Knicks: Mindaugas Kuzminskas To Replace Derrick Williams?

With the addition of Mindaugas Kuzminskas, the possibility of the New York Knicks re-signing Derrick Williams is now less likely.

Brandon Jennings‘ signing forced the New York Knicks to renounce the rights to unrestricted free agent Derrick Williams. Don’t panic, Jennings has proven to be a great scorer, and if healthy, we could see flashes of his 55-point performance with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Do I hear sixth man of year?

Even with Jennings in the roster, there was still reason to believe that the Knicks could offer Derrick Williams a long-term contract.

Why would you not want to see someone who is not afraid of contact, willing to attack the basket, push the pace on the fast break and occasionally make wide open and contested 3-point field goals?

You loved his demeanor—not so much his defense—and the fact that he provided points off the bench.

“Hello? Phil Jackson? Yeah, about Williams; seems like we’re taking too long to reach an agreement. I’ve been checking around and see nothing about setting up a meeting with him. Yeah? Yeah OK, priorities first, alright, bye”.

Priorities did come first for Phil Jackson. Hours later, after New York signed Jennings, the Knicks came to an agreement with Lance Thomas on a four-year, $27 million contract.

Yes! Another reason to feel excited. Thomas is on the books.

Thomas, coming off his best season in the NBA—and before a mid-season injury, considered by many for the most improved player award—is returning to Madison Square Garden.

Perfect, Phil Jackson, why do I ever doubt you? Surely, time has come to make Derrick Williams an offer.

The following day, the Knicks signed center Guillermo Hernangomez. Then another European player was signed by the New York Knicks: Mindaugas Kuzminskas.

This was a surprise. You immediately went to Google to check out his highlights and stats, because you needed to convince yourself that signing Mindaugas Kuzminskas is a priority over bringing back Derrick Williams.

You’re thrilled. Some of his highlights show his versatility as a shooter, his length for rebounding and the ability to get to the paint and force some easy buckets. Great find for The Zen Master.

Now, the New York Knicks have a backup point guard in Brandon Jennings, a backup center in Willy Hernangomez, Lance Thomas and Kyle O’Quinn as power forwards, Mindaugas Kuzminskas as the small forward off the bench, and Justin Holiday as the backup shooting guard.

It should be mentioned that Thomas can also play at the 3.

Wait. Where’s the one-man-fast-break Derrick Williams?

With very little cap space left, the Knicks are likely to lose Williams to a fairly good contract on a team willing to pay him what he’s worth.

Rumors suggested that the Knicks were looking to trade Kyle O’Quinn, which would free up to $4 million in cap-space. According to Ian Begley of ESPN:

"The club is still trying to create more cap space by trading one of its players to a team with enough cap space to absorb the contract, according to sources."

No longer pursuing Langston Galloway, as he has signed with the New Orleans Pelicans, the Knicks could pursue a trade for O’Quinn in order to re-sign Williams.

That’s highly unlikely since Williams opted out of his contract to receive more than the $5 million he would be owed this upcoming year.  Sure, the Knicks, much like the Cleveland Cavaliers with J.R Smith a season ago, could get lucky if no team shows interest in signing him with more money than what the Knicks can offer.

While bringing back Williams would be ideal, the signing of Kuzminskas, a player with a lot of talent that plays Williams’ position, makes things very unlikely.

The means to make it happen, assuming management is interested in re-signing Williams, is not going to be easy.

Phil Jackson probably saw Derrick Williams getting an offer he couldn’t come close to competing against and decided it was necessary to sign Kuzminskas before other teams could sign him and be left with third-tier small forwards to choose from.

To Williams, this is how much we want you back.

Next: Reasons To Love Mindaugas Kuzminskas

To Knicks Management, we want Williams back.