more impressive. He shot 3 or more threes in 7 out of the first 15 games he appeared in. Out of those, there was only one game where he didn’t make one, and only one game where he only made one. That means for the 5 other games, he shot at least 40% from three.
Now let’s take a quick look at Theo Pinson’s 2019-2020 season. Pinson has had 13 games out of his 33 where he has taken 5 or more shots. Out of those, he only managed to shoot better than 40% twice, including 6 performances which saw him shoot below 30% from the field. To make matters worse, there have also been 9 games this year where he has failed to make a shot, and in 4 of them he took 3 or more shots. Moving onto his three-point percentage, an aspect of the game at which Trier excels. Pinson has taken a three pointer in 29 out of the 33 games he has appeared in. In 17 of those games he has not successfully made a three, and in 7 of those games he attempted at least 3 threes.
I really hope Pinson turns out super well for the Knicks, but you tell me, as a competent human being, in what world is Theo Pinson a better NBA basketball player than Allonzo Trier. Why are the Knicks the most incompetent organization in the entire league? Hopefully a contending team picks up Trier for the Orlando run and he can prove to New York that they made a mistake, because in my eyes, they clearly did.
