The Knicks will lose the lottery picks in 2014 and 2016.
Could have had 2 starters or top 6 guys with these picks.
That's hurting Phil Jackson's position to get better.
The best player they signed in the offseason was Lopez (if you think of Porzingis as a draft pick).
It's going to take some time, but we're about where we expected at season's start.
Lopez is 27
Porzingis is 20
Thomas is 27
Galloway is 24
Grant is 23
Williams is 24
That's 6 of our top 10 players from this year, and likely we won't be looking to bring back Calderon/Afflalo for the longterm. If we can add some younger players in the backcourt who can be relied upon to play 30 minutes a night, we'll be on the right path overall.
The franchise is always going to be hard pressed to do anything so long as Melo makes 25 million a year and plays half healthy seasons. He's had a great run for 20 games this year and the rest of it has been him injured, recovering from an injury or being too sore to be effective. He's just not been a level of a player that is worth as much as the Knicks paid him. When you invest in 1 player the amount 4 other starters make, you're asking that player to be a top 5 player in the league. Melo hasn't, he's been like that for a 10-15 game stretch and the rest he's been injured or recovering from injuries. Unfortunately this is how I see the rest of his contract play out. We have to accept it and move on.
So if we keep Melo, which is likely what we do, then re-building is only harder. We have limited growth opportunities for cheap - a Melo trade could yield a young player on a cheap contract or a high draft pick. In keeping Melo around the 6 guys I mentioned above, we now have to go out and spend the 20 million in capspace the team has this summer very wisely. We have to massively upgrade the backcourt. If possible we should look to get a post up player at the 5 or 4, since the Triangle thrives with a post up player (Pau Gasol comes to mind).
I do think the team will be better again next year. If for no other reason than Porzingis and Grant. Porzingis will have a year of experience and if he's the gym rat I think he is, he'll come back at close or at an all-star level. If we have Melo at the same level he's at this season, that alone pushes us to 41-45 wins. Now factor free agency moves, maybe a trade and perhaps someone like Grant, Galloway, Thomas or Williams improving - I think we could grow.
I'm definitely really disappointed at how the 2nd half has played out. The team won 20 of it's first half, and right now winning 20 of their 2nd half looks virtually impossible. But if you ignore the 20 game stretch where Melo played at a different level, you're likely seeing the team we should have been all along. A 30-35 win type of team. One major bonus, KP. No one can take away the fact that this season we got a heck of a draft pick. Not every building block is a franchise player. So around KP having guys like DWill, Lopez, Thomas, Galloway, Grant all being in their 20's to me is a positive (if we keep all of them).
2/7/2016 3:46 PM