New York Knicks: The State Of The Knicks After The All-Star Break

What is the state of the New York Knicks as we exit All-Star Weekend and enter the final stretch of the 2016-17 NBA regular season?

The first half of the 2016-17 NBA regular season has been melodramatic (no pun intended) for Phil Jackson, Carmelo Anthony, and the New York Knicks. There hasn’t been too much shock, either.

The expectations were immense before the end of October, especially with an overhyped New York media and “superteam” roster. The offseason was all about turning a historically bad season into a historically great one—all in the span of one summer.

How has that worked out?

What The Knicks Did Well This Offseason

A trade for former MVP Derrick Rose was a blockbuster move to get the ball rolling, and signing Joakim Noah was a strategy to try and get Rose back in full MVP form. Like the Rose trade, and even the drafting of Kristaps Porzingis, the Noah signing had its potential benefits and disadvantages.

If all went well, the acquisition would allow Rose and Noah to team up once again, hoping that they would bring the same success they had in Chicago to New York. In 2011, the Rose-and-Noah-led Chicago Bulls went 62-20 as they glided through the season and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Plus, who doesn’t love an energetic player in Noah playing for his hometown team?

Rose’s one-year contract gives the fanbase and organization a chance to experience a “test-drive”

Also, when bench players such as Lou Amundson and Jose Calderon are replaced by a veteran Brandon Jennings and a new starting shooting guard in Courtney Lee, the level of overall talent can definitely expect to rise.

Throw in Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis into the mix, and that almost sounds like a championship-level big four.

However, building a championship-level basketball squad is not that simple.