30 teams in 30 days: New York Knicks offseason preview
By Jeff Siegel
Goodness, the Knicks are a mess, aren’t they? Phil Jackson has had his bad moves outnumber his good ones ten to one and now here he is listening to trade proposals for his most important and best player because his feelings were hurt about an exit meeting. Never mind that Jackson can talk to Kristaps Porzingis whenever he wants to throughout the season, this one meeting must be the be-all-end-all for Porzingis’s career in New York!
Porzingis is the one shining light for the Knicks and Jackson is going out of his way to alienate him, rather than thinking about the player’s reasoning for skipping the meeting. At least Jackson is asking for the world for Porzingis, so even if New York doesn’t see his value on their team, they understand his value on the market. Carmelo Anthony is also on the trade block, but Anthony’s no-trade clause makes it that much more difficult to deal him. As much as Jackson wants him gone, Anthony has the final say on whether or not he’ll leave the Knicks.
The Knicks don’t open the summer with any cap space, but Derrick Rose’s $30.6 million cap hold can come off the books if he were to move on from New York, which would leave them some space to work. Rose’s agent, B.J. Armstrong, has said publicly that Rose would be willing to take a pay cut from the $21.3 million he made last year to remain in New York, but he seems to be the only upcoming free agent who wants to play for the Knicks.
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Frank Ntilikina, New York’s pick at eighth overall in last night’s draft, also complicates matters for Rose’s return. Would Rose take a one- or two-year deal as a stopgap point guard before Ntilikina takes over? Is Ntilikina ready to take over immediately, thus shutting off yet another point guard destination in free agency? Money isn’t the problem for the Knicks — their reputation couldn’t be worse throughout the league. ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported on Thursday that agents and players regard the Knicks as a “last resort” for guys who strike out elsewhere, but nobody is actively pushing to go to New York.
The Knicks are in the ironic position of being precisely where a vast majority of small-market teams have found themselves many times over the years — they have money, nobody will take it (other than Joakim Noah), and they’re forced to build through the draft to create the sustainable success every team craves. The only difference is that New York, if they could show just a year or two of competent management, could vault right back to being a destination for future free agents
For this year, anyway, the Knicks can get to about $17.6 million in space if they renounce Rose, Ron Baker, Justin Holiday, and Sasha Vujacic, before making any trades to open up more room. $17.6 million will be just short of being able to really get into the market for mid-tier starter-level free agents like Danilo Gallinari and J.J. Redick. Since the Knicks committed to a point guard in the draft, they won’t want to get in on the sweepstakes for a top free agent at that position, so a wing makes sense for them. Trading Anthony would open up another $26.2 million in room, but at that point they would probably be leaning into a rebuild and an older wing like Gallinari or Redick wouldn’t make sense for them. At that point, they could split their money across a host of veterans to build their depth and have some mentors for the younger guys in their locker room.
Next: 30 teams in 30 days: New Orleans Pelicans offseason preview
There doesn’t seem to be a coherent long-term plan in place for the Knicks. Are they trying to do everything they can to contend in the present? That was the message when they traded for Rose and signed Noah last summer. Are they trying to flip Anthony and Porzingis for future value, indicating they’re okay with step backward? On the other hand, isn’t a draft pick like Porzingis exactly what they’d be looking for if they were to trade him? The Knicks were reportedly talking to each of the teams in the top five of Thursday’s draft, but the whole point of getting high draft picks is to find a potential superstar…which they already have in Porzingis. Restarting that process because Porzingis didn’t report for an exit meeting just sets the franchise back further.