4 Things That Doomed the New York Knicks at the Deadline

The NBA trade deadline came and went, with the New York Knicks coming up empty, a sign of the many problems that plague them.

So, too, did Carmelo Anthony, Kyle O’Quinn, Courtney Lee, and Brandon Jennings (who knew the Knicks had so many assets?), all of whom were rumored to depart New York via the trade deadline, vociferously so with Melo, who has weathered a relative maelstrom from the club’s president of basketball operations, Phil Jackson.

Around 3:30 on Thursday, reporting live on The Michael Kay Show, ESPN’s Ian Begley, a beat writer for the Knicks on the Worldwide Leader in Sports, told Kay and Don LaGreca that several iterations of a Rose-for-Ricky Rubio were on the table, including (a) Rose for Rubio straight up and (b) Rose and a fringe player for Rubio and a rotation player or a pick.

Reportedly, the Knicks were on board with a straight-up swap, but the Minnesota Timberwolves balked at the eleventh hour.

And so Rose, one-time MVP who went absent without leave for a spell in January, an enticing trade piece because of his expiring contract, suited up in blue-and-orange during Thursday night’s 119-104 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose owner Dan Gilbert entertained Cleveland native Charles Oakley with courtside seats in response to Oak’s recent falling out with James Dolan.

The notion of several European players gelling as a unit at the Garden, with Rubio competently running point through a series of pick-and-rolls, distributing to the likes of Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, was, alas, a mere pipedream, despite its being a compelling prospect.

Bringing aboard Rubio would have amounted to the Knicks paying the Spaniard $29 million over the next two seasons; keeping Rose allows his money to come off the books this summer, with New York seemingly expressing little desire to retain him in the offseason.

But given the amount of money Rose’s departure saves the Knicks on their 2017-2018 payroll, who as a prospective free agent would ever desire to come to New York?

The 2017 free agent possibilities—from Blake Griffin to Stephen Curry, Serge Ibaka, George Hill, Jeff Teague, Jrue Holiday, and J.J. Redick—are not all that enticing, especially considering Curry is likely a mainstay with Golden State, Griffin will command a max contract when he isn’t worthy of one, and a bevy of middling guards round out the list.

The year 2018 is a different story, with Kevin Durant, Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul, Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Lowry, and DeMarcus Cousins serving as featured members of that season’s free agent class, barring their re-signing with their respective clubs.

Regardless, the Knicks have sadly maintained a “wait until next year” mentality since 2010 with free agents, while claiming respectable, but hardly impressive, returns with Robin Lopez, O’Quinn, Lee, and Jennings during Phil’s tenure.

As presently constructed, the Knicks’ roster is not good enough to be the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, nor are they bad enough to land a top-five lottery pick in this June’s NBA Draft.  Given how Dolan and Phil have treated players of today and yesteryear, the Knicks find themselves in NBA purgatory, with this season’s pick potentially falling outside the top-ten, contracts for a putrid player (Joakim Noah) and an aging superstar (Melo) comprising the payroll, and players not feeling so inclined to play in New York in light of the fading draw of the World’s Most Famous Arena.

In year three of his contract with the Knicks, Phil Jackson has a number of poor transactions on his docket, with one windfall (the KP pick) to his name.  When his deal with the Knicks runs out in 2019 (according to CBS Sports via Bleacher Report, he may even re-sign), the 2018 free agency class and five-year window without a title, which will extend the franchise’s championship drought to 46 years, will have passed him by.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  The Knicks struck out, erroneously so, on deadline day.  Ultimately, here are four occurrences that doomed them both on Thursday and beyond.

1.  The DeMarcus Cousins trade to New Orleans

Moments after the Western Conference’s 192-182 victory over the Eastern Conference in Sunday night’s All-Star Game, word traveled quickly about the New Orleans Pelicans’ absolute fleecing of the Sacramento Kings, who were desperate to rid themselves of DeMarcus Cousins.  In exchange for Langston Galloway, last season’s number six pick Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, a Kings’ castoff whose contract is due to expire, and a first and second round pick in 2017 (the former of which is top-3 protected, which, given what the Kings are now without Cousins, may never be theirs), the Pelicans acquired an All-NBA talent, along with Omri Casspi, to play alongside their franchise center in Anthony Davis.

In short, the Cousins deal demonstrated that a superstar could be had for very little.

And Melo, who is six years older that Boogie, would have garnered even less.

In essence, what the Cousins deal did to the NBA landscape leading up to Thursday’s deadline dashed the Knicks’ hopes of trading Melo to the Boston Celtics, who amassed a litany of assets when their Big Three disbanded, and the Los Angeles Clippers, who could not trade Griffin for Carmelo as long as Rose remained on the roster, thanks in part to an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that bars two players in the midst of a contract that was extended past their initial rookie deals to comprise the same roster.

Essentially, Melo, arguably a lesser player than Cousins, was not worth claiming by a title contender in need of a dynamic scorer of Anthony’s ilk and hefty contract.

2.  The Carmelo Anthony conundrum

First and foremost, no matter how astonishing a prospective deal was for the Knicks, the ball was always in Carmelo Anthony’s court.

He had a no-trade clause in his contract that he was never truly willing to waive.

Secondly, any team acquiring Anthony would be forced to pay him over $26.2 million in 2017-2018 and $27.9 million in 2018-2019, figures that would rise incrementally each season, thanks again to a clause in his contract that demands he be paid more if he were ever traded.

Furthermore, Melo is not the complete player an interested club would seek in a trade, especially one that would need to command a draft pick or two.  Despite his savant-like scoring ability, the song remains the same for Carmelo: he has not, nor will he ever, commit any measurable exertion on defense.  He is not a durable workhorse who expounds the maximum effort that LeBron James does on a nightly basis.  These are merely the cold, hard facts in evaluating Anthony.

Were he five or six years younger, a team would be willing to part with assets to acquire Melo in spite of his defensive woes, just as the Knicks did prior to the trading deadline in 2011.  Now?  Carmelo is a liability on the other end of the floor, and the Celtics, more in need of defense and less in need of the luxury of another offensive weapon to supplement Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, and potentially Marcus Smart, were never going to pull the trigger to land Anthony.

And given the inability to claim Griffin with Rose on the roster (with no guarantee at re-signing Blake, who isn’t entirely worth it anyhow), the Knicks would have settled on any combination of J.J. Redick (a free agent to-be), a bad contract in Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers, and a mid-level pick from the Clippers, a less than desirable haul.

Unfortunately, Melo is also an “old” 32, set to be 33 in May.  Already a fifteen-year veteran, Melo, who only played one season at Syracuse, has logged 37,321 minutes, including the playoffs, over 1,025 games in the NBA.  He has lost a step, and is no longer as explosive slashing to the basket.  Relying on his perimeter shot more than ever of late (albeit, with more than a respectable efficiency), Melo has not proven he can hack it as the number one option on a championship contender.  A second or third option?  Perhaps.  But like Patrick Ewing, Melo will likely end his career as a superstar without a ring.

3.  Kevin Love‘s ill-timed knee injury

LeBron, despite Cleveland’s acquisition of sharpshooter Kyle Korver, made it clear his club was in need of another playmaker.  Given what Kyrie Irving means to the Cavs, that made Kevin Love expendable yet again, especially if it could land a player of Carmelo’s caliber.

Alas, Love went down with a meniscal tear that would deprive him of the remainder of the regular season, and all bets were off.  There was no way Phil was angling to acquire damaged goods, a player already hampered by a balky back.

To further complicate any Love-for-Melo trade, the Cavaliers proved they could accomplish the insurmountable, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to the Golden State Warriors en route to the city’s first ever NBA title, with Love, a supremely gifted outlet passer and above-average rebounder, serving as the third option behind LeBron and Kyrie.  Why would they disrupt what already worked, just to accommodate bringing Melo aboard?  Altering a team’s blueprint for success with half a season left to play could have proven detrimental.  Perhaps it were best for both sides that this trade never came to fruition, quite frankly.

4.  Magic Johnson‘s appointment as head executive of the Los Angeles Lakers

Remember last season, when many indications pointed to Phil bolting the Knicks for the Los Angeles Lakers to fill the same seat he know holds with New York?

Unfortunately for him, he ended his engagement with long-time girlfriend Jeanie Buss in December, citing “long distance issues” as the reason for the break.  This is mere speculation, but this event could have been the precipitating factor that fractured his relationship amongst the Buss family, with Jim Buss already running basketball operations in L.A.

Lo and behold, in a personnel upheaval for the Lakers, the organization relieved Buss of his duties, along with general manager Mitch Kupchak, paving way for Magic Johnson to helm the Lakers as their president of basketball operations, with agent-turned-GM Rob Pelinkas replacing Kupchak.  Quick to get to work, Magic and Pelinkas subsequently dealt point guard Lou Williams to the Houston Rockets for Corey Brewer and a first-round pick in June’s draft.

With a core of Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, and Brandon Ingram, Jose Calderon off their books after this season, and two first-round draft picks this year—with one likely to turn into a high lottery pick—the Lakers, with sizable cap space in spite of the Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov contracts, are on the rise, maintaining a stock much higher than the Knicks at present.

But here we are in New York, stuck with Phil Jackson.

The “legendary” Phil Jackson, who convinced James Dolan that eleven titles as a coach would translate to success at the executive level.

Three years in, Knick fans already know what they are getting with Phil:  a perennial disappointment, light years away from contention.

Honorable mention:  Lest we forget…

James Dolan is still the owner of this franchise.  All that needs to be stated, really.