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New York Knicks: 2016 Offseason Grades

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 24, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) shoots the ball past New York Knicks center Robin Lopez (8) during second half at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won 106-94. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 24, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) shoots the ball past New York Knicks center Robin Lopez (8) during second half at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won 106-94. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /
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New York Knicks
Feb 2, 2016; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) and forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) against the Boston Celtics during the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /

Overall

With a core of Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis and Joakim Noah, the Knicks are a playoff team on paper. Anything goes in the Eastern Conference, but New York will also be heavily relying on four players — Rose, Melo, Noah and Brandon Jennings — who have been notoriously banged up over the last few seasons.

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In 2011, a core like this would have been all the rage in the NBA. Five years later, it seems like an ill-fated attempt to reunite the Chicago Bulls team that never came to fruition when Melo chose to re-sign in New York over migrating to the Windy City.

If Rose and Noah can somehow both stay healthy, the Knicks have a decent shot at making it to the second round of the playoffs. That’d be a substantial improvement for a 30-win team, it’d give KP playoff experience early on, Melo would get his wish of playing for a competitive team and the Knicks would be an entertaining team at the very least.

But between the injury-proneness of this roster, the ball-dominant nature of both Rose and Melo, the fact that the Knicks probably gave up the best player in the Rose trade (Lopez) and the long-term ramifications if this team is relatively successful next season, this offseason was a bit of a misstep.

Rather than doing what everyone knows must be done sooner or later — trade Carmelo Anthony for a trove of young players and future assets to rebuild around KP — the Knicks went in the opposite direction, trying to haphazardly assemble a contender around an aging Melo before his prime is over.

Is a second round playoff appearance — the best-case scenario for this season, in all likelihood — worth the gaudy extension Rose will likely earn in 2017 if he plays well and wins over the fan support?

Would an aging core of Melo and Noah be attractive to a free agent like Russell Westbrook next summer in free agency, even if Rose was just a one-year rental? And can they win as currently constructed anyway?

KP is still extremely young and playoff experience is valuable, but wouldn’t bottoming out and capitalizing on owning their first round pick — in a deep 2017 draft, no less — have presented the Knicks with a more stable long-term rebuild than this current one that will look silly four years from now when Noah is 35, Melo is 36 and Lee is 34?

Tanking is not always the solution, but for a franchise that’s needed to avoid big name has-beens and properly rebuild from the ground up for decades now, the Knicks’ offseason represents another shortsighted misstep, especially when one remembers they gave up on the rarely used Jerian Grant and promising youngster Langston Galloway in the process.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still vastly superior in the East, and after watching a younger Festus Ezeli get signed to a bargain two-year, $17.4 million deal, Noah’s massive deal is enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

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New York has a good chance of being a playoff team again in 2016-17, but for the long-term and the short-term future, don’t expect much more than that.

Grade: C-

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