New York Knicks Leon Rose
New York Knicks

Knicks president Leon Rose has decided to grace the team’s fanbase with an explanation for his series of moves during Thursday’s NBA Draft.

And by explanation, we mean the perpetually unaccountable Rose released a statement without any substance.

Last night, we made three trades involving draft picks, which resulted in increased financial flexibility and additional draft capital moving forward. We now have a total of 22 picks, 11 in the first round and 11 in the second round, over the next seven years.

We have the ability to be active in free agency, as well as in the trade market, Our focus will remain to be strategic and thoughtful in our team building, doing it the right way, while feeding off of the momentum from the end of last season and prioritizing our player development program.

Thank you to Knicks fans for your continued support.

Well, that explains a lot.

To recap: The Knicks made a dizzying number of maneuvers during the draft. When the dust settles, they had in effect traded off Kemba Walker, the No. 11 pick (Ousmang Dieng) and four second-round picks for three future first-rounders and a bunch of cap space.

The presumed motivation is to position themselves to sign Mavericks point guard Jalen Brunson. Which makes sense, because Brunson is an emerging star with deep ties to the current Knicks brain trust. The team just hired his father, Rick, as an assistant coach. Rose was the elder Brunson’s agent, and Rose’s son, Sam, is now Jalen Brunson’s agent. Knicks executive William “Worldwide” Wesley is also close to Brunson.

But is Brunson actually worth everything the Knicks just did to land him? And will it even work? It’s not like Mark Cuban and the Mavs are going to let him leave without a fight.

And let’s talk about the team building and player development. Is RJ Barrett untouchable? What about Immanuel Quickley? What’s the plan with Julius Randle moving forward?

Would Rose entertain a Kyrie Irving pursuit if it is on the table?

We get some of these questions are ones Rose cannot answer directly. But there are plenty others he can, and he can still provide insights into the Knicks’ plan of action this summer and beyond.

It’s disgraceful that Rose refuses to engage with the local media — the conduit between his team and its fans. And it’s embarrassing the NBA allows such nonsense to transpire with one of its flagship franchises. If Rose cannot bring himself to speak to reporters, it’s long past time the league office tells him — and every other front office executive who wants to hide behind a state media apparatus — to do it.

James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.