NBA: New York Knicks Make Langston Galloway Available

Early Tuesday morning, the New York Knicks revoked their qualifying offer on Langston Galloway, making him an unrestricted free agent. This decision comes shortly after Phil Jackson penned a deal with point guard, Brandon Jennings who has a similar skill set to Galloway.

After Jackson and the Knicks made moves for Derrick Rose, Brandon Jennings and Lance Thomas, It was inevitable that New York would let Galloway walk away. However, it’s possible the Knicks could re-sign Galloway as they still hold his early bird rights.

Over the past two seasons, Galloway was one of the few bright spots on the New York Knicks roster. The combo guard would be another solid addition to the roster if the Brooklyn Nets choose to pursue him

Sean Marks and the Nets should make a phone call.

With a majority of the all-star free agents that were available on the market having already signed with organizations, Galloway may be a logical option for Marks and company to pursue. The combo guard had decent season last year, averaging 7.6 points, 3 rebounds along with 3 dimes a game. This was a slight drop off from his 11.8 points a game average during the 2014-2015 season.

These stats may not fully represent Galloway’s potential, as he only played 25 minutes a game last year compared to 32 minutes his rookie season. His per 36 minutes stats are nearly identical during his first two seasons as he averaged just over 10 points a contest both years. However, Langston’s inflated scoring average during his first season could be a result of playing on an 18 win Knicks team which provided countless opportunities for him to create and play through his mistakes. While his stats may not paint an accurate picture of his overall game, Galloway is still only 24 years old and has plenty of years to hit his peak.

Galloway would fit the criteria that Sean Marks appears to be enforcing this July. He’s a young athletic guard with potential, who was a role player on his previous team. Tyler Johnson, Trevor Booker, and Justin Hamilton have all been complementary players for a majority of their career’s and will get a bigger opportunity to showcase their talent with the Nets. This angle may be appealing for Langston when looking at potential destinations.

However, Galloway’s shortcomings may outweigh his positives when analyzing how he would fit with Brooklyn. The 6’2′ guard’s tendency to score and his overall low assist total shows that he is not a natural point guard. Langston can be classified as a shooting guard with the build of a point guard. His 200-pound frame prohibits him from being able to guard most shooting guards in the league.

In addition, his style of play is very redundant when looking at the Nets’ roster as currently constructed. Sean Kilpatrick’s scorer mentality and small frame makes him an eerily similar player to Galloway. Also, if Miami doesn’t match Tyler Johnson’s offer sheet, and Marks does decide to bring back Markel Brown, it would bring a surplus of undersized shooting guards to the roster.

There is also a financial stipulation to pursuing Galloway for the Nets. Brooklyn currently sits at just over $20 million in cap room, assuming the Heat don’t match Johnson’s $50 million offer sheet. Galloway, being a young athletic guard who can shoot, could command up to $12 million a year. If the Nets decide to pursue Galloway, they should wait and see if they can use their cap space more effectively on another wing such as Allen Crabbe or Moe Harkless, who may take up a majority of their $20 million.

Next: Nets: Should They Go After Lance Stephenson?

Langston Galloway’s youth and athleticism would be a valuable commodity to any team. However, with many more important needs to address, Marks should wait to call Galloway until other, more pertinent free agents make their decisions such as Crabbe, Dion Waiters and Harkless. But Galloway fits the bill as a combo guard. In the ever-changing NBA game, a team can never have too much depth at guard.