A.J. Speier
A.J. Speier
Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

When the New York Knicks were mulling over the possibility of matching the Houston Rockets’ offer giving Jeremy Lin $15 million in year three of his contract, free agent Raymond Felton saw an opportunity to land a starting job and he did.

The Knicks were familiar with Felton from when he played for them in a brief stint in 2010 and as a result, jumped at the chance to complete a sign-and-trade to acquire him. He was traded later during the 2010 season in a package deal that brought Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to the Big Apple.

“If you look at Raymond Felton over the years,” said Ian Begley. “He’s shown to be a guy who’s not a great shooter and not a great defender, but a guy who can run an offense and who when given time to develop with his teammates, he can find his teammates in the right spot to develop the cohesion and timing that makes for a good point guard.”

“I mean we saw him do that in 2010 with the Knicks and that in particular with Amare Stoudemire on the pick-and-roll, Begley added. “I know things were shaky at first but they actually developed a great chemistry together and maybe he can do that again this year.”

Following the trade to Denver, Felton struggled to establish a role in Nuggets’ head coach George Karl’s offense as a backup and as a starter with the Portland Trailblazers the next year. He averaged 11.5 points and 6.5 assists in 21 games with Denver and 11.4 points and 6.5 assists with Portland.

“I think in Denver there were a number of players who were handling the ball and don’t forget that Ty Lawson was there, so Ray Felton’s role was a bit diminished and then last season he had a tough time in Portland,” Begley said. “He shot 40-percent from the floor with about 11 points per game, six assists per game. His numbers were down and what he said is that he was out of shape because of the lockout. He didn’t, I guess train properly in the offseason and I guess once the lockout ended and he was kind of caught off guard, so he went into the season out of shape. He clashed a little bit reportedly with then coach Nate McMillan and then you end up with the season that you do back in Portland.”

After a poor season with Portland, Felton saw his market value hit rock bottom as a free agent. Jason Kidd signed with the Knicks before him and an unproven Lin drew more attention than him, so he had to be opportunistic and jump at his first opportunity.

 “I think there were two factors that play there,” Begley said. “One, he saw that he’d have the opportunity to start right away because he knew that the Knicks weren’t going to match Jeremy Lin’s offer and two, he saw that it was a great fit for him to kind of rehab his reputation around the league, bounce back and play this contract out to see where it gets him and then maybe he’s in for a bigger pay day once this deal is up.”

Felton has a lot of pressure on him this season. He needs to show that he can be a starting point guard in the NBA and prove to the Knicks’ fan base that the Knicks made the right decision to let Linsanity go.

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      [...] ESPN's Ian Begley Says Raymond Felton Signed to Repair Reputation “One, he saw that he'd have the opportunity to start right away because he knew that the Knicks weren't going to match Jeremy Lin's offer and two, he saw that it was a great fit for him to kind of rehab his reputation around the league, bounce back and … Read more on Rant Sports [...]

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      [...] the embarrassment that was the Knicks’ postseason run, they have improved their team with the addition of starters Raymond Felton and Ronnie Brewer and [...]

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