Today, I took a look at the Knicks roster, and I was thinking of the best way to move forward with our young roster.
There are 2 ways the Knicks can go about this summer, with either option having a chance of being a great move or a poor one.
1) We can go after veterans to try to make another playoff push. This is not my #1 choice, but I wouldn’t be upset with it if we got the right veterans. I don’t mean resigning Taj Gibson and Wayne Ellington. For this plan to have a chance at working, you need to sign veterans that actually will help contribute to not only the team but also to the younger guys. So, if we go the route of trying to trade for CP3 and signing Demar, I wouldn’t be opposed. Sure this will give fewer minutes to some of the younger guys like Knox, but it will help players like RJ and Mitch because they will have a real point guard and real veterans leading the offense and defense the right way. This strategy would also lead to more wins, and maybe a shot at the playoffs.
2) The Knicks can also the go route of helping the young guys. And what I mean by this is giving them real minutes, with the idea of letting them grow as players, even though we are most likely going to lose a lot of games if this were to happen. In the offseason, you would go after young unproven guys on restricted deals (you would have to overpay for them), and also try to sign young players that are proven who are unrestricted to large deals since we will have a lot of cap space after letting all the past “veterans” go. These are proven players like Christian Wood who is an unrestricted free agent, and going after young guys that might be restricted but we overpay for them like a Jakob Poltl. You would also have to sign some veterans to be vocal leaders on the team, however, these veterans should not be ball-dominant, but at the same time should give you productive minutes, so that the younger guys can have the ball in their hands while the team still succeeds (like a Derrick Favors). This would also let the draft pick (most likely a PG) start and not let him ride the bench. This strategy would not lead to a lot of wins but would help the young guys get a lot of minutes and give them experience on the court to help them improve.
Which strategy do you think the Knicks will pursue this summer?
