When you look at what the Knicks have accomplished, they've gone down the list of things they need and it appears they're checking the boxes of what a normal team would do. The Knicks taking Porzingis with the fourth pick can certainly be looked at as risky. The unknown can be exhilarating with a prospect, but it also leaves more doubt than usual. Whether you view him as a potential star or not, he's a talented prospect looking to be developed properly. That's where the Knicks end up coming through on this pick with success.
From there, they moved an inefficient chucker in Tim Hardaway, Jr. for a promising point guard in Jerian Grant. It's not only a position of need, but Grant is an athletic, big point guard who fits exactly what Jackson's teams have often employed.
The Knicks missing on Aldridge (never a real possibility) and Monroe (a tough pill to swallow for a big market team needing a max offer to bowl him over) aren't actual problems for them because it's forcing them to find suitable role players and build the potential of depth, instead of a house of cards construction of a Big Three. Their seemingly false hope of DeAndre Jordan deciding to join them is holding up the signing of Robin Lopez -- a player who excelled as a center flanking a high volume power forward last season in Portland.
Putting Lopez as the defensive anchor on a team that should move Carmelo Anthony to the stretch-4, where he can actually hold his own defensively instead of getting lost against quicker wings would be an ideal pairing. He's not the Defensive Player of the Year candidate Tyson Chandler was in the Knicks' fleeting recent success, but he's cut from a similar mold of never needing offensive touches to fuel him to get the job done. And whether it's in pick-and-rolls or flash post-up opportunities, Lopez has posted highly efficient scoring in those situations.
By grabbing a respected two-way guard in Arron Afflalo on a smart two-year deal, the Knicks have also added a solid 3-point shooter, a player who can get his own shot, and someone willing to be a plus defender. He's everything as a role player J.R. Smith wasn't and couldn't be consistently. It's the consistency of the role players New York is bringing into the fold that provides the stability needed to keep building on each minor success.
The Knicks will still have a little money to play with and try to add at least another solid role player in the process. In doing so, they will have built an unfamiliar, unattractive core to the bright lights and the aggressive digital recorders of those covering the team. It will be a core you're not supposed to put in Madison Square Garden because the Knicks have been told they need to have stars.
Instead, they're building what appears to be more of a basketball roster than they previously had. It doesn't mean the Knicks are fixed. They still have holes and they need another offseason of smart spending and a higher salary cap to keep filling in their depth chart and rotation. But they're building progress within the framework of the organization.
It's slow progress and slow progress isn't supposed to fly. However, this is what normal basketball organizations do. They build. They rebuild. They find good role players. They draft with upside and hopefully develop. You can say the Knicks aren't a normal franchise, but that's been the problem. They've tried to be something they're not. Perhaps being normal for a change will turn Madison Square Garden from a basketball mausoleum into something more alive.
