Barring a shocking winning streak, the 2014-15 NBA season will go down as the worst in the history of the New York Knicks. Melo is down with a knee injury in the first year of the $124 million contract he signed during the offseason. Amar'e Stoudemire, J.R. Smith, and Iman Shumpert are gone. Team president Phil Jackson has admitted that his "experiment" of overhauling the roster and installing the triangle offense has "fallen flat on its face." Knicks devotees unanimously agree.
mostly he's about his business and playing NBA 2K15 and Grand Theft Auto.
And while they wait to see what lottery pick the team gets and what kind of deals Jackson makes in the offseason, there's one other thing that they can be happy about—the emergence of rookie point guard Langston Galloway. Undrafted out of Philadelphia's St. Joseph's University, where he averaged 17.7 points as a senior, the 23-year-old played for the Knicks in the Summer League, saw a few minutes in the preseason, then went to the team's D-League affiliate in Westchester after getting waived. He quietly led the team in scoring with 16.5 ppg, but there was little indication he'd ever even find himself taking up a seat at the end of the big club's bench.
But then the Knicks stopped winning and changes needed to be made. On January 7th, Galloway got called up—the first Westchester Knick to have the honor—and signed a 10-day contract. The next night, in his second game, he went 6 for 10 with 19 points in a loss to the Rockets, stealing the show with a huge put-back slam on a missed three. On the 19th, working on his second 10-day contract, Galloway made his first start, banking 21 points to help the team break a 16-game losing streak. Eight days later, he got his big reward—a partially guaranteed deal that should keep him with the Knicks through next season at the minimum of $825,000.
So how did he celebrate his first real NBA deal? Sitting in a New York bowling alley for the team's annual charity event for the Garden of Dreams Foundation—an organization that has helped over 250,000 children and their families facing homelessness, extreme poverty, illness and foster care—Galloway admits he didn't really do much. "I just played video games, and then it was onto the next thing."
It's a typically modest answer for the low-key player. He's not a big-city guy, at least not yet, opting to stay up in Westchester most of the time. He's starting to get recognized there, a smidge of fame that he finds a bit uncomfortable yet "cool," but mostly he's about his business and playing NBA 2K15 and Grand Theft Auto.
As a player, he doesn't see it as a big deal that he's taken so quickly to the triangle offense, a system that J.R. Smith said could alienate potential free agents in the upcoming offseason. "Coming from the D-League, we were running the same offense, the triangle, so it wasn't bad," Galloway says. "When it comes to what I can add to the team, just getting in the lane, penetrating and kicking to different guys, get more assists, get more guys open looks, just trying to get to the basket and finishing and then open up everything for the whole game."
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If he makes it sound easy, it doesn't seem to come from a place of outsized confidence. Instead, Galloway seems more like someone who's doing his job as best he can and trying to improve however he can. He repeats variations of "getting better" and "growing," and is quick to praise others. When asked about growing pains in the NBA, he says, "The biggest thing is probably the tempo. The NBA is a lot quicker going up and down the court, especially the transition from offense to defense. The offense is coming right at you. Other than that, it's getting a lot easier."
Thanks to the preseason, he feels at ease with his teammates, who he says haven't given him any crap as a rookie. "Melo definitely has been in my ear, telling me to keep being aggressive. Jose Calderon is teaching me little tricks that the veterans know, defensive things like sneaking behind, trying to get steals, being able to keep your hand on the guy instead of giving him space. Little tricks to learn and go from there."
It's always going to be tough being a rookie and trying to be a leader on the court because the guys are like, 'Why I should listen to you?'
With all the departures and the necessity of his position, Galloway already sees it as his duty to become a leader on the court. "It's always going to be tough being a rookie and trying to be a leader on the court because the guys are like, 'Why I should listen to you? You're a rookie and you're trying to lead us?'" he says. "But at the same time, they all respect me and I respect them. That's the biggest thing I've been trying to instill in them, just trying to build confidence."
If anything, the 6'2" guard is quietly finding confidence in himself, averaging over 11 points, 3 assists, and 5 rebounds in 19 games, proving that he's no fluke. He's smart enough to avoid saying anything negative about the team or this horrific season, nor is he foolish enough to promise bigger and better things for his upcoming second season in orange and blue.
"Rome wasn't built in a day, so we're taking it as a daily process to get better. The season goes along and then everything happens in the offseason—growing, maturing, and figuring out who is this team and what can we become?"
The answer, of course, is, "Who the hell knows?" but at least Galloway will be around to provide some hope to the Knicks faithful.
