ESPN has an article up about how the Knicks did and did not botch free agency. It is worth the read. To be honest, in the first few hours of seeing posts about free agency I thought to myself, damn, there goes another season. I might still be right, but I was also right about what the Knicks should do. They did what I suggested–they played moneyball. They signed a multitude of role players who are playing on one year contracts (only Julius Randle has gotten a multiyear deal so far) that are basically ‘show me’ contracts for the teams they really want to be on. This works to the Knicks advantage because they have a motivated core who could work together well, given the systems they came from. The Knicks could be developing a competitive team that matches up well with who is in their division and, beyond which, follow the coaches strategy.
Long story short, they did alright by themselves.
I’m not sold yet. This is clearly not the design of a team who thinks they can get the top talent. As this article illustrates, the move seems to be driven largely my desperation. They knew they couldn’t sign this year’s big names and didn’t have a core to build the rookies around. In truth, Porzingas bailed on them so the world now knows that the Knicks are a junk franchise with Junk leadership.
Still, they persist. The Nets are now the biggest basketball name in NYC after signing the filthiest PG in the league and the potential of a Durant return. I don’t buy into any of it. Kyrie is a great player but a poor leader. Durant is the same exact way and the two personalities are bound to clash–should Durant ever return with the same energy he had pre-injury. I’m not a Nets guy. I was born and raised a Knicks guy, so I’m trying to be loyal to the league’s new Factory of Sadness. That being said, I believe without bias that the moneyball plan will get them enough wins to make the playoffs in an eastern conference that is largely devoid of true second tier franchises. We pretty much have to call Boston, Toronto, Philly the first tier and after that I believe it remains a crap shoot–especially after free agency.
Knicks bout to play some craps.
Some Thoughts:
- For those keeping track, I am not going to hit 365 on the 4th. It will be the 5th. I don’t do math too good, y’all.