2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

[harlemtothebronx]

@JonKnicksFan: If they go star chasing and throw a ****load of money at the first decent FA to bat an eye at them, it's "same old Knicks."

@JonKnicksFan: If they show some self-awareness and take a more measured, thoughtful approach then it's "nobody wants to play for them." Whatever.

@JonKnicksFan: The Knicks are so stupid having a plan for how they want to play and looking for players to fit the plan. Stupid, stupid Knicks.

Kind of sums it all up.

This FA class never really excited me anyway. Biggest player is LMA and I'm pretty meh on him here. He doesn't really fit with Melo, if you ask me...but no one asked me so whatever.

 

[throwback1718]

LMA knew he wasn't messing with us cancelled the meeting so he wouldn't waste our time. I respect it. No hard feelings.

How ironic that an Aldridge broke the news about an Aldridge

 

[the 718 truth]

I'm all for the patient approach now. If our lil project fails so be it, but I don't want to overpay for mediocrity. We won't be winning a championship next year but I'd expect is not to be as bad as last year

 

[hymen man]

^ yep

 

[ballinsam23]

I rather trade for Hibbert than David Lee (love him btw) if we dont get Lopez/DJ. Even though he's beyond trash offensively he's perfect defensively at not committing fouls by jumping straight up.

I want Kristaps to have as much freedom as possible at the 4 while us still being competitve and that happens if we can get DJ/Lopez/Hibbert.

 

[Master Zik]

David Aldridge @daldridgetnt 1m
Aldridge is, as Yahoo! reported, meeting a second time with the Lakers this afternoon, & will be meeting with Pat Riley in L.A., per source.

2016 seems to have a better crop of free agents.

yeah i was saying i don't think any of us actually thought LMA would come here.

@JeffZillgitt: NBA teams that miss out on centers DeAndre Jordan and Robin Lopez will target Roy Hibbert in a trade with Pacers. That includes the Knicks.

wouldn't mind any of these 3 bigs

If soft *** Hibbert is on this team I'll be taking a break from watching games like last season.

i would rather sign someone off the street than get hibbert

HTTB for Center.

I might be the best option, and I'm 5'11".

Now I'd be all in for a season where you start @ the 5

Straight comedy.

LMA disrespected us. I don't **** with him no more. I'm cool with not coming here because we suck but to say because we would have him playing the 5? He didn't know that before? Isn't that where LAL would have him play? So why take that meeting again. I never thought we had a shot at him but **** him. Disrespect.

I'm sure he looked at the majority bum *** squad and said there's no reason I should be forced to play @ the 5 even in the east when I'm trying to win a ring and remain healthy.

IMO it wasn't obvious at all when he set the meeting that he had to be the center for any team he's met with.

@JonKnicksFan: If they go star chasing and throw a ****load of money at the first decent FA to bat an eye at them, it's "same old Knicks."

@JonKnicksFan: If they show some self-awareness and take a more measured, thoughtful approach then it's "nobody wants to play for them." Whatever.

@JonKnicksFan: The Knicks are so stupid having a plan for how they want to play and looking for players to fit the plan. Stupid, stupid Knicks.

I would've liked it better if dudes just jumped ship and kept their word.

 

[hsalem]

Only condition that i'm here for DA: Can Grant throw a nice oop?

 

[hsalem]

D Wade signs one year deal. He's after that new money. finally going to get all of the money he lost out on over the years

 

[mez 0ne]

I'm fine with a patient approach, but if that's the approach you're going to take, why sign Melo.

 

[duba169]

LMA and melo on the same team would have been a disaster.

 

[ballinsam23]

UFA available that i'm interested in if i'm the Knicks:

Deandre
Robin Lopez
Josh Smith (depending on deal)
David West
Lou Will
Corey Brewer
Brandon Bass
Jordan Hill
Marco Belleneli
Kosta Koufos
Gerald Green
Tyler Handsbro
CJ Watson
Bismack
KJ Mcdaniels
Reggie Evans
Casspi
Perkins
Xavier Henry
Carlos Delfino

 

[hymen man]

Crackhead Corey

 

[nick.]

@IanBegley: FWIW: a Deandre Jordan friend thinks the #Knicks made a good impression on DJ during their meeting. Phil Jackson was described as "engaged."

@IanBegley: DeAndre Jordan left the meeting without making a decision. Prior to the meeting, #Knicks were believed to be a long shot to land the big man

 

[kingfoamnyc]

Please DJ or RoLo

 

[ballinsam23]

I'll take that as the Knicks didnt land DJ. All efforts need to be focused on Robin now.

 

[nick.]

Phil offered him a contract (no details on the numbers) & he's expected to make a decision after he meets with the Clips tonight.

we gotta lock up RoLo the second he turns us down

 

[8pm at msg]

Still a good amount of guys left.

 

[youngin33]

I'm glad we're not overspending for the mostly mediocre talent out there. It's actually refreshing.

 

[xbiker47]

Give me DJ I guess

 

[pr0phecy718]

I like DJ....

 

[lver of jordan]

Still a good amount of guys left.

Phil in no rush

 

[Arthur Shelby]

Still think DJ is fronting and is going back to the Clippers without doubt

But who knows

 

[johnnyredstorm]

I got @THE GR8EST to contribute to my website. Dude wrote an awesome article on the Knicks and building a foundation. Long as expected, but really worth the time.

http://g42sports.com/building-a-foundation/

Spoiler

Foundation. One single word. So much more to it.

The dictionary describes foundation as “the basis or groundwork of anything.”

This definition certainly holds its weight in the NBA. But it is easier said than done. The concept of building a winning foundation in the NBA is that winning is created from the ground up. The concept that if you can create a strong and stable baseline, the rest of the pieces will fall into place and become more or less interchangeable. If a foundation is deep rooted like a tree, the rest of the pieces become branches.

The NBA Champion Golden State Warriors built a foundation through the NBA Draft, which netted them the “Splash Brothers.” From there, the Warriors and rookie head coach Steve Kerr were able to leverage contributions from young role players such as Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes as well as career NBA journeymen like Finals MVP Andre Igoudala, David Lee, Andrew Bogut, Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa and others to the 2015 NBA title.

The ultimate stable foundation in the NBA has been the San Antonio Spurs, who have used the same basic foundation of head coach Gregg Popovich and superstar Tim Duncan to win 5 titles since 1999. Down the road, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli became a cog in the Spurs championship foundation as well. Beyond that, they are seemingly always able to find diamonds in the rough in the form of overlooked draft prospects and NBA journeymen. As the rest of the league scratches their head wondering what in the hell they missed.

The truth of the matter is that when a team builds a strong enough foundation, the process starts to become reciprocal. By this I mean that playing on a championship-caliber team often makes players look better than they actually are. And they don’t just look better, they actually play better. Usually, because smart teams with foundation are able to use flawed players better than most other organizations. They fit these specific players into roles that fit their game while covering for their weaknesses. These are the type of players we often call, “role players.” Their job on the basketball court is to fill a specific role and help the team function as a complete whole. A foundation does not piece together the entire puzzle. It gives the team a solid base, but the rest of the units need to be filled up. Specific roles need to be addressed. The hope becomes that specific players are able to maximize their most advanced skillset by filling a specific role perfectly, even without a perfect all-around game. Being an essential cog in the machine, but not necessarily part of the team’s foundation.

Not all role players are created equal. Some role players are more valuable than others, but for the most part they can be interchangeable if a solid foundation is in place. The best teams realize this. They recognize a player’s true value lies in how well they fill their specific roles. Not necessarily how skilled they are on paper. This often leads to organizations who lack a solid foundation overvaluing championship caliber role players, mistakenly thinking they can become part of a championship foundation that does not already exist.

This ENTIRE process becomes reciprocal. The good teams keep their championship foundations intact while the lousier organizations overvalue championship role players, or just other role players in general, to try and build up a championship core the “quick” way, which is usually never effective. For the most part the good remain good and the lousy remain lousy. NBA capitalism at its finest.

If you are reading this, I should not need to explain all of this to you in great detail. You probably know very well how the NBA functions and why certain teams are where they are. I think you understand where I am coming from. I also think you more than understand where the New York Knicks have been on the NBA balancing scale for the past 15 years…

But here is a quick (for me at least) rundown anyway:

From 2000-2015 the Knicks have become the ultimate “quick fix” franchise. It is their biggest consistent problem. The players have come and gone. The mindset has stayed exactly the same. Maybe it is the whole “you can’t rebuild in New York” stereotype, but more likely it is the ownership. Regardless of where you place the blame, it is undeniable that the same problem has persisted during the post-Ewing era (also the James Dolan era) of Knicks basketball.

We have become the polar opposite of the San Antonio Spurs—ever since they defeated us in the 1999 NBA Finals. From that point on, the Spurs went in one way, and the Knicks went in another way entirely. Almost storybook. At one point so close. On the same floor competing head-to-head for the same prize. 15 years later and we couldn’t be further apart. Tragic.

The Knicks, led by the guidance of new team owner James Dolan and his first general manager Scott Layden, blew up the foundation of the 1999 Eastern Conference Champions almost immediately.

The ‘99 Knicks were certainly a flawed team that made almost a fluke-like run to the NBA Finals after a lockout shortened season, but a foundation was in place nevertheless. The team had a solid young core made up of Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, Marcus Camby, an established veteran/face of the franchise in Patrick Ewing, and solid role players like Kurt Thomas, Larry Johnson, and Charlie Ward.

The unit was imperfect in parts, but made sense as a whole. Instead of trying to tinker with the foundation already in place, maybe try to add a few key role players to help get them to the next step, but the Knicks attempted to turn Allan Houston into the face of the franchise. They did this in the form of an outrageous 6-year $100-million contract that absolutely crushed the Knicks financially. Houston was a very solid player, but worked best being part of a whole. Maybe a 2nd or 3rd option, but not the face of a franchise. It later came out that the Knicks were basically competing against themselves when they gave Houston that contract. He was a 20 PPG scorer and one of the best shooters in the game—similar to Ray Allen with the Boston Celtics. But like Allen, Houston needed others around him to function. The Knicks had this in place but decided to blow it all up and try to make it work around Houston. This failed miserably.

The Knicks traded Patrick Ewing’s expiring contract for multiple underachieving players on longer term deals. Which hurt the team from a financial standpoint as much as it did in terms of leadership. The Knicks never truly rebounded from trading Ewing and parlayed the mess into trading away Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby in two ill-fated deals of their own. The Knicks had no financial flexibility to work with and injuries cut short the prime of Allan Houston. The Knicks foundation was over barely after it even started. There has never been another one since.

We all know what happened from there. Isiah Thomas took over a mess of a team and only made it worse. Instead of breaking apart the pieces left to him and rebuilding through the draft and financial flexibility, Isiah went for quick fix after quick fix after quick fix… He frequently traded away top draft picks and tried to build the organization around fake franchise players such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford. The players were all extremely flawed individually and made even less sense as a unit.

The whole foundation/role player model, and the Knicks’ lack of having one, is only proven further as an accepted NBA truth when looking at the post-Knick success of certain Isiah-acquired Knicks like Randolph and Crawford, amongst others. Neither player was able to achieve any type of team success in New York because they were asked to play well beyond their role. This made them a poor fit. However, each player brought a unique skillset that could make them a very nice fit as a role player within the context of a winning foundation.

Randolph could never make it work in New York. Particularly because he was immediately paired alongside Eddy Curry, a player who was a black hole on offense and far, far worse defensively. However, Randolph has carved out a nice niche for himself playing with the Memphis Grizzlies, alongside a center like Marc Gasol, who compensates for Randolph’s weaknesses. This allows Randolph to focus on his strengths. He has become an all-star level role player, but a role player nonetheless. Even if the “role” he is asked to fill in Memphis is glamorous (scoring and rebounding) and earns him all-star credentials. Still, Randolph is not and never was part of a winning foundation. But if you put him in a role that emphasizes his strengths around a winning foundation, he could be a dominant force as a high-level role player.

Jamal Crawford has enjoyed similar success as Sixth Man of the Los Angeles Clippers. Crawford really started to blossom as a player in New York towards the back-end of the Isiah Thomas regime. It was after the departures of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis left a gaping hole in the Knicks backcourt, when Crawford really started to come into his own as an NBA player. He finished Isiah Thomas’ last year with the Knicks in 2008, averaging better than 20 PPG. Still, Isiah asked Crawford to do pretty much everything on offense that season. He was the team’s clear cut go to scorer as well as the primary facilitator at times. With a team in transition, head coach Isiah basically tried to use Jamal Crawford in the way the Cavs used LeBron James during the Finals this season. Except that Crawford is far from Lebron. He played 40 minutes per game and the Knicks won 23 games.

Still, Crawford was an intelligent, high character player and a very good all-around scorer. There is always a place for somebody like that in the NBA. In a reduced role, Crawford has become one of the best at what he does in the entire NBA. What he does best is provide a scoring punch off the bench to jumpstart the second unit of a contending team with a solid foundation in place. Crawford leveraged this skill-set into two Sixth Man of the Year awards since departing the Knicks at the beginning of the 2008-2009 NBA season.

I bring up Crawford and Z-Bo as examples to emphasize my point that sometimes a foundation makes all the difference. Crawford and Randolph didn’t necessarily become better players after they left New York, they were just used better. They were used in a way that could maximize their winning potential.

The Knicks almost built a solid winning foundation during the Donnie Walsh years, but James Dolan made sure that never happened. He stepped in to make the Carmelo Anthony trade before it was ready and the result was more talent in Carmelo, but the departure of an established, well put together foundation.

Ok, enough reminiscing. Back to the present. The Knicks story has since revolved around trying and failing to build a foundation around Anthony. The closest the Knicks came to this was in 2013. The Knicks built a serviceable but flawed team that was not built to last. Its apex came in the form of the 54 win season in 2013. However, that team used a lot of bad foresight. They placed far too much faith in unstable players such as Raymond Felton and JR Smith. Tyson Chandler was older, on the end of his prime years, and was asked to do pretty much everything defensively, which wore him down even quicker. The team was held together by a very solid group of established NBA veterans at the very twilight of their NBA careers. In terms of longevity, this was a recipe for disaster. There was not one stable piece to the puzzle besides the very centerpiece who made it all work, Carmelo Anthony. Looking back at it, it is not surprising that all of the pieces around Carmelo came crumbling down the very next season. After trading away Tim Hardaway Jr. on draft night, June 25th, Carmelo Anthony remains the only piece standing from the roster that Phil Jackson took over at the end of the 2014 season. The one piece who was truly a consistent, reliable and stable part of the 2013 winning foundation.

Like with Crawford, Randolph and other examples, Carmelo the player has not changed as much as the other pieces around him have. Carmelo has been the centerpiece of a winning core before, and he is more than capable of doing so again. I am not one of the people who blame Carmelo Anthony for not being able to hold together an imperfect and unreliable foundation that overachieved, primarily because of his personal greatness in 2013. Carmelo is still capable of being part of a winning foundation, but he cannot do it alone. He is not LeBron James (for better and worse) as often as New Yorkers try and fault him for not being so.

Now if you want to go and place blame on Carmelo for not joining more of a “win now” team with a championship-caliber foundation already set in place when he had the chance to do so last summer, then so be it. I choose not to. But that is a whole other argument for a different day, which I would like to get to, but not right now. As a Knicks fan, the fact of the matter is that Carmelo is here, and winning is capable around Carmelo Anthony. He chose to remain loyal to the Knicks for the long haul, and Phil Jackson chose that Carmelo was worth the team’s investment as well. Franchise players like Carmelo Anthony do not just come around, and now it is on Phil to try and get the most out of Carmelo while he is still here.

At this point, Carmelo at 31 kind of is who he is as a player. He could always improve his game and he could always progress as a leader, but you know what type of value you will get from Anthony. He might be the best pure scorer in the game today, but he has his flaws. He is not a facilitator like LeBron is at the position and he is limited defensively. One thing that is good about Carmelo’s longevity is that his game is based around his skillset as opposed to his athleticism. This should help Carmelo be at least part of the Knicks’ foundation for the entirety of his five year commitment, even if he cannot be the centerpiece the entire time. This is a workable framework to build around for this team’s future. As somebody who has watched Carmelo Anthony extensively for more than a decade now, I have come to find that there are two necessities as far as building a team around Carmelo that stand above all the rest.

The first and foremost necessity in building a foundation around Carmelo Anthony is to find a capable floor general. A point guard. I cannot stress this enough. I consider myself to be as much of a die-hard believer in Carmelo Anthony as anybody out there, and even I am disgusted at the very sight of Anthony’s “iso ball.” I know that most Knicks fans share this sentiment with me. But the “iso-ball,” like most things, is a product of the overall system, and less a product of having Melo.

In the NBA today more than ever, a team’s ball movement is facilitated by the point guard position. Point guard has truly become the quarterback of the NBA. If you take a look at the league standings, you will find that similar to the QB in the NFL, team success is determined by the level of point guard play more than any other position. Carmelo Anthony might be the best isolation player in the game right now. But I do not care what player we are talking about, cohesive five guy basketball beats one guy “iso-ball” any day of the week. And twice on Sundays (especially if the Knicks wear orange).

The 2013 Knicks did not have a great individual PG, per say, but they did have one of the more productive overall PG units in the NBA. They did this through a two point guard lineup that featured a far more motivated (and in shape) Raymond Felton and a savvy/crafty veteran in either Jason Kidd or Pablo Prigioni. Nobody from this unit offered anything spectacular, but through Felton’s ability to break down the defense and Kidd/Prigioni’s overall craftiness and ability to shoot from the three-point line, the unit was extremely effective. They got the job done. The 2013 Knicks dual point guard lineup facilitated ball movement for the rest of the team, the prime responsibility for ANY point guard in the NBA. They took care of the ball and kept it moving around constantly, allowing Carmelo to focus on what he is most dangerous at, scoring and spot up shooting. I also believe that this unit was most responsible for the overall effectiveness of JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and others.

Without productive point guard play running the offense, players like Carmelo are forced to try and create more for themselves and others. Carmelo is a very good overall player. Facilitating for others is just not one of Carmelo’s strongest assets, despite being an underrated passer. And “iso ball” simply does not work in team-driven NBA. This has been true throughout Carmelo’s career. Carmelo was at his best on the 2013 Knicks, in Denver with Chauncey Billups, on Team USA with whatever elite PG was on the floor, and even back at Syracuse with Gerry McNamara. I vehemently disagree with all the nay-sayers who stereotype Carmelo as a loser. But I will agree that he will not win without getting help from productive point guard play. This is fine. Most players in the NBA, including many “franchise players,” operate in a similar fashion. They have just had productive point guard play around them, so it is less spoken about. When Carmelo’s best point guard options have been an aging Chauncey Billups and Raymond Felton, this problem becomes catastrophized into an unfair stereotype.

Another need for a Carmelo-led NBA squad is to find a rim protecting center. I find this to be a secondary need to overall point guard production, but still a major need none the less. Carmelo isn’t quite the liability on defense that people make him out to be, but he will never be the kind of player to anchor a defense in the way he could anchor an offense. However, good team defense is just as or more important than offense in the NBA. As such, it is important to find players who are able to compensate for Anthony’s deficiencies in the area. More important than a stable rim protecting center is the need to produce good overall team defense around Anthony. If a team around Anthony is sound defensively, Anthony will be a willing contributor. But like many NBA players, Carmelo often takes on the defensive mindset of others around him and can be more of a liability if he plays on a team that does not hold individual players accountable for their defense.

I think that the 2009 Denver Nuggets were an even better model for building a solid team defense around Carmelo Anthony than the 2013 Knicks were. The 2009 Denver Nuggets reached the Western Conference Finals as one of the better overall defenses in the entire NBA. They were anchored by a steady establishment of defensive minded frontcourt players including the likes of Kenyon Martin, Nene Hilario, Chris Anderson and Linas Kleiza. The addition of Chauncey Billups in place of Allen Iverson gave the team a steady point guard capable of operating the unit while placing a focus on defensive minded principles just as he had done in Detroit.

The 2013 Knicks were able to get the kind of contribution that the 2009 Nuggets got from a variety of frontcourt players from defensive leader and rim protector Tyson Chandler. Who was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 after anchoring a defense that won the NBA Championship for the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. He was named to the NBA All-Defense First Team in 2013, after somehow being left off in 2012, despite winning the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Go figure.

Tough, defensive minded veterans like Jason Kidd and Pablo Prigioni in the backcourt, and Rasheed Wallace, Kurt Thomas, Kenyon Martin, and Marcus Camby in the frontcourt helped the 2013 Knicks adopt a defensive mindset centered on Chandler, their defensive leader and anchor. This worked well for the Knicks in 2013 despite the offense being centered on Raymond Felton, JR Smith, and Carmelo, who are not known for their defense.

A major strength of the 2013 Knicks model was that they were able to build an offense around Carmelo while compensating for his defensive limitations. Tyson Chandler enabled this to work. Arguably the best part about having Tyson Chandler was that his presence allowed the Knicks to shift Carmelo Anthony to the 4 spot and become a three-point centric team on offense. This led the one benefit we could really take away from Mike Woodson’s time here. That Carmelo Anthony can be a dominant force at the 4.

Playing Carmelo at the 4 clears the paint for him to go to work. He is able to use his agility to get by bigger and slower 4s or his power to get by smaller players without constantly facing help defense on the block. In addition, playing Carmelo at the 4 might even make him more lethal as a shooting threat than he already is, with defenders being forced to back off of him and respect his quickness. Carmelo shot a career best from 3 during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, predominantly playing the small-ball 4 role. But in addition to opening up the paint and allowing Carmelo to use his strengths to exploit defensive weaknesses, moving Carmelo also opens the floor up for three-point shooters as opposed to having two traditional big men on the blocks. This not only opens up the paint for Melo, but also keeps the ball moving amongst three point shooters. Something the Knicks thrived at in 2013 when they set an NBA record for three pointers made and attempted.

It is going to become more and more difficult, especially as he ages, for Carmelo Anthony, never a dominating athlete to begin with, to hang with athletic 3’s on the perimeter. However, as a 4, Carmelo is a mismatch nightmare. Carmelo Anthony can score through you, around you, or over you. This rare combination of versatility and his power at the 4 is why the Knicks should try and build a foundation with Melo at the 4.

But Melo is still a defensive liability at the 4. Similar to how Marc Gasol enabled Zach Randolph to function at the 4, Chandler enabled Melo to work at the position. Tyson Chandler was able to compensate for Melo’s defensive deficiencies at the spot and protect the rim at all costs. Which is of increased importance as the NBA becomes dominated by shifty guards as opposed to powerful big men. Despite not being the strongest guy on the floor, Chandler was able to use his toughness, defensive instincts, and his rare blend of height and athleticism to become a defensive force in his prime. Which won him an NBA Championship and a Defensive Player of the Year Award at all of 240 pounds. Not a bad career. If the Knicks want to succeed with Melo at the 4, they need rim protection from the 5.

This extremely detailed synopsis brings me to the 2015 NBA Draft. The Knicks were armed with a depleted roster from top to bottom outside of our very own #7, and little assets to work with besides the disappointing 4th overall selection in the NBA Draft. If the Knicks were to build the roster around Carmelo Anthony, Phil Jackson needed to find a way to establish a foundation this summer. It does not necessarily need to be a championship foundation from day 1, but a stable foundation that can grow as a unit with time. But it was important to start this process as soon as possible with Melo already being 31. A foundation centered on the abilities of Carmelo Anthony as well as the principles of the triangle offense.

Leading up to the draft there had been a growing argument based around what the Knicks needed most. When the Knicks were selecting, Jalen Rose eloquently described the Knicks team needs in one word: “Everything.” Yes, this is true. The Knicks need basically everything right now. They need a new point guard, a new center, a new 2 guard, a new forward to play alongside Carmelo Anthony, as well as a bench.

However, when discussing the Knicks team needs in a little more detail, most fans agreed that the two most basic needs for Knicks were the two positions most important around Carmelo. Point Guard and Center.

The thought process is that the Knicks already have an established franchise player and go to scoring wing in Carmelo Anthony. If the Knicks could pair Carmelo with a point guard and center that works, the rest of the pieces can fall into place accordingly. But this needed to be done from the ground up. And the first and second steps were to find a point guard and a center.

There was argument amongst Knicks fan about which the Knicks needed most. I, for one, lean towards point guard, as I believe it is the most important position in the NBA today, especially with Carmelo. But few argued that the two positions were the Knicks two greatest needs heading into the NBA Draft on Thursday night. Filling one of these needs, let alone both, while trying to fit the team around 31-year-old Carmelo Anthony and the triangle offense, was no easy task. This task became all the more daunting when the Knicks fell to the 4th pick. Moving us effectively out of the conversation for my two favorite draft prospects, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, who went #1 and #2 in the draft, respectively, and play center and point guard.

This leads us to the 4th pick. The Knicks needed to pick a home run. I like players like Willie Cauley-Stein and Justise Winslow, but I don’t respect either as a player who should have been in the conversation for the 4th pick.

I love Cauley-Stein’s defensive potential. I understand that he might be the most athletically sound seven-footer of all time, with an incredible ability to cover any position on the floor defensively and potentially anchor a defense from his first day in the NBA for the next decade. But I also understand why Willie Cauley-Stein can be considered a major risk. It is ignorant to overlook his questionable attitude, dedication to the NBA and the game of basketball in general. I do not think he is a low character kid necessarily, but questions about his work ethic and/or dedication are honestly more concerning to me than if he were a low character kid who loved the game of basketball. A lot of comments that WCS made in the past would cause a great deal of concern for me if we chose to invest our future in him with the 4th overall pick. I liked WCS a lot for this team, and he would have filled a major need for us, but not with the 4th pick. He has too many questions surrounding him, and his ceiling is not high enough to take on that sort of risk. WCS is 21 years old and he is not a home run pick. His attitude and overall approach makes me think he has a high bust potential if he fell into the wrong situation (like the Sacramento Kings… oh wait), playing in a league where you truly need to “want it” and skills can only take you so far.

On a related note, Justise Winslow is an extremely tough minded, high character kid who does really seem to “want it.” However, it is my personal belief that Winslow’s NBA ceiling has been vastly overrated ever since the NCAA tournament. Sure Winslow was great, and I would be shocked if he doesn’t become at least a very effective NBA role player, but I don’t really see him amounting to much more than that. Even if he can become a very solid role player, which isn’t a bad thing. But all the James Harden comparisons are beyond a reach. Personally, I liked Stanley Johnson more as a prospect than Winslow all season long, and I think it is telling that Johnson was selected 8th overall while Winslow slid to #10. But regardless of how you might feel about Winslow, and I always acknowledge that I could be wrong, I don’t think we could have justified (lol) using the 4th pick to reach on such a raw 19 year old swingman who only measured a little more than 6’4 and improved his draft stock by playing an undersized 4 role during the NCAA Tournament. It would have made the NYC fans happy, I am sure, but drafting for the fans is a loser’s game. It wouldn’t have made much basketball sense. I see Winslow experiencing a lot of speed bumps on his path to NBA success, and it would not have made much sense for the Knicks to reach on him at #4. Especially with such a glaring hole at the 1 and the 5 spot and better 1’s and 5’s available to draft.

I think any rational person who has followed the complete NBA Draft process, not just watched a couple of NCAA tournament games and called themselves an “expert,” could point out only two realistic draft prospects for the Knicks to choose from if they stayed put with the 4th pick. These two prospects were point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and big man Kristaps Porzingis. I struggled with the choice myself. But I did come to terms that if the Knicks did keep the pick it would likely have to come down to one of the two prospects, barring an unlikely turn of events in the draft’s top three picks.

On one side there was Mudiay. He definitely became the popular pick amongst Knicks fans, and for good reason. On most draft sites, Mudiay was the #1 rated prospect heading into the college basketball season. There is a strong belief that if Mudiay had played college basketball at SMU under Larry Brown, he would have easily remained in the conversation for the draft’s top selection. Whether that is fair or not. But academic eligibility issues (none of which were Mudiay’s fault) as well as the desire to secure immediate financial security for his struggling family, led Mudiay to flee the corrupt NCAA for an opportunity to play professional basketball in China. Amazing, by the way, that the American NCAA has become corrupt, while international play has become the real “Land of Opportunity” for Draft prospects. But that is neither here or there.

Unfortunately for Mudiay, the lack of available scouting in China as well as an injury that hampered his season, made him fall down the draft’s ranks. All while other prospects from his class such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahil Okafor, and the surprising emergence of D’Angelo Russell visibly thrived in front of millions of American viewers and NBA Scouts playing on the more-proven NCAA circuit. Still, when the Knicks fell to the 4th overall pick, many Knicks fans started to imagine the player Mudiay could be, as the 2015 Draft had turned into a “top 4” throughout the season. With NBA Scouts and websites constantly reminding followers not to sleep on the hidden gem. Many believed that Mudiay could have the most upside of the entire bunch, and Knicks fans drooled at the prospect of having an electrifying young point guard like Mudiay ever since the disappointing NBA Draft lottery… Myself included.

However, Mudiay did not come without his faults. However high his upside might be, it could be questioned just like any other draft prospect. None of these kids are known commodities. The NBA Draft is like a casino. It is one big gambling event at the end of the day. Nothing is a sure thing. It was all the more concerning that Mudiay essentially took a year away from basketball while dealing with injury in China. In addition, while Mudiay does possess ideal strength/size for a triangle PG, he has a more than questionable jump shot. Some scouts wonder if he is destined to be a shooting liability for the entirety of his NBA career. This is a little discerning in an NBA that has become more jump shot-driven than ever before. In order for a point guard to dominate the league without a reliable jump shot (as a #4 pick in a talented draft would be expected to do), he must possess a truly rare combination of size/athleticism as well as pure point guard abilities.

Mudiay is rumored to possess this, but there had also been concern amongst some that his athleticism has been overrated and he is closer to Tyreke Evans than John Wall/Russell Westbrook. This might be unfair criticism, but it is still worth noting. I still believe that Mudiay was as close to a total package as you can find in a point guard draft prospect, but his shooting deficiencies are all the more concerning when trying to run a team around the triangle offense. Sure, the triangle can and should be adjusted to mesh with the modern game, it is an ever-changing systematic style of offense, which brilliantly adapted to feature a variety of low post scorers in Los Angeles despite never having a legitimate post scoring threat in Chicago. I don’t doubt that the Knicks could have made the triangle work around Mudiay and his fast break driven game. It is just that unreliable jump shot was not ideal in a system that has valued outside shooting from its lead guard first and foremost. And to say that the Knicks should totally abandon the system that Phil Jackson has won 11 championships with, in my opinion, is a fool’s argument. Sure, it needed to be changed. It needed to evolve. But we certainly are not paying the Zen Master $60 million to abandon his go to move. That is like signing Kareem and asking him to lose the sky hook. It aint happening. Nor should we want it to happen.

Still, even considering all of that, if the Knicks had selected Emmanuel Mudiay with the 4th pick on Thursday night, I would have went to bed a happy man. However, I said it before the draft and I will say it again right now, there was a more intriguing prospect available to us than Emmanuel Mudiay. That prospect was 7’2″ Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis may come across as a project to some. I guess that his slight frame has a lot to do with that. The whole “He won’t be able to bang with NBA bigs” argument. And I guess that is true. But fortunately for the Knicks and Porzingis both, the NBA is no longer a “banger” league. Like I mentioned about Tyson Chandler, the finesse game has greatly surpassed the power game in terms of overall importance. To quote one of Vincent Chase’s many girlfriends from an early Entourage episode, “Bulk is so 90’s.” That has become the trend in the NBA.

It has become a league where importance is placed on big men who could protect the rim. Gone are the days of Charles Oakley, as much as we hate to admit that in New York. When a tree trunk power forward could rule the world of defense without barely leaving his feet. Rules have played a major part of this. The “Charles Oakley School of Defense” is no longer in session with league rules trying to bar its star players from experiencing physical play around the basket. So like most things, the league adapted and it has evolved. So did the players. Brute force has been placed on the back burner in favor of seven-footers who run and jump like a shooting guard. Those kind of players have become a premium. The Tyson Chandler’s of the world who can win Defensive Player of the Year while weighing well under 250 pounds.

This is not a coincidence. These players are valued more for a reason. The reason is that because of league rules and overall player evolution, the process has become reciprocal. Guards have gotten bigger, faster and stronger as the league moves closer and closer to a “positionless” kind of game. Bigger, stronger guards equals more agile big men, who are usually lighter. These big/athletic guards (and league rules) have created the “attacking point guard era.” There were very few “attacking point guards” in big man driven 1990s NBA basketball. The primary responsibility of the modern NBA big man has become blocking shots and protecting the rim against smaller guards. To do so, athleticism has become more of a requirement than power. Both would be ideal. But athleticism has become a premium over strength. Of course there are still many physical specimens who are not good defenders. Basic defensive principles are still a must, but the combination of size/athleticism has become what size/power used to be.

Kevin Durant came into the NBA not able to lift one repetition of 180-pounds before winning Rookie of the Year. Kevin Garnett and Anthony Davis were both very twig like youngsters themselves coming into the league. Yet, somehow, some way, those kind of players were able to circumvent the whole “lack of strength = not NBA ready” disposition that has plagued Porzingis. Why is that? Well, like Porzingis being unfairly labeled as “soft,” I have to assume that this argument is far more based off European stereotyping and the unfamiliarity aspect than it is rational thought processing. Even though similarly framed Pau Gasol appeared to be “NBA ready” when he averaged 18, 9, 2 en-route to winning the 2002 Rookie of the Year Award while playing for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Now I am not trying to tell you that Kristaps Porzingis will become a Hall of Famer like Pau Gasol will. I will not say that because like I said before, I cannot say that. It is unknown. But that is just my point. It is unknown. As in nobody freaking knows. But what I do know is that Kristaps Porzingis isn’t any more of a “risk” or less “NBA ready” than any other 19 year old draft prospect just because he was born in Europe.

As a society we have moved past generalizing others based on race/ethnicity, yet we continue to do so with basketball players. I look at Porzingis like I look at any other draft prospect. What I see is a 7’2″ athletically/fundamentally sound basketball player with a 7’6″ wingspan, shot blocking ability, and three point shooting range. Those kind of players do not just come around. Above all, I view Porzingis as a center in the attacking point guard era. 7’2″ + shot blocking = center to me. That is the way it would be viewed with ANY kind of similar prospect. Maybe not right away, but certainly eventually. And Porzingis has even said so as much himself. I am sorry, I am just not scared away by a lack of strength in today’s game, and certainly not his irrationally perceived lack of toughness.

Unlike many of the draft night fans who boo’d relentlessly on draft night, the first time they even heard the name “Kristaps Porzingis,” I have done my research. I am not saying I can guarantee he will be a great NBA player and I am not trying to imply that I watched even a game of Seville basketball, when I have not. But I did read pretty much every article/scouting report that has come out on Porzingis over the past couple of months (and beyond), as well as watch all the highlight/workout videos I could find.

When I watch his videos, I get a more familiar feeling to when I watched Giannis Antetokounmpo’s predraft videos (which I did watch before he was the “Greek Freak”) than I ever did watching Jan Veseley’s. I saw fluid athleticism, a pin point jump shot with a beautiful release, and some of the longest freaking arms I have ever seen. When I read the articles/scouting reports I loved what I read. Not just about his game, but his character.

I knew the Knicks fans would boo him on draft night. Not only did I expect that, I ******* wanted it. Because he better get used to it. It was a classic New York greeting, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It is what I love most about our fanbase. We do not blindly accept players on our team, we need to be won over. You truly need to be mentally tough to make it as a New York Knick. But once you earn our trust, once you prove yourself to us, you got us. We are more loyal than any fanbase out there, and it is directly related to the concept of winning us over. We don’t stand and clap all game like we are the freaking Oklahoma City Thunder. Adversity breeds champions. If it were up to me, Knicks fans would boo every draft pick like they boo’d Porzingis. An unofficial New York welcome. Like Patrick Ewing himself said before the draft about playing in New York. “If you don’t have a tough skin, get one.” Well said 33.

But I think Porzingis is misunderstood by the masses. I think that he is the kind of player who will use that New York greeting to motivate him in the long haul. He is tough and he has proven himself time and time again. He even shocked draft scouts by returning to Europe even after securing a first round promise in the 2014 NBA Draft, and far exceeded expectations with a target on his back. With hordes of NBA scouts and front office personnel attending his every game, leaving him far more suspect to criticism and nit-picking. He left them all drooling. Swearing that he is different from the busts. I am very impressed by stories like that. I think he can prove to be that kind of player in the NBA. He certainly thinks so at least. and that is what is most important.

What is also important is that scouts who have actually watched Porzingis play in games love him. Some have even called him the best player in the entire draft. And apparently Phil Jackson loves him as well. Enough to pick him over Mudiay, at least. These people may not be right, but they are certainly more well-informed than the thousands of Knicks fans who decided to boo this kid because he is from a different continent. Phil is here for the long haul, so agree or disagree, we might as well trust him and all 13 of his championship rings. And if we do want to second and third guess Phil Jackson, maybe it would be a little wiser to do so based on rational opinions we have formed as opposed to ignorance based solely on unfamiliarity and stereotyping. Basically what I am trying to say is, you don’t need to love Porzingis, but get over it. Let the kid play. Open up your mind and hopefully you will come to love him. He certainly believes that is the case. If Phil Jackson believes in Porzingis as a hall of famer/team president and Porzingis seems to believe in himself, then why shouldn’t I believe in him as a fan?

The problem I had with drafting Porzingis had nothing to do with his ethnicity or his strength. No, my major area of concern was that drafting “Zinger” did not fulfill what I wanted from the Knicks the most. Finding a capable starting-caliber point guard. Not an overpaid, over the hill Spaniard pretending to be one named Jose Calderon. While I started to like Porzingis the prospect more than Mudiay the prospect, and it only cemented that belief when Phil Jackson apparently agreed, I still liked Mudiay the point guard more than Porzingis the center. I was happy when we drafted Porzingis. I liked Porzingis. I LOVED Phil Jackson putting himself on the line and drafting a player who HE believed to be best, despite consensus (but ignorant) opinion. Because at the end of the day, if the Knicks are going to have any shot with Phil Jackson at the helm, he has to do what he sees is right. Agree or disagree, that is the only chance we have right now. Drafting for the fans and/or media is a loser’s game, because fans and media can and will be swayed by results.

So while I was extremely glad that we took Porzingis, a large part of me felt uneasy about staring a potential franchise PG like Mudiay in the eyes and looking the other way. I hate this year’s point guard free agency crop. I have been vehemently against the idea of overpaying for a player like Rajon Rondo or Goran Dragic (or overpaying for any player in general), but I understood that any capable starting PG was going to be overpaid. I mean everyone is getting overpaid right now, so I think that rule is only strengthened by when it comes to the most important position in the NBA. Goran Dragic just got a $90-million contract from the Miami Heat. As much as I dislike Calderon as our starting point guard, I would still take him and his bad contract over Dragic for 5/$90. You are just not going anywhere worthwhile with an already declining Goran Dragic making that kind of money on a flawed roster. The same rules apply to Rondo and the countless others. The Heat will soon find this out the hard way. So with little to no other assets available to us besides the 4th overall pick, I did not want to walk out of draft night without a new point guard on the roster. Whether that meant drafting Mudiay or trading down and getting a player like Eric Bledsoe back, I felt that acquiring a point guard last Thursday night was a must.

So yes, to sum it up, part of me second and third guessed our decision to pass up on Emmanuel Mudiay when he was right there for the taking. I could fully admit that if we had drafted Mudiay, maybe I am writing about all the hope drafting Mudiay has brought us for the future. I don’t know. But I do know that Phil Jackson’s next move made me feel much better than had we just taken Mudiay at #4 and called it a night.

As we all know, later in the evening Phil Jackson completed a trade with the Atlanta Hawks netting him 19th overall pick Jerian Grant in return for struggling young swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. This is the kind of move that I believe, will pay off major dividends for the Knicks in the long run. Now, similar to what I have been saying all along, I will not guarantee Jerian Grant’s NBA success. Because you can’t do that. But at the same time, NBA teams still need to go out there and based on their evaluation process, do what they feel is best for their team. Certain players still come with more warning signs than others, and some have more potential than others. It is certainly an imperfect model, but it is the only model we have. This model leads to evaluations, which leads to draft stock projections based on all relative information. It is almost like trying to predict movement in stock prices using all relative information, despite the unpredictable ways of the market. We still try to do it because it is all we got.

As far as NBA Draft prospects are concerned, Jerian Grant is as much of a sure thing as you will find. He might not ever be amongst the league’s elite crop of floor generals, but what Phil Jackson PG has ever been there? To me, Jerian Grant looks a little bit like a combination of Phil’s two favorite point guards. Ron Harper and Derek Fisher, sprinkled with a natural evolutionary aspect that will allow him to succeed in the modern NBA. He has the size and athleticism that Phil desires from his point guards. Very Ron Harper like in that regard. Like Harper, Jerian should become a great defensive point guard. Similar to Fisher, Jerian was one of the best leaders in college basketball this season, and he has a notch for stepping up and hitting shots when it counts the most. Basically, Grant seems to be the perfect Phil Jackson point guard. He is big, strong and athletic. He can hit from the outside. And he is a great leader who steps up his game when it matters most. How fitting.

Another thing I liked about getting Jerian Grant is that it sort of nullifies the “win now” argument used against drafting Porzingis. I find it a little hypocritical that people use the “win now” argument to criticize Phil for taking Porzingis over Mudiay, when he made a move and got NBA ready Jerian Grant later in the draft. Head to head, there is little to no evidence that Emmanuel Mudiay is a more “NBA ready” prospect than Porzingis. In fact, evidence points to the contrary. Porzingis contributed in the highest level of non-NBA basketball, and he has been a professional basketball player since he was 15. NBA basketball should be much less of a transition for Zinger than it would be for most prospects, especially Mudiay. Mudiay went straight from high school basketball to China, where he was limited to only 10 games. China is a far weaker league than Spain’s ACB and Mudiay missed almost the entire season. It is almost like Mudiay took an entire year off from playing competitive basketball.

I am not saying Mudiay will be bad, and I am not even saying that Mudiay will be bad as a rookie, but there is no logical evidence that points to Mudiay being more “NBA ready” than Porzingis. People assume Mudiay is the safer pick only because he is the more “known” commodity, having been one of the top ranked high school prospects in all of America. However, in reality, this doesn’t make him more “ready” than Porzingis or the better long term prospect. In Porzingis, Phil took a chance on who he felt was the best overall prospect available. For his enormous upside, but also for right now. It is the combination of both that made him Phil’s best prospect available. I will respect his decision until he proves to be incapable of making them. He has not done this yet, despite how much New York media tries to make it out like he has. He put himself on the line for Porzingis and as a fan, I can respect that and wait to see how it pans out before I judge a player who I admittedly barely know. There is a power in accepting your own ignorance at times.

But in Jerian Grant, Phil took an “NBA ready” 22 year old prospect who should be able to contribute in the NBA right away. Jerian Grant is capable of being this team’s starting PG from day one for the next decade. And he is capable of doing at least a serviceable job. Maybe more than that, maybe less. Grant is still a risk and an unknown, but he has provided us enough of a sample size to understand that he was a risk well worth taking. Especially since he only cost us Tim Hardaway Jr., a player who was falling out of favor with Phil and Fisher, as well as the Knicks fan base, due to his erratic shooting/shot selection and his inability to play defense. Something that Jerian excels at doing. Getting the 19th pick in the draft was extremely good value for Hardaway Jr., and taking Jerian with the 19th pick was an extremely wise selection. He is exactly what the doctor ordered. And just as important, he saved us from having to overspend on a free agent point guard. The 2 guard market was a lot deeper and more manageable than the point guard market, and this made Hardaway Jr. (the Knicks greatest asset outside of the 4th pick and Melo) all the more expendable on draft night. The Knicks were likely to sign a 2 guard even with Hardaway Jr. on the roster, so it made sense to move him to fill another more important need. Already, the Knicks have signed veteran “3 and D” 2-Guard Arron Afflalo to an extremely financially efficient contract. Especially while speaking in relative terms, given the current free agent landscape. He is already an upgrade over Hardaway, at least on the defensive side of the ball, and he has proven himself to be a capable scorer/shooter in the past. Justifying Phil’s draft night deal all the more.

So now, back to building a foundation. That beautiful word. A foundation is stable and it develops together. Even if disparities in age and experience exist. Like how Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker have come together to form the Spurs foundation over time. Melo is the centerpiece of our foundation. He has committed to this team in the long term. Just remember that Melo signed a 5 year contract. He could have been like his buddy LeBron. Could have signed a short-term contract with all sorts of opt out clauses, looking to break the bank with the cap increase. Melo is a smart dude. He knew about the cap increase. None of this is a surprise. But Melo had a vision when he came here. To win and win in New York. People try and label Melo as being all about the money all of the time, but Melo took the less financially sexy route last summer when he signed that 5-year contract with the Knicks. He committed to this organization, city, and fan base for FIVE years. Not one or two. If you can’t respect that, than I don’t know what to tell you. Your whole perspective is whack. Melo is here for the long haul, and personally, I respect the hell out of that. And I am a believer.

But Melo can’t do it alone. If the past two years have shown us anything, it is that much. However, the quick fix is almost never a good answer. It is what the Knicks have relied upon for the past decade-plus, and look at how wonderfully that has worked out. Even when Donnie Walsh had a “rebuilding plan,” it STILL relied on the quick fix of building a winning team solely around the 2010 Free Agent class. Nothing good happens overnight. Well, unless you get incredibly lucky, which clearly the Knicks do not. So instead, the Knicks need to build a championship contending team the way that most other teams build championship contending teams.

This is 2015. The social media era. Players no longer need the platform that is New York City, The top free agents are signing with San Antonio, Milwaukee, and Cleveland as opposed to New York and LA. We cannot rely on the allure of New York City to solve all of our problems anymore. Winning is what attracts nowadays, and no “big fish” is going to sign on to a 17 win team. That is why the top free agent prospects have chosen to take their talents elsewhere. Even if it means a smaller market. It doesn’t matter anymore the way it used to. The Knicks need to be built from the ground up. The Knicks need to build a foundation. A foundation that centers on Melo, and allows the natural evolution to move together as one… Very Zen like.

If we can do that, the rest of the pieces should fall into place with a couple of savvy signings, like Arron Afflalo could prove to be. On the night of the 2015 NBA Draft, Phil Jackson took his first major step as the Knicks GM. The first step in building a long term, stable, and reliable foundation that could help move this team into the future. The combination of Melo along with Jerian Grant and Kristaps Porzingis could be exactly what we are looking for.

The Knicks are not signing the LaMarcus Aldridge’s and the Marc Gasol’s right now. We could only rely on ourselves to improve this roster from within. The Knicks will not win a championship next year, but we MUST continue to grow our foundation. Our core. As any fitness buff knows, core comes first. Biceps and triceps and all of the glamour muscles come later. The two things that Knicks fans need to hope for this season are Progress and Player development. The two Ps. If this 17 win roster could turn into a .500 team with cap space, better free agents will start to take us a lot more seriously. Enough so, that we could round out the roster using cap space we must be careful not to waste in another ill-fated quick fix scenario.

Without a foundation in place, the quick fix guys will mean nothing. The end game for every team should be to win a championship. Overpaying players who will not help us achieve that goal does not make sense. Even if they can potentially make us a little bit better next season. The Knicks need to look at long term fits and work free agency accordingly. Fill the rest of the roster with cheap and/or short term contracts. I believe Phil Jackson is doing that right now.

It all starts with the core. What Knicks fans need to realistically hope for this season is that Jerian Grant and Kristaps Porzingis develop and take the first step forward towards building a stable foundation with Carmelo Anthony. You know, the Knicks superstar who is signed through the 2019 season. If the players develop and we progress as a team, the rest will come. Trust the process and trust the players. Don’t be part of the “You cant rebuild in New York” stereotype. Look at the big picture. Remain Zen. It is all about laying the groundwork right now. The seeds have been planted. They are there. Now it is time to water the plants and hope to build a steadfast foundation. A foundation that at least has the potential to grow into a contender. It might not be perfect, it may take time, but it can definitely work. It might not. Sure. But if we are going to strike out, might as well do so swinging. Because who knows? Maybe we’ll hit it out of the park.

 

[Mister Meaner]

He's using us to squeeze more money out of a better team, duhhh.

Edit: the **** outta here.

GET ALL THE WAY THE **** OUTTA HERE.

's tryna send me straight to the eye doctor attempting to read that thesis.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

10,000 words of knowledge. It's worth reading when you have the time.