The New York Knicks altered their roster and took a more win now approach during the offseason, adding three key veteran rotation players.
Carmelo Anthony couldn’t take anymore losing. He was wasting his talents on a New York Knicks team that was 49-115 in the past two seasons. So he reached out to the man in charge and told him things needed to change.
According to Ian Begley of ESPN New York, Knicks President of Basketball Operations Phil Jackson met with Anthony after the season and they spoke about the future of the team.
According to Jackson, he asked Anthony if the Knicks were, “moving quickly enough” and Anthony’s response conveyed “that he’s getting into an age where things have to happen for him, so we decided to activate ourselves.”
So Jackson went out and got three guys that he knew would make Anthony happy. Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Courtney Lee are all respected veterans who’ve been on playoff teams.
These weren’t the only moves the team made this summer. The Knicks underwent significant changes, retaining only five players from the disappointing 2015-16 season.
The regular season is roughly two months away, and the Knicks have 14 players under guaranteed contracts heading into training camp. The opening day roster for 2016-17 is nearly set.
These are our grades and analysis for the Knicks offseason.
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- Derrick Rose
- Justin Holiday
- 2017 2nd Round Pick
The Knicks needed to change things up at the point guard position. Their floor generals were 30th in points (by a wide margin) and 27th in assists during the 2015-16 season. To turn things around, Jackson decided to swing for the fences.
In a move that grabbed headlines all over the country, the Knicks acquired former MVP Derrick Rose from the Chicago Bulls. Rose’s once-promising career has been derailed by injuries, but with his contract expiring it was a calculated risk.
The Knicks were able to dump Jose Calderon‘s salary, and Jerian Grant wasn’t a huge blow, but Robin Lopez started at center in all 82 games last season and was arguably the Knicks second best player. Even Phil Jackson said that losing him was like, “getting a tooth pulled.”
Rose’s aggressive play will be a refreshing change of pace, but he’ll need to become a more willing passer with his new team.
Per Nylon Calculus, 27.9% of his assists came at the rim area, and 29.7% came on 3-point shots. Rose’s ability to find teammates from downtown could benefit Kristaps Porzingis and Courtney Lee.
Last season he averaged 8.9 drives per game and passed only 23.3% of the time. Rose will need to be smarter with the ball as well. He turned the ball over (7.1%) on drives more often than he assisted (6.5%) on baskets (via NBA.com).
Despite the negatives, there is still one big positive. Rose scored 6.9 points per game on those drives, good for top ten in the NBA.
The other player, the Knicks, received along with Rose was Justin Holiday. The 27-year-old shooting guard only played 121 games in his first three years in the league, and the Knicks are now his fifth team in four seasons.
The numbers say that Holiday is a shooter as the career average distance on his FGAs is 16.1 ft, and 45% of those attempts have been threes.
While Holiday is just a mediocre 32.6% from downtown for his career, he’s an impressive 39.1% on 2-point attempts greater than 16 ft. away from the basket (via Basketball-Reference.com).
Holiday can be most effective for the Knicks if he can make threes off the catch — he was 37.6% on catch and shoot 3s last season — and play good defense. Holiday has an above average career defensive box plus-minus (0.3), and he was Defensive Player of the Year his senior season at the University of Washington.
Don’t be surprised if this throw-in becomes an important part of the rotation.
Grade: B+
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- Joakim Noah: signed a four-year, $72 million contract
The 2013-14 season was good to Joakim Noah. He won the Defensive Player of the Year Award and finished fourth in MVP voting.
To judge Noah’s value to the Bulls in his nine seasons with the team we’ll take a closer look at that impressive season.
The 31-year-old played 80 games and averaged 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.2 steals. He led the team in rebounds, assists, and blocks.
With Derrick Rose out of action for all but ten games, Noah took over as the primary ball handler.
Noah’s passing skills should provide a seamless transition into the triangle offense.
Noah averaged 83.8 touches per game, including 9.7 touches from the elbow, and 4.9 from the post. This shows how versatile a passer he is, as Noah was able to pass the ball out of the post and more frequently from the elbow.
In the 2,820 minutes that Noah was on the court, the Bulls were +3.9 points per 100 possessions and slipped all the way to a -3.0 points per 100 possessions in the 1,166 without him (via NBA.com).
Noah had one of the best all-around seasons in the league, stuffing the stat sheet on a regular basis. He was fourth in the league in double doubles and second in triple doubles.
His metrics only amplified his value.
He ranked first among centers in RPM, first in DWS, and second in DBPM, and fifth in VORPM.
Noah’s greatest assets can’t be measured on the stat sheet, though. It’s his natural talent as a leader on the court and his ability to guard multiple positions.
He’s one of the few players who can guard big men in the post and switch off the pick and roll and match up with guards on the perimeter.
Look at what he does here to Dwyane Wade in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.
You can count on one hand the amount of centers who can do that.
But, Noah was so bad last season. It was just 29 games, and he did get moved to the bench, but man he was bad. Granted 29 games is a small sample size, but coming off shoulder surgery isn’t encouraging.
The Knicks are banking that a change of scenery and playing in the triangle will do Noah some good. Give them an A for enthusiasm.
Grade: C
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- Brandon Jennings: signed a one-year, $5 million contract
Brandon Jennings made headlines recently when he tweeted out that he would rather have a career like 7-time NBA champion and role player Robert Horry than ringless Hall of Famer Reggie Miller.
Jennings wasn’t trying to insult Miller he just wanted to make it clear that he came to New York to win. Much like Derrick Rose, he believes in this team.
He could come in and have a complete career turnaround with a new team, or things could implode. Jennings is hard to predict.
His poor shot selection and inconsistency on offense are rivaled only by his James Harden-like attitude on defense that Knicks’ fans will grow to despise. Jennings is a volume shooter, averaging 15.8 shots and 17.4 points per game for his career.
The guy needs the ball in his hands to be remotely effective.
Then he has moments of greatness that explain why he was the No. 1 overall high school recruit in the country from the legendary Oak Hill Academy.
To describe Brandon Jennings in one word: Infuriating. Or he was as a starter anyway. Hopefully, as a reserve with fewer minutes, he can make fewer mistakes.
Either way in this market when D.J. Augustin is getting $29 million, the Knicks got a steal with Jennings. The one-year deal is great for both sides.
Grade: B
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- Courtney Lee: signed a four-year, $50 million contract
Everybody wants the three-and-D wing, and the Knicks hit the jackpot with Courtney Lee.
Lee was 40.3% on catch and shoot 3s, and while guarding ball handlers on the pick and roll, he held opponents to 34% shooting and just 0.69 points per possession.
This was the best signing of the Phil Jackson-era. The Knicks needed a shooting guard who could help out the defensively-challenged Rose and Jackson went out and got him.
The other swingman, the Knicks, were attached to, Evan Turner, went to Portland for $70 million. This wasn’t just Jackson’s best deal it was one of the best deals of the summer.
When everyone else was throwing cash at dudes like Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks found not one but two bargains in Jennings and Lee.
Grade: A+
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- Lance Thomas: re-signed on a four-year, $27 million contract
- Sasha Vujacic: re-signed on a one-year, $1.4 million contract
Two different situations here.
Thomas was one of the most valuable players on the team, emerging as a 3-and-D threat.
He was 41.0% on catch and shoot 3-point attempts and lowered opponent’s field goal percentage by -3.1% while guarding the shooter (via NBA.com).
Grade: A
Sasha is back because he’s a Phil Jackson guy. He knows the triangle and got along well with Porzingis.
It’s not likely that Sasha will see any real time unless Lee is injured. That doesn’t mean the Knicks couldn’t have explored the free agency pool for a better option, though.
Grade: D
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Everybody Else
- Willy Hernangomez: signed a four-year, $5.7 million contract
- Mindaugas Kuzminskas: signed a two-year, $6 million contract
- Marshall Plumlee: signed a three-year contract w/first year guaranteed
- Ron Baker: signed a partially-guaranteed contract
- Chasson Randle: signed a partially-guaranteed contract
- J.P. Tokoto: signed a partially-guaranteed contract
- Maurice Nduor: signed a two-year contract
The Knicks have filled out their roster with International prospects Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, rookies Marshall Plumlee and Ron Baker, and an assortment of D-League/Overseas prospects.
None of these prospects are expected to play significant minutes in 2016-17, but Hernangomez is the most important. The Knicks drafted him in the second round in 2015 and have expectations for him.
Unlike his friend Porzingis, Hernangomez prefers to go down low in the post and play more of an old school center style.
No one had heard of Kuzminskas before he signed with the Knicks and there’s still very little known about him now.
DraftExpress has a profile on him from 2010.
“Kuzminskas’s best asset is his spot up jump shot, which he can get off at a terrific rate thanks to his 6-9 size. A highly capable shooter with excellent range, a high release point, and tremendous touch, the young small forward is more than capable of stretching the floor on any level.”
At the end of the day, Kuzminskas may not have the physical tools or versatility to not be labeled as a Steve Novak-esqe one dimensional player for the NBA level, which makes him a candidate for the second round at best. With that said, his skill level and size give him immense potential in the European game, with a chance to crack the NBA down the road as a specialist nonetheless. Considering his status as a late bloomer, he’s definitely a player to keep an eye on, particularly if his frame fills out, and a number of teams have taken a documented interest in his recent play.
That’s from six years ago, so take that for what it’s worth.
The Knicks know exactly what they’re getting with Marshall Plumlee. He won’t score but he can help on defense and on the glass.
Maurice Nduor played well for the Knicks in summer league last season before the Mavericks signed him. New York didn’t miss out on him two years in a row and he’ll definitely be in competition for the final roster spot.
Ron Baker and Chasson Randle were great in summer league. Randle averaged 18.3 points per game and Baker was 37% from downtown.
Baker’s ability to defend both guard positions could earn him the 15th and final spot but Randle became a fan favorite when he lit up the scoreboard during the summer.
Grade: C+
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Overall
This was the most talked about offseason in New York since they signed Amar’e Stoudemire back in 2010. The Knicks needed this.
After winning 54 games in 2012-13 things looked up, but after the way things went last season they were back to being a joke. The team was in the news more for the head coach fighting over his girlfriend than the way they played.
So much of the Knicks’ success depends on the health of their starters that it’s tough to be confident in their playoff chances. But they went for it all this summer. You have to give the front office credit for that.
Grade: C
NEXT: New York Knicks’ Courtney Lee Believes His Squad Is Contenders
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