Toney Douglas Is Going To School

After the Carmelo Anthony trade, a few analysts on ESPN said the Knicks gave up too many of their complimentary pieces in the deal with Denver. What most analysts neglected to mention however, was the impact newly acquired veteran point guards Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter could bring to the young Knicks team.

Toney Douglas, who was drafted 29th in the 2009 NBA draft, is in his second season with the Knicks, and has shown fans he can score and play defense at a relatively high intensity. Prior to the trade with the Nuggets, Douglas was a shooting guard in a point guard’s body, and really didn’t possess many playmaking skills on the court.

As many of us know, when Chauncey Billups went down with an injury last week during the team’s loss in Orlando, Douglas was called upon to take the reigns of the offense, and lead the team to wins in the absence of Billups. Since Billups’ injury, the Knicks are 4-2 and Douglas has averaged 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists starting in those games mentioned.

Before the trade, Douglas likely wouldn’t have been able to put up those assist numbers, so something is obviously happening to Douglas’ game. He is clearly being mentored by the veteran point guards, Chauncey Billups an Anthony Carter. Chauncey Billups has a reputation for teaching young guards how to play, like Ty Lawson and Rodney Stuckey for example. Anthony Carter is a defensively adept player, who was responsible for shutting down Dwyane Wade in the team’s recent victory over the Heat.

With these two players taking Douglas and showing him the ropes, the Knicks may have possibly have a good future playmaker in Douglas, who can come off the bench and serve the team well. The ceiling of Douglas is pretty high, especially with the arrival of Carter and Billups, which automatically raises the ceiling of this new-look Knicks basketball team.