Originally Posted by
Tonus
There are two things I will say for Phil: he didn't trade away future draft picks, and he drafted Porzingis. The Knicks traded their first round pick away in 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 (they traded Nene right after the draft), 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. That's 13 times in 24 drafts. A few of those picks turned into guys like LaMarcus Aldridge, Gordon Heyward, Nene, Joakim Noah, and Dario Saric. Once the Knicks got bad in 2001, it was a horrendous strategy that almost always backfired.
There's a rule that you're only allowed to trade your pick every other year (in a couple cases they circumvented that by trading it away right after the draft - 2000, 2002, or by swapping picks instead of trading outright). If the Knicks don't trade their 2018 first round pick, it'll be the first time they kept their pick for 2 consecutive years since 2008-09.
So if you're a GM thinking of coming to the Knicks, there's two scenarios:
1. You've got Porzingis and the french guy as potential core members of a future contending team. You've got bad contracts clogging up cap space so you can tank pretty painlessly (playing the french guy a lot will surely cost you games next year and at some point Carmelo turns into late career Kobe Bryant). You get three more lottery picks, extend Porzingis (taking Carmelo's cap space), and use the cap space currently occupied by Courtney Lee and what remains of Joakim Noah to sign a free agent. If it's 2020, you're the GM in New York, you have a young interesting team, and you have cap space, there's a good shot you can get someone good to fill out a contending roster.
2. Knicks' business as usual. Sign Derrick Rose and pretend he's still an MVP caliber point guard. When Carmelo comes off the books, spend the money on whoever is willing to come to the Knicks in 2019. You end up with mediocre picks in the late lottery. Maybe you luck into a first round playoff appearance one year, get excited and trade more first rounders. Porzingis leaves in 2020.
If I'm interviewing with Dolan, I push scenario 1. Unfortunately I suspect he's going to go with scenario 2.
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With that lineup against the Warriors, you end up with Rondo (-.5 defensive real plus minus) guarding Curry, Redick (-2.11) guarding Klay Thompson, Melo (-1.75) guarding Iguodala, Griffin (+.76) totally mismatched trying to guard Durant, and Jordan guarding Green, who drags him out to the three point line.
Woof. The Warriors might score 150 points a game. And that team is around the same age as the Warriors so it's not like you can wait them out.