Thursday 19 September 2019 09:08, UK
Despite not landing a marquee free agent this summer, hope could yet bloom for the New York Knicks in the 2019-20 season.
Unremarkable basketball has become the norm on 33rd Street in New York, a status that, except for brief stretches of relief, has remained largely unchanged for two decades.
For the sixth straight season, the Knicks failed to make the playoffs. They perhaps reached a new low by finishing with the league's worst record and trading their projected saviour, Kristaps Porzingis, a week before the trade deadline.
The talented forward and the club had bad blood both before and after a knee injury which erased his entire 2018-19 season. While a new front-office regime was supposed to smooth over all the rough feelings, that never materialized and Porzingis requested a trade, throwing the troubled franchise for a loop. The Knicks had little choice but to agree after Porzingis said he would not sign an extension with the club.
So ended a strange saga with Porzingis, the only positive to emerge from the dreadful Phil Jackson era.
Elsewhere, the Knicks received spotty production at best from the guts of the developing roster. Rookie Kevin Knox was wildly inconsistent, Dennis Smith Jr (obtained in the Porzingis trade) shot 28.9 per cent on three-pointers and former first-rounder Frank Ntilikina sunk deeper in the shuffle.
There were signs of bubbling hope from unsung rookies Allonzo Trier and Mitchell Robinson, but otherwise this was yet another lost season for the franchise.
The best-case scenario for the Knicks this summer was to get lucky in the Draft lottery and make magic happen in free agency with a few A-list stars. Doing so would give the franchise a complete reversal of fortune. But, to quote Biggie Smalls, it was all a dream, and the Knicks and their fans awakened in a cold sweat.
They traded Porzingis for cap space and lo and behold, there was no Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving signing in free agency. They endured a tough season with 65 losses and lo and behold, there was no Zion Williamson in the Draft. Instead, the Knicks must make do with Zion's college team-mate RJ Barrett and a batch of short-term free-agent power forwards.
The good news is the Knicks will have better talent in 2019-20 while still maintaining some future salary cap flexibility. It was the best they could do when they landed the third pick and settled for Barrett. Who knows... he could become one of the better players taken.
Barrett has solid chops for the game, can play either small forward or big guard and brings good size for either position. He wanted badly to be a Knick and seemingly has all the intangibles necessary to thrive. However, the Knicks' recent track record for rookies (Porzingis aside) hasn't been paved with gold.
The price for striking out on the No 1 overall pick (Williamson) certainly had a domino effect in free agency. Do you really believe Irving and Durant would have gone to Brooklyn had the Knicks got Williamson? Maybe not. But they did, and the Knicks were left holding a pile of money with no A-list takers for it.
Sadly, the Knicks' brand is so damaged that they didn't even get an interview from any of the top free agents. They resorted to their Plan B and stocked up on decent, reasonably priced players on short-length deals. In doing so, they improved the team while keeping their options open for the next two summers. The hope is by then they will have gained respect among players to be contender to sign stars.
However, they chose a strange short-term strategy by signing a slew of players who play the same position. Yes, Randle can double at center (and so can Portis), but the Knicks are grooming Robinson for that spot. How will that all work?
The weirdest move of the summer might have been Morris' decision to renege on a verbal deal with the San Antonio Spurs and sign with the Knicks. That was a first: a player who had the choice to join the most respected organisation in the NBA suddenly had second thoughts... and instead went to the Knicks. If this ever becomes a future trend, the Knicks will finally turn the corner.
All told, the Knicks loaded up on similarly-talented power forwards (who form a glut at one or two positions), when they could have chosen a different route. As in, collecting bad contracts from other teams with future first-round picks as sweeteners. The Atlanta Hawks did that this summer and the Nets did it over the past few summers. Those two developing teams took advantage of their ample cap space to stockpile Draft picks to use as assets in trades (or simply save for themselves).
A more reasonable platform for the Knicks this summer would be to ensure that nothing interferes with the growth of Knox, Barrett and Robinson. Instead, the Knicks took a unique approach to recovering from the failure to get Williamson, Durant and Irving.
The free agents they signed should help the Knicks win more games. That would be an upgrade over 17-65. But what's the gain when you're suddenly stuck in the middle - not good enough for the playoffs, not bad enough for a high lottery pick in the next Draft?
Veteran NBA writer Shaun Powell has worked for newspapers and other publications for more than 25 years. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Powell2daPeople
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