If present trends continue, Langston Galloway will end the season with a FG% above 40%. That will be the first time in his career that he’s shot above 40% for an entire season. By that measure, he’s having a career year right now and nobody cares.
There’s still a lot of games left to go, for sure. And Galloway’s not very far above the 40% threshhold. Basketball-reference failed to update after last night’s games (throwing my life into a depressive tailspin from which there will be no recovery), but I managed to coerce the stats.nba.com website into giving me the information I crave: Galloway is at 40.8% shooting for the season. One or two poor shooting games and he’ll be back to the comfortable sub-40% percentages where he’s spent his whole career.
I’m bringing this all up because Galloway developed a reputation in his rookie year with the Knicks as a competent scoring guard. But that reputation came about mostly because he was an unknown acquisition who played way above expectations. Once those expectations were set, he consistently failed to meet them. Perhaps he provides value in other areas of the game, but his scoring is nothing to write home about. In my mind, he’s Ian Clark 1.1. Not Ian Clark Deluxe Edition or even Ian Clark Slightly Good Edition. Just Ian Clark 1.1. And if his percentages drop back down, I’m demoting him to Ian Clark 1.05.