The first year was legit bad, and Phil definitely messed up with some trades, because that team had no chance and was no good. However it led to KP and it may be remembered for something there.
The second year we began 22-22. I know this board well, because I was on it all the time and the excitement here last year was legit. We all loved how Lance Thomas was playing, how Melo was finally playing like a point forward who would get you 5 assista a geme, and KP was a marvel rookie. Things went south once Lance got hurt and KP hit a wall. Melo has since then also reverted into ISO stall the offense Melo again. The Knicks had a lottery pick, developed KP and had some early success that showed promise. Unfortunately before Phil got here the Knicks had already traded away this pick foolishly. This isn't Phil's fault, he should have a clean slate to work with, and hasn't. Losing a draft pick this like this is a huge blow.
In the offseason traded for Rose, because Melo wanted a point guard and the team clearly needed an attacking point guard. We got a coach that would modernize the Triangle and install other offense as well. We signed Noah because he was not going to clog up the middle like Rolo (who I loved) and we could run more spread out offense with better ball movement as Noah, Rose, Melo could all move the ball and get 4-5 assists a piece. Two great shooters and play finishers in Lee and KP around them. In theory that team should be able to play well on both ends if they play hard and together. Brandon Jennings was brought in for the bench. Kuz was a nice pick up as a rookie free agent, as was Baker. Holiday was a nice piece in the Rose trade as we lost Jerian Grant who have us athleticism and guard play off the bench. Another great rookie pick up was Hernangomez signing him using free agency money locked him into a nice longterm deal.
I feel the moves Phil made over the past summer were right at the time, outside of the Noah contract. The only move I didn't like was the Noah contract. Too many years, too much money. Should have been a 3 year 50 million deal at most. Phil messeed up with the additional year.
This year we began pretty well, 14-10 but were bad defensively from the start. Rose missing training camp hurt chemistry big time. Noah was out most of camp and has never been healthy. Melo reverted back to iso Melo who jacks up as many shots as possible with a very low assist rate. Melo's usage rate did not change, in fact went up a few decimal points. KP's defense did not improve in year 2 which left us without a quality defender in the starting 5. We are going lottery, but will have our own draft pick this time to add a cheap longterm investment.
The situation is pretty solid for the Knicks longterm. They have $25 million in capspace this summer. Next summer Melo is likely opting out (if he is not traded before). The Knicks will have massive capspace then. They don't have any bad contracts beyond Noah.
Give it some time. I think Phil has made some mistakes, but our situation longterm is not bad at all. We were in a much worse place longterm when our draft picks were traded away and we did not have a young emerging star like Porzingis. Phil needs to stop tweeting crap about players, he needs to stop signing over the hill vets like Noah. He needs to draft extremely well as these picks are key to the team getting better. Some big decisions coming this summer as to what to do with Rose and Melo. For me this is Phil's last year to show if he's really going get the Knicks in the right direction.
