New York Knicks: Free agency was boring, but that’s a good thing

The New York Knicks front office resisted the temptation of overpaying in free agency. They chose to sign short-term deals and accumulate assets instead.

Derrick Rose’s season with the New York Knicks was basically an extended WWE promo. He put himself over from the day he got there until the day he left. Unfortunately, he was more Goldberg on the mic than Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Rose was attempting to drum up excitement in his contract season. He channeled Kyrie Irving at his introductory press conference — “I hope I will be able to play the rest of my career here” — and chased stats in a way that would make Russell Westbrook cringe.

At the center of all, the excitement was Phil Jackson. Yes, he was probably napping, but he was still there. Jackson spent $125 million on Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee, and Brandon Jennings to form a superteam — Rose’s words, not mine — with Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.

Sometimes the exciting headline-worthy moves aren’t the best way to go. Spending a lot of money on big names can blow up in your face. Jackson never fully committed to a rebuild, and it cost him. The conservative route — some may call it boring — is something that I can’t remember anyone in charge of the Knicks committing to until now.

Until Leon Rose and his crew started hoarding picks like Halloween candy. That’s when we all started to have hope. The bar was low for Rose during his first offseason running the New York Knicks. The mandate was simple: Don’t screw up. Giving up assets or overpaying in free agency would be the status quo. But the new regime quickly showed signs that things had changed in New York.