The New York Knicks should be improved during the 2019-20 NBA season. Here are five predictions for the team for the upcoming season.
The New York Knicks have officially gotten the 2019-20 season underway with training camp and the preseason among us. While things didn’t go according to plan in the offseason, the Knicks should still improve during the upcoming season.
It will be the second season under head coach David Fizdale, who has been given a more competitive roster. New York didn’t land max superstars in free agency, but it added several veterans that should help set the tone for the younger players.
A lot of jokes were directed at Knicks’ management, some of which was deserved, as the team signed a plethora of power forwards. While all of Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, Marcus Morris and Bobby Portis play power forward, they have some versatility and can move up to center or down to small forward.
It wasn’t the greatest backup plan, but at least they seemed to have a plan. Instead of throwing long-term max-money at players who were unworthy of it, they signed players to two-year deals, with the second year being team options. Randle was the only player signed with guaranteed money beyond 2020.
That is a risky strategy, as some veterans could get upset about potentially being free agents again next summer and not getting a chance to showcase their talent on the court. On the other hand, Steve Mills and Scott Perry have kept their cap flexibility going forward, which is always important.
This will be an important year for the Knicks. They need to show they are making progress in their rebuild to become a more attractive landing spot for free agents. Some of these predictions occurring during the 2019-20 season would go a long way to showing those improvements.