Carmelo Anthony openly questioned the mentality of those running the New York Knicks over the summer when he asked what success meant to the franchise. Anthony questioned whether success for New York meant winning 15-16 games, playing for eighth in the Eastern Conference or actually competing for the top seed. For better or for worse, the Knicks attempted to answer that question this offseason when they made a number of surprising moves to shake up their roster. Only time will tell what the changes will mean for the upcoming season but looking back now it’s easy to identify the kind of impact each move will likely have on New York. Here is a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of he Knicks’ offseason.
The Good
New York certainly became a more appealing team to watch with the addition of a former league MVP in Derrick Rose, a new starting center in Joakim Noah, a new starting shooting guard in Courtney Lee and some added depth with Brandon Jennings set to back up Rose. There is no question that the Knicks are a more talented team now than they were at the end of last season. That should help them to play at a quicker pace, especially with Rose and Jennings each averaging at least 99 possessions per 48 minutes when they were on the floor for the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic respectively last season.
The offseason additions will help New York penetrate and get to the rim on a more consistent basis in 2016-17 as well. Noah should help them on the defensive end of the floor, particularly in pick-and-roll situations and in mentoring Kristaps Porzingis. There should be no doubt that the Knicks substantially upgraded their overall roster and it will be interesting to see how that translates in terms of immediately improving their win total. A starting five that includes Melo, Porzingis, Rose, Noah and Lee is good enough to get this team to the playoffs and right now, that would be a big step forward.
The Bad
While Rose, Noah, Lee and Jennings all represent upgrades, they have to actually be on the floor in order to make sure there is improvement. That could be a problem with all four players struggling to stay healthy over the years. And that doesn’t even include Brandon Jennings, who is coming off a major injury himself.
It’s hard to believe that Rose is just 27 years old because he looks like an old man on the floor. Gone are the days when he plays 35+ minutes per game. He missed just six games in his first three seasons of action; he’s missed 162 games over his last four seasons. As for Noah, he’s now 31 year’s old and is coming off a season where he played just 29 games. Over his last seven seasons, he’s averaged just 59.5 games played per year, which means he’s missing more than 30 games per season. That’s a lot.
New York is rolling the dice on all four players with Rose and Noah the biggest concerns. GM Phil Jackson might have also considered adding a pure three-point scorer that could help stretch the floor as the additions he made don’t project to really help them in that area.
The Ugly
One of the biggest problems with all of the moves the Knicks made in the offseason is potentially harming the balance between winning now and building a championship team. New York’s starting five is better than it was a year ago but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are any closer to contending for an NBA championship. The Knicks passed on the opportunity to add another franchise player when they traded the sixth-overall pick and the veterans they brought in won’t mean any more touches for Porzingis this season. New York also has to be concerned about their depth with Lance Thomas, Sasha Vujacic and Kyle O’Quinn expected to be the first off the bench and a major lack of help behind them. The Knicks made some major additions this offseason but as Anthony said at the start of the offseason, their long-term vision remains an uncertain one with major concerns about what the franchise’s idea of success is at this point.
