Here's a team I like to reference in building a championship caliber team. The '04 Pistons. The Knicks aren't going to get to 115 PPG like the Warriors, but they can get to a level of consistency where they're constantly making the playoffs and making runs.
It starts at the top, and Larry Brown was an excellent coach w/ great defensive principles/fundamentals. Gotta instill good fundamentals on both sides of the ball from the get-go. Personnel wise, their core nucleus of players were all around that 24-30 age range. Enough experience in the league to know the ins and outs and young enough to put together a handful of consistent years, still. That team featured 3 All-League type defenders. Billups at the 1, Prince on the wing, and Ben Wallace at the 4/5. They were also incredibly balanced on the offensive side of the ball: Rip was the leading scorer at only 17 PPG. However, those Pistons had 7 players that scored over 9.5 a game. The other thing I really liked: was a floor general of a PG in Billups. Great D, created good, solid possessions on offense and shot close to a league high at the stripe.
Now, on to the Knicks:
Coach: Is Hornacek the guy that can create the environment to consistently have one of the best defenses in the league? Does he and the front office have the mindset on what kinda players that takes and will buy into the system and have those players play hard within the system for 82 games and a playoff run? As someone else posted, it takes a core group that buy within the system, and then you continue to upgrade over time as opportunities present themselves.
Defense: Frank is on his way to being a very good defender. No question there. But, does he have the ability, or is he capable of improving to fill that floor general type role? He's never going to be a 20PPG scorer, but can he turn into the type of 1 that makes everyone around him better? Kristaps, too, is on his way to being an all-league type defender. And he has a really nice offensive game, and should continue to get better. To me, the missing pieces on defense are a long wing and another athletic big. KOQ plays a nice role on D, but I don't think he's going to be the long-term answer. Really like Baker's defense, and I think he's going to continue to improve offensively with time. I don't think he's going to be a starter, ever, but he can play meaningful minutes and add nice depth.
So who would I target? To fill the athletic big, I really like Jaren Jackson of MSU around that 7-10 range in the Draft. As I've posted before, he's very likely to win Big 10 DPOY as a frosh. He's not going to fill it up on offense, but he is very long and athletic and can rebound well. Now about an athletic wing? That's the big question mark that I've been looking for. I'd rather trade/pick up a guy in or nearing his prime that's a 2 way player and can take a lot of scoring pressure off the Unicorn. But yes, as others have posted, I do like Bridges from Nova. But there's going to be growing pains there, IMO. A guy who's game I really like as a future 2 way player that can probably be had for cheap is Josh Hart of the Lakers. He's not the answer for that long wing, but he's really good on D, and could add that Baker type depth. K. Leonard would obviously be the dream scenario, but how do you obtain him w/out breaking up the core group highlighted above. I'll post some more logical players or at least maybe more obtainable later.
IMO the Knicks aren't far off. That athletic big can definitely be found in this draft. Then finding that long 2 way wing is what's left, other than depth.
Question for each of you? Who are some logical 2 way wings that can be had? And is Frank capable of filling that needed role at the 1 in time?