So, as a headnote, you could retitle this - "The Knicks are ****ed if they do, and ****ed if they don't"...
Obviously I'm not such a self-important ass that I believe what I or any of you "think" matters to the fortunes of or future moves made by this so-called franchise, but it's worth noting, if even as a collective therapy session, that:
1.) Knicks did NOT have their 2016 pick, duh. So re-signing or not re-signing Melo really didn't matter because tanking WITHOUT him would have been just as fruitless as tanking with. In fact, you can make the argument that retaining his overrated but still valuable services was better in the short-term, because
A.) He's still an All-Star, they don't grow on trees.
and B.) If by some miracle the Knicks ever committed to a full and true rebuild circa later 80's, they could POSSIBLY move Melo, unfortunately with his permission, to some team, on some draft night...ugh, possibly. Ok, so that'll never happen for logistical reasons, but there's still like a 5% chance. Maybe next summer the 14th lottery team gets a lucky ping pong, and gives up the 5th pick for Melo ala Ray Allen. There's a chance, right?
Point is, people focus too much angst on the whole Melo deal, and get shortsighted on the trees, rather than the forest.
2.) Truth is, you probably won't even sniff the Finals without a top 3 player. History repeats itself. People need to pull their collective head out of their ass and realize - WHO CARES if we get "Paul Milsap" or "Danny Green". Solid foundational players, but nonetheless, still shortsighted. The only hope is that Karl Towns or Okafor or Brandon Roy 2.0 turn into studs REAL QUICK. And please don't use the Spurs as a model - the Spurs don't even come from this planet. Gregg Popovich has battle scars like the dude from Avatar. How the hell are we gonna compete with that?
3.) Even if they draft right AND get lucky, Melo's knee isn't jello, they hit a triple in FA, and Fisher grows a pair, it's the Knicks dude. Somehow they'll **** it up.
So basically, do what I do. Don't even pay for merch or tickets, guilt longtime Garden employees into giving you free Knicks tickets. Or Liberty tickets, whatever.
