The Knicks should sign Facundo Campazzo, because magic is fun

Personally, I prioritize enjoyment when I watch basketball. I’m a fan of joy. It’s a pleasant feeling. It makes my tummy smile. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I care more about moments of fuzzy-tummy joy per-36 minutes than I do about pretty much any other per-36 feeling. Well, fellow Stricklandians, if joy is your kick, I have good news: Facundo Campazzo is a giant of joy.

“Fac-who?” you say. 

“Facu,” I say. 

“F*CK YOU!” you say. 

“No, friend, his name is Facu. Allow me to introduce you,” I say.

They call him “El Mago,” AKA “The Magician.”  He’s a towering 5-foot-10. A spritely 29 years old. Beautifully Argentinian. The purest of point guards, slap bang in the glorious middle of his prime. And best of all, after enchanting European basketball for six seasons, the magician is looking to take his tricks to the NBA. Apparently, your New York Knicks are one of four teams — along with the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and Minnesota Timberwolves — in the mix for Facu. Admittedly, right now the Knicks are on the fringes of the mix. But if we all close our eyes and concentrate, maybe we can will a nice Knicks thing into existence.

If all four teams are offering backup point guard duties, Campazzo’s connections to assistant coach Pablo Prigioni in Minnesota and Luka Doncic in Dallas probably leave the Knicks behind the eight ball, having previously played with both guys — Pablo on the Argentinian national team, and Luka for Real Madrid.

But there’s a scenario where the Knicks have a vacant starter spot, if they don’t leave the draft with a point guard and lose out in the Fred VanVleet big-bag-of-bills take-all-our money sweepstakes. Besides, even if all the Knicks have are backup minutes available, does Minnesota need another point guard if they take LaMelo Ball in the draft? Does Dallas need another lead ball handler alongside Luka, Jalen Brunson, Seth Curry, and All-Bubble-NBA Trey Burke? Do the Spurs want to add another point guard to a roster with Derrick White, Dejounte Murray and Patty Mills battling for minutes? I have my doubts.

All this is to say, scenarios where Leon Rose and Facu find themselves locking eyes this offseason aren’t entirely crazy. What is crazy is how much damn sense Campazzo in a Knicks jersey makes. 

Let’s rewind to a simpler time: September 13th, 2019.

It’s the semifinal of the FIBA World Championships, and an upstart Argentina squad is squaring off against a star-studded France team. Argentina had zero NBA players, and were led by Campazzo alongside a 40-year-old Luis Scola. France had four NBA players in the starting lineup; Frank Ntilikina, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, and Rudy Gobert. 

Three days earlier, in the quarter finals, Facu snatched the tournament’s attention with a majestic performance against another NBA powerhouse national team — Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic. The Joker — the tournament’s star NBA attraction — was flanked by Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica. Many had Serbia as their championship pick. Campazzo didn’t care. He dominated, leaving the Serbian defense dazed and disoriented, as the traveling Argentina fans erupted in the rapture of a familiar delirium. Facu had 18 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and three steals in 29 joyous minutes.

Facu did Facu things:

This set up the matchup the world was waiting for. When I say world, I mean me: a Knicks fan living in Spain, and thoroughly fanatical about both Campazzo and Ntilikina. Thanks for that, by the way, FIBA humans. Obviously they’ll never suit up on the same team — that would be ridiculous (right?) — so to see two of my primary basketball addictions square off was a treat.

Frank vs. Facu. Two beautiful souls rutting. A strangely aesthetic clash of point guard styles. Frank the long, raw, athletically-imposing defensive stopper, and Facu, the diminutive pick-and-roll maestro. Frank was having a great tournament, fresh off of sending Gregg Popovich and the USA packing in the quarter finals, but — despite being France’s best player in this game — he was no match for Campazzo and Co., who cruised to a 80-66 victory.

Facu was a team-high plus-18, logging 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. This is a typical stat line for El Mago. He averaged 10.8 points on 43% shooting (38.3% from three) and 6.4 assists this past season for Madrid. These might be underwhelming numbers, but it’s important to note that games are 40 minutes long in Europe, and the pace of play is way slower than the NBA, so there are fewer possessions and fewer box score stats to go around. 

It’s also worth noting that over 50% of his shots come from three, which takes the sting out of his low field goal percentage, and a lot of these long-balls are tough late-clock attempts, which are hard for him to generate at his size. His catch-and-shoot threes are much deadlier than his overall percentages suggest, which is backed up by his marksmanship in the playoffs, where he’s 48/100 from deep over the last four seasons. He’s shot upwards of 87% from the free throw line four of his last five seasons.

His numbers are also a function of the reality that he isn’t a superstar. That’s not his game. But he is a star in his role. Facu is a pass-first point guard — he will run the offense and get everyone the ball exactly where they want it, without being a non-threat himself. There’s also a versatility to his game in that he can play off ball. He’s spent plenty of his career playing with other point guards, and because of his smarts and shooting, he actually thrives in these alignments. What’s that knackered cliche about European players “just knowing how to play?” Well, he just knows how to play. Although, this general savvy shouldn’t undersell his nose for the spectacular, because this man can pass the ball like few players on the planet. 

Facu is an archetypal Argentine mix of fundamentals and flair. Like some surreal playmaking lovechild of Manu Ginobili and Steve Nash. He makes passes that would make Jason Williams blush. Reliably rewindable. Nightly jaw-dropping dimes. There’s a certain energy that only the best passers can consistently conjure up, where teammates and fans can palpably feel the zip of the ball as something like an offensive sixth man. Facu’s fingertips have that effect. He gives the ball butterflies.

Hit the 1:10 mark for a particularly cathartic dish:

You’re welcome.

His repertoire of one-handed fastballs would give Jokic a run for his money. I haven’t studied the ACB or Euroleague injury reports too closely, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a glut of guys who were day-to-day with an ear laceration after foolishly planting themselves between El Mago and his target. It is genuinely baffling how he routinely cannons the rock through a sea of 7-foot necks and heads and ears. I feel for those frontline ears. They’re playing with fire.

Some of his look-away bounce passes are objectively arousing. He passes guys open. He’s generous. A guy like Mitchell Robinson will have 10 automatic points before he ties his shoelaces playing with Facu. He’ll just find the ball in his hands — voila, magic, two points; thanks very much. Playing with a point guard like Campazzo would be like developmental cocaine for a rim-running big like Mitch, naturally incentivizing the big man grunt work that would otherwise be a chore, because Facu doesn’t need passing windows to get him the ball. Mitch will have to be in a state of hyper-awareness just to avoid getting bopped in the schnoz with a bolt of leather lightning every other possession.

“Yeh, yeh. Mind-melting passes are nice. But what about the defense?” I hear you cry.

I’ll be honest guys, it’s not great, but in a very survivable way. He’s much more TJ McConnell out there than Trae Young. He’s extremely active and extremely quick. Gobbles up steals. But he is ultimately quite small, a point guard Tic-Tac. He’ll get cooked a bunch, but that’s why Mitch exists at the rim, and why pairing him with Frank is so intriguing. Facu can hold his own chasing wings around screens off the ball, and can function as a pesky help defender if you hide him somewhere away from the meat of the action. He also plays his butt off. As active as a wasp in an envelope. It’s easier to live with defensive downside when guys actually, you know, try.

Campazzo is also likely to be a pretty cost-effective pickup. He has a hefty NBA buyout clause in his contract with Real Madrid for a cool six million bucks. Of which he’d have to pay $5,275,000, and the Knicks the remaining $725k. I’ll leave any potential financial chicanery to the Knicks front office, but after hurdling the buyout stumbling block, he should come pretty cheap. The absolute best players in Europe get around $5 million per year. Given he’s unproven at the NBA level, I’d peg Campazzo’s debut NBA deal towards the lower end of between $5-10 million.

So he fills a screaming need, he’s ten pounds of fun in a five pound bag, and he won’t break the bank. What else?

Everyone loves an underdog story, so an undersized underdog story is irresistible. 

He was too small for the Argentine League in 2008. He was too small for the Argentinian national team in 2012. He was too small for Real Madrid to take a chance on signing him in 2014. He was too small to succeed when Madrid loaned him to Murcia in 2015. He was too small when he became Madrid’s starting point guard in 2017. Everywhere he went, he won; titles and accolades and tournament MVPs. He defiantly outgrew every stop he was told he was too small for. And now he’ll be told he’s too small for the NBA. For Facu, heart has always mattered more than height.

Imagine the Garden chanting his name after he’s just broken Chris Duhon’s franchise single-game assist record. I know, 23 is a lot of dimes, it sounds farfetched. But not for a magician. Campazzo had a game in February where he dropped 19 dimes in 27 minutes. Another in December with 17 in 23 minutes. 

‘FACUUUUUUUU!… FACUUUUUUU!… FACUUUUUUUU!…” reverberating around the Garden. Maybe against Boston, where the chant can double as a general expression of collective sentiment towards the Celtics organization. Even his name is an emotional assist.

The Knicks should sign him just for that scene to be honest. Remember Linsanity? Fancy some Facunbelievable? Get it? I’m sorry, but not really. It’s Facu’s fault. I told you. He’s irresistible.

Many Knick fans have emotionally invested in acquiring a point guard passing genius this offseason. Maybe we just had our eyes on the wrong genius. He would be the best Knicks passer since the heady days of Mark Jackson and Rod — our spiritual hoops compass — Strickland. Trust me: this sub-6-foot maestro is guaranteed to make ’em jump. Leon, if you’re listening, do the right thing and muscle into the middle of the mix for this magician; because magic is fun, Leon.

Magic is fun.