New York Knicks trim roster and exercise options on three players
For the second time in three years, Patrick Ewing Jr. has failed to make the final roster for the New York Knicks, according to an announcement made yesterday by Donnie Walsh, their president
of basketball operations.
And for those wondering, Ewing Jr. is indeed the son of Knicks’ career scoring leader and Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing, whose number has been retired by the Knicks. At least you can’t accuse
the Knicks of nepotism.
After cutting Ewing Jr. after the 2008 pre-season, the Knicks signed him to a free-agent deal this past summer. But after a disappointing pre-season for the 26-year-old power forward,
averaging a mere 1.8 points in six minutes of play in four pre-season games, the Knicks decided to go instead with swingman Shawne Williams, who is trying to get his career back on track after some off-court issues in his first three seasons.
The move leaves the Knicks with 15 players on their roster, the league limit for the regular season.
Walsh also announced that his team had exercised their fourth-year options on forwards Danilo Gallinari and Anthony Randolph, as well as their third-year option on guard Toney Douglas.
The Knicks selected Gallinari with the sixth overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Throughout his first two NBA seasons, in which he only played 108 games, the Italian forward averaged 12.8
points and 4.2 rebounds. Last year, he participated in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge as well as the Foot Locker 3-Point Contest at NBA All-Star weekend in Dallas.
Randolph, selected 14th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, averaged 9.2 points and 6.0 rebounds over his first two seasons. Randolph, along with Kelenna Azubuike,
and Ronny Turiaf, came over to the Knicks as part of the David Lee trade in July.
Douglas was originally drafted 29th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers but was immediately moved to New York on draft night. Playing almost 20 minutes a night, Douglas
averaged 8.6 points and 2.0 assists in his rookie campaign.
The Knicks also acquired the services of Amar’e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton over the summer.
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