Is that Shirt Felton? Unfortunately, Now It Is

Mike Kurylo over at Knickerblogger has been totally spot-on the entire season with his assertions that the Knicks team performance is highly dependent upon Raymond Felton's level of performance. This may seem like it could apply to any team and its point guard, but there is something particularly relevant when the point guard is playing under Mike D'Antoni.

In a post from today, Kurylo takes a depressing, chart-heavy, and insightful look at Felton's recent slump, one that has left a lot of fans feeling just as uneasy as they (read: we) did for the first couple weeks of the season.

I would specifically like to point you to the comment from Owen, who wisely notes:

I just wonder if there is a pattern here with point guards wearing down in the 7SOL offense. Both Duhon and Felton came in and shot the lights out and generally played the best ball of their lives for two months. Then something happened: defenses adjusted, they wore down, regression to the mean, and suddenly the magic was gone.

It’s not easy to play 38 minutes a game at the fastest pace in the league while trying to be a plus defender. There’s probably a reason Nash has never tried. While Felton played great for a pretty long stretch it’s pretty clear that Mike is on to something. And for all that people talk about systems and player interactions, the greatest predictor of what a player will do going forward is what he has done in the past. Playing next to Amare under the tutelage of D’Antoni isn’t alchemy…

This is a very good point, and one that does not bring me much comfort. Here's hoping Ray has a very relaxing and rejuvenating All-Star break.