Keep or Cut: Reggie Bullock

A relatively easy decision, but not a guarantee

Reggie Bullock's 2019-20 Knicks season was a peculiar one.

Dating all the way back to the start of free agency last summer, Bullock was part of the tsunami of Knicks free agency moves made in the wake of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving's decision to head to Brooklyn. Along with Julius Randle, Wayne Ellington, Taj Gibson and others, Bullock signed a lucrative two-year, $21 million deal on the first night of free agency... or so it seemed.

After it was revealed that Bullock had a previously unknown back issue (which led to a surgery that kept him out through the start of 2020), Bullock's deal was temporarily voided, which in turn opened up the space for Marcus Morris to come aboard. That in itself was kind of a home run — that one-year, $15 million contract given to Morris by the Knicks with Bullock's freed up money ended up turning into a pair of picks for New York at the trade deadline.

Bullock eventually worked out a two-year, $8.2 million deal to indeed become a Knick, about 60% less than what he had initially agreed to salary-wise.

Prior to coming to the Knicks, Bullock had averaged 11.3 points per game on .449/.405/.836 shooting splits over the previous three seasons while providing good defense. He's limited with the ball in his hands, but unmistakably the sort of 3-and-D guard/wing that the modern-day NBA yearns for. At two years and $21 million, he was maybe a little overpriced, which was the strategy that the Knicks mostly approached 2019 free agency with — you gotta pay guys more to come to a 17-win team the year before.

But at his current two-year, $8.2 million mark (which will pay him $4.2 million next season if the Knicks pick up his option) he's an absolute steal.

Even in what one could comfortably call a down year for Bullock — where he averaged 8.1 points on 50.2% true shooting — he was more than worth a deal that pays him under 4% of the total salary cap. Part of the reason for Bullock's slump could be attributed to rust from the back injury; the other, on a related note, was dropping into a team mid-season and having to acclimate to all new teammates. With those in mind, maybe he even out-performed expectations this season — mostly, he just had to prove that he was healthy to justify the Knicks picking that second year up.

Seems like Reggie Bullock doesn't have an ounce of rust pic.twitter.com/KErZLMzli1

— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) January 2, 2020

Looking at Bullock's shooting percentages by zone for the season on Basketball-Reference, it's pretty obvious that the only thing that needs to come back up is his 3-point percentage for him to be a plus player again. He shot a comfortable 69.4% at the rim this season — more than passable — and even managed a decent 41% from midrange. Given his percentages from deep for his career and the fact that he seemed completely unfazed by the injury after his return, that seems like a safe bet.

In the locker room, Bullock was a good soldier and never seemed to make any noise about playing time (or lack thereof), even when the Knicks were running different rotations seemingly every game towards the end of the season. He's also a strong advocate for LGBTQ rights off the court, following the murder of his transgender sister Mia Henderson in 2014. Bullock also tragically lost his sister Keiosha Moore in October, murdered in Bullock's native Baltimore, which, along with the death of Dennis Smith Jr.'s stepmother around the same time, provided a somber rallying point for the Knicks early in the season.

Lastly, regardless of how he could play for the Knicks, he'll be a good player at the premium 3-and-D role on an affordable contract, should the Knicks look to move him to a contender at the trade deadline. He'll also come with Early Bird rights, allowing his new team to take some measures to go over the salary cap to re-sign him next offseason if they feel so inclined. So...

Keep or cut: Keep. He wasn't perfect this year coming back from injury midseason, but Bullock proved he's healthy, and his contract is too affordable and trade-able to not pick up his option. He also seems like a good teammate.