I like what the Knicks are doing so far.
1) Bargnani is a decent bet - a former #1 overall/ROY for a future 1st rounder; 2 2nd rounders? Sure. And we got rid of undesirables in the process, allowing us to rebuild our bench while getting us a high upside big.
Yes - he's had injury problems in the past few years. But when he was right, he was an unbelievable scoring threat from anywhere on the floor - and he did live up to the poor man's Dirk hype.

I would have liked the Knicks to somehow follow the Lakers model of always being able to pull off a trade for the best center in the NBA for a bag of peanuts. Instead, we prefer to send our peanuts for high-upside damaged goods instead. Ah well.

A healthy Bargs should be able to match the production of Novak & Copeland combined. His huge height and length makes his match up even more of a problem. His contract also expires when everyone elses, so in 2 years, we can almost literally start over from scratch if need be.

2) Hardaway JR - I like this pick a lot, mostly because was already primed to be a role player in college and make sacrifices for a winning program. This means he'll likely have little trouble fitting in to whatever role is available, whether it's deep bench minutes or taking up 20-25 mpg if Smith and/or Copeland leave. I think he'll be a better pro. Think about how Knicks scouts have been doing for the past few years, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt. They delivered the likes of Shumpert, Copeland, Novak, Shawne - and some of the others (Jordan, Jorts) could easily be back again. The only weird signing was James White.

With regard to our big free agents:
* JR: This guy is impossible to read. Just understand that he's taken less money to be with the Knicks for the past year and a half. There's no telling what drives this guy. My gut says he stays for 1 more year & gets his full bird rights.
* Copeland: Would love for him to stay - but with the Bargnani trade, it looks like we've gotta carve out some minutes for that guy. He probably could get more PT and $$$ elsewhere. I bet he's gone.
* Pablo: I think he's back. Outside of that ankle injury toward the end of the season, he was a rock. I think he made Felton a better player. I think he'll be even better this year, but his advanced age makes him an injury risk. I think he'll be back.
* K-Mart: People aren't talking about him. I'd like him back. I don't know if he'll be in for NBA min with the Knicks (I wouldn't be surprised if he joined the Nets for a last run). I'd like him back.

So if things work out, we'll have 9 players under NBA contract if 3 out of 4 of these FAs return. That leaves us with 6 open roster spots.
Who's in?
* A backup PG: I think the Knicks are hoping Shumpert can play the majority of these minutes (especially if JR returns), but word is we're thinking about Aaron Brooks. He's okay, but he's one of the smallest 6 footers in the NBA. Would be solid enough, I guess.
* A deep backup guard, preferable a lockdown defender that could hit open 3s...presumably, Chris Smith gets in as part of a package for big Bro. Would be curious if the Knicks would look at Seth Curry. A few DLeaguers got Knicks summer league invites too.
* Need 2 deep bench big men: Hands on favorite is Jordan, though presumably Sims and Earl Barron will also be in the mix. I'd love to see Barron start the season with the team - something about being with the Knicks makes him quadruple his career averages. Imagine what training camp would do for him. :) I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks brought back Jorts too.
* A defensive forward: but need another violent or beefy defender/rebounder who can fit that KMart/Turiaf type of role. Not what I want, but I'll put money that it'll be Jared Jeffries.
* A young athletic project: Leslie from NC State might be the right sort of guy - perhaps with some Tayshuan Prince potential... but of the project variety. Scouts seem to be down on him, but was highly rated just a couple of years ago. I think he sticks.

Granted, there were some other trades that played out that that make you wonder, albeit with 2 of our other fave trading partners:
* Thomas Robinson for 2 2nd round picks. His stock has taken a pretty serious hit - from #5 lottery pick to worth 2 second rounders? That's serious damaged goods that he's worth less with each subsequent trade! He couldn't carve out any PT on the Rockets, in spite of them needing a player just like him. Somehow he didn't get Paterson's minutes. Hypothetically, we could keep Camby/Novak/1st rounder and just beef up our frontline with a supposed live body like TRob. Robinson, however, seems like he's one of those guys that looks the part - strong, athletic build - but may be deceptively slow to deliver even remotely meaningful minutes for first a lottery-bound team then a team without a legit starting PF or backup C.

* the crazy Nets/Celtics trade - I've never seen anything quite like this. A core of Garnett, Pierce, and Terry should get you close to a .500 record by themselves, and you're adding them to a team that reached 49 wins (behind DW/JJ/BL). I'm still blown away that the NBA allows gift deals like this and there's nothing that other teams' GMs can do to veto trades. We can't worry about aberrations like that.