Shane Larkin is enjoying 'fresh start' with the New York Knicks

That sequence was emblematic of Larkin’s performance throughout the NBA Summer League. Just a few weeks after the Dallas Mavericks sent him to the Knicks in a multi-player trade, Larkin impressed new Knicks president Phil Jackson and new Knicks coach Derek Fisher.

“I feel like I have a great opportunity here,” Larkin told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s a new team, a new system, a fresh start, a new coach. Phil just took over the team, so it’s a completely new chemistry and new brand of Knicks basketball that they’re trying to build. I’m glad I can be a part of that.”

In five exhibitions, Larkin — who attended Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High and the University of Miami —  averaged 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game. He turned over the ball just 1.4 times per game.

Larkin compiled those statistics even as he was adjusting to the triangle offense, the system that the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers employed as Jackson coached them to 11 NBA titles.

“Shane was fantastic,” Fisher told the Knicks’ website.

“In a lot of ways, he was our most stable and consistent performer in terms of being solid with the basketball, making the right plays, making the right reads. I thought defensively he caused a lot of problems for every team that we played, and that’s where he can change the game every time he’s on the floor.”

Though only 21 years old, Larkin already has endured a tumultuous start to his NBA career.

On draft night last year, the Atlanta Hawks selected him 18th overall, then sent his draft rights to the Mavericks.

A few weeks later, as he was practicing with the Mavericks’ summer-league team, he fractured his right ankle just a few hours before the Mavericks were scheduled to leave for Las Vegas.

Larkin underwent surgery to insert two screws into his ankle, and the recovery forced him to miss training camp and the entire preseason. He made his NBA debut in mid-November, but he played sparingly for Dallas, appearing in just 48 games.

Then, on June 25, one day before this year’s draft, the Mavericks included him in a multi-player trade with the Knicks. Dallas sent Larkin, point guard Jose Calderon, center Samuel Dalembert, swingman Wayne Ellington and a pair of second-round picks to New York for center Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton.

Larkin likely will find himself behind Calderon and Pablo Prigioni on the Knicks’ depth chart at point guard. But Calderon is 32, and Prigioni is 37. If the Knicks want to play up-tempo and want to improve their defense at the point of attack, they’ll turn to Larkin.

He should be able to learn from Fisher, a first-year head coach who played in the triangle under Jackson with the Lakers.

“There’s really no better coach out there for me to learn from in this system,” Larkin said. “Dallas was a great situation, but this is also a great situation with a head coach that can help me probably more than he can help any of the other players, because he actually played my spot in this system.

“It’ll be a new learning experience. New York is the mecca for basketball. So if you can play in New York and be a good player in New York, it’s going to be a great thing for you.”


(orlandosentinel.com)