As gloomy as things look for the New York Knicks right now there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the future. Here’s five of them.
The New York Knicks (24-36) are in the worst position an NBA team can be. They’re not bad enough to get a franchise player at the top of the draft, but they’re not good enough to make the playoffs.
Tanking for the best possible pick isn’t an option as long as you have Carmelo Anthony on your roster. The 2016-17 season is a lost cause for the Knicks, but the future isn’t as gloomy as you think.
Sure, there’s a lot of work to be done. A decision about the futures of Anthony and Derrick Rose in New York will need to be made this offseason.
The NBA Draft is big. The Knicks won’t have a top-five pick, but they will be in a position to take a player who can make an impact. Their last first-round pick, Kristaps Porzingis, was the best move of the Phil Jackson era.
Despite another horrible season filled with drama and lazy defense, there’s still reason to believe in the future for this team. Here are four big reasons why.
Kristaps Porzingis
Over the first 32 games of the season, Porzingis looked like an All-Star. He averaged 34.8 minutes, 20.1 points and 7.8 rebounds on a slash line of .452/.402/.788.
Since his injury problems started, Porzingis has played in 19 games and posted inferior averages of 29.3 minutes, 14.8 points, and 5.8 rebounds on a modest slash line of .435/.321/.770.
Despite a decline in production, KP’s improvements are evident. His overall averages are an increase in minutes, points, blocks, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage. There’s been no sophomore slump.
Porzingis is a 7-foot-3 player who can shoot threes, run the floor, and block shots. It makes him the perfect fit for the modern game.
The Latvian star is still only 21-years-old, and he’ll continue to improve. The Knicks have what every team in the Association is desperate to find a young superstar.
Willy Hernangomez
Willy Hernangomez didn’t come with high expectations in his rookie season. He was a second-round pick, and after the Knicks had traded for him on draft night, he elected to spend another year overseas.
Hernangomez was most well-known for being friends with Kristaps Porzingis. Now we know he’s so much more.
Hernangomez is New York’s best roll man and their third leading rebounder. He has an on/off net rating of 5.1 points per 100 possessions. The team’s better when he’s out there.
Hernangomez is leading rookies in field goal percentage, second in PER, and third in double-doubles and rebounding. This is despite being 19th in minutes with just 16.4 per game.
The 22-year-old’s salary is less than $1.5 million for 2016-17, but he’s completely outplayed Joakim Noah on his salary of $17 million.
Head coach Jeff Hornacek said there was no guarantee Noah would have the starting center job when he returned from injury next season. Right now, Hernangomez is the favorite.
They Have Their Picks
The Knicks own all their first round picks for the foreseeable future. We can knock Phil Jackson all we want (and we should), but his lack of activity has been beneficial in one aspect.
He hasn’t compromised New York’s future by dealing away any first-round picks. Isiah Thomas would’ve dealt a first for Ricky Rubio for sure.
The Knicks have a first round pick and two second rounders in 2017. To understand the gravity of that situation you need to think back on the history of the Knicks.
The Knicks haven’t made a pick in both the first and second rounds of any draft since Channing Frye and Dijon Thompson in 2005. The franchise hasn’t used their own first and second round picks in the same draft since 2003 when they chose Mike Sweetney and some dude named Slavko Vranes.
Thomas infamously traded two first round picks for Stephon Marbury in 2004. One of which was used by the Jazz in 2010 to select All-Star forward Gordon Hayward. Then there was the Eddy Curry trade. Thomas sent off two firsts and two seconds for a bust.
Oh yeah, those firsts were used to select LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah.
Isiah thought draft picks were meaningless, but Jackson has learned from those mistakes. You have to give him that.
Cap Space
The Joakim Noah deal isn’t unique to Phil Jackson’s reign of terror over the franchise. The Knicks have a history of bad contracts.
Allan Houston (6 years, $100 million) in 2001, the Stephon Marbury trade in 2004, Jerome James (5 years, $30 million) and Eddy Curry (6 years, $56 million) in 2005, and Amar’e Stoudemire (5 years, $100 million) in 2010. The Houston signing was so historically bad it became the brainchild behind the NBA’s current amnesty rule.
According to Yahoo Sports, after the Knicks rescind their free agent cap holds this summer they should have roughly $25-$26 million of cap room to spend. That’s enough to sign one max player for next season.
Ian Begley of ESPN reported that the Knicks would target point guard Jrue Holiday in free agency. It’s going to take a max contract to pry him away from the New Orleans Pelicans.
New York will target the big name free agents like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Kyle Lowry too.
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