Just some of the many things uttered by Knick fans who've spent countless nights living with the frustrations of watching Toney Douglas play basketball.
I've long been a Douglas supporter (others say 'apologist' among other clever words) because I've always felt he's been a square peg being forced into a round hole. The hardest transition that any player has to make from college to the pros is a "combo guard" type (which in this case is code for a SG trapped in the body of a PG ) who's forced to handle the duties of a point man. Douglas, a 6'2, 190 pound guard, fits this prototype.
Many players have had similar paths, and were just as frustrating to watch early in their careers as their coaches were hell bent on forcing them to be what they're not. Sometimes you have to accept what you have and just let players be who they are. Everyone can't be a starting PG or even a backup PG in this league. ACCEPT it!
If you REDUCE Toney Douglas' role to a guy who comes off your bench and aggressively looks to attack and score EVERY TIME he touches the ball, he will become a more confident, productive player. Don't worry about trying to set up or run the offense, be a distributor, make pinpoint passes, etc. Just do what you do best, and let everything else flow from there. And contrary to popular imagination, what he does best is aggressively look to score.
Once upon a time, a 6'2, 180 pound guard by the name of Jason Terry was the 10th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He was a combo guard in college at the University of Arizona playing alongside the likes of Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon; a team who won a National Championship, albeit in college, but neither was a true, traditional point guard.
The Hawks envisioned him being their PG of the future, and spent years forcing him into that uncomfortable, unnatural role. While always a good scorer in Atlanta, his turnovers numbers and "bonehead decisions" (sound familiar?) were so glaring that they eventually parted ways with him after five seasons. For the record, for their first 2 full seasons, per 36 minutes, Douglas averaged 1.7 turnovers per game ; Terry? 2.9. (Now ask yourself if Jason Terry isn't a guy you'd want coming off the bench for your favorite team).
His 1st year with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, he shot a career high 50% from the field, (this after shooting no higher than 43% in any of his Atlanta years) and while this had alot to do with a better cast of scorers around him, it also had to do with him having a reduced role in terms of being the primary decision maker and facilitator. Maturity and experience have played a big part in his growth as well, but few would argue that since his role was reduced from an every game starting PG to an aggressive "scoring guard" off the bench, he's maximized his NBA potential.
Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams, Moe Williams, JJ Barea, Eddie House, Gilbert Arenas, and the list goes on and on. Each of these players experienced similar situations early on in their careers and began to thrive and find their niche as pros as their roles became reduced to a "scoring guard"; something there's no shame in being.
I see Toney Douglas in this same ilk. The failure has been on the Knicks coaching staff and organization for forcing him into a role he isn't best suited for. It would be just as much of a failure to give up on him this early into his career after he's proven that he can be a guy who produces scoring for your 2nd unit.
Love or hate him, that's something the Knicks DESPERATELY need right now and would be very difficult to replace.
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