If you blinked, you might have missed Metta World Peace's brief tenure with the New York Knicks this season. Last summer, World Peace agreed to sign with the Knicks after playing for several years with the Los Angeles Lakers, and the thought was that he would retire after spending a couple seasons playing back in his hometown. It didn't work out that way, though, as earlier this afternoon, he revealed that the Knicks had agreed to buy out his contract and release him after a tumultuous few days that included World Peace's brother throwing shots at the Knicks organization:
Part of the reason World Peace is leaving is because it sounded like World Peace wanted to be released by the Knicks. But part of it is also because, quite frankly, World Peace wasn't very good with the Knicks this season. He only played in 29 games for the team (and only started one). He only averaged 4.8 points per game. And he never really worked his way into the regular rotation.
Shortly after he was released, World Peace released this farewell video to thank New York City for supporting him:
And after watching it, you would think that he had a pretty solid stint with the Knicks. But some things to consider:
- The video, which is only two minutes and 18 seconds long, features World Peace scoring 48 of the 139 points he scored with the Knicks this season. That's roughly 33 percent of the points he scored all season in one two-minute clip.
- The video also features 6 of the 17 three-pointers World Peace made this season. Again, that's roughly 33 percent of all his three-pointers from this season...in two minutes!
- There was only one defensive highlight in the entire video.
- Only one of the 22 highlights in the clip shows World Peace playing during what would be considered "crunch time" (and even that clip was from early in the fourth quarter of a tight game). Most of the clips feature him playing in the first halves of games or during blowouts.
So if this farewell video taught us anything, it's this: World Peace never really had a chance to show what he could do with the Knicks. So he probably should have stayed with the Lakers. Even though his situation would have sucked if he would have stayed there (the Lakers are having just as bad of a season as the Knicks), he likely would have had a lot more to show for himself at this point in the year.
Oh well. Where's he headed to next?
RELATED: #knickstape: Looking Back at New York's Lost Decade and a Half
[via YouTube]
