The New York Knicks had a busy 2019 NBA offseason. We hand out some grades for the moves that they made in the 2019 NBA Draft and in free agency.
The New York Knicks came into the 2019 offseason with high aspirations. Armed with the most cap space in the NBA and tied for the best odds in the NBA Draft Lottery, fans were dreaming big when it came to overhauling the roster.
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New York didn’t win the lottery but still landed the No. 3 pick, a solid consolation given the fact the other two teams tied with them at 14 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns, dropped to No. 5 and No. 6 respectively.
That put a damper on things for Knicks fans early on, but there was still excitement heading into free agency.
For months there were rumors that the team would be players in free agency. David Fizdale, Scott Perry and Steve Mills were preaching a new culture and how things would be different. Unfortunately, it was much of the same.
New York was shutout of the max free agent sweepstakes. Kevin Durant, who was the most rumored player heading to Madison Square Garden, decided to head to Barclays Center, along with Kyrie Irving, to play with the Brooklyn Nets.
Kemba Walker went to the Boston Celtics. The Philadelphia 76ers landed Al Horford in addition to retaining Tobias Harris. The Atlantic Division is now one of the toughest in the NBA.
It wasn’t an ideal start to free agency for the Knicks, but they had a lot of money to spend and spend it they did. Overall, the front office added nine new players to the roster; two via the 2019 NBA Draft and another seven in free agency.
The team also has one two-way deal remaining, which should be handed out to which player performs best during training camp in a few weeks.
While this offseason fell short of fans expectations, the Knicks have upgraded the roster. Let’s take a look at the overhauled roster and hand out some grades for the team’s transactions this offseason.