With the 2018 NBA trade deadline nearing, the New York Knicks don’t need to deal for a star. New York needs a solid infrastructure.
The New York Knicks are in desperate need of a change of identity. The 2018 NBA trade deadline is creating flashbacks to what’s transpired in previous seasons, when the organization blindly sacrificed a long-term vision for an instant fix.
While there are certainly players who could help the Knicks tap into their short-term potential, the organization doesn’t need to find a star at the 2018 NBA trade deadline.
It needs a solid foundation.
New York has made significant progress towards becoming a team that could achieve sustainable success. Kristaps Porzingis is already an All-Star at 22 years of age, and Tim Hardaway Jr. has played well during the first season of his four-year deal.
The Knicks have also found a positionally versatile defender in Frank Ntilikina, which is an essential strength for every team in this perimeter-heavy era.
While Hardaway, Ntilikina, and Porzingis have collective potential, they’re also young, inexperienced, and generally unfamiliar with one another. This is the first season that they’ve played together, and the team-wide results have been expectedly inconsistent.
In the criminally small sample size of 230 possessions played together, however, the three-man lineup of Hardaway, Ntilikina, and Porzingis ranks in the 99th percentile in net rating.
There’s no guaranteeing that Hardaway, Ntilikina, and Porzingis will develop into the elite trio that the small sample size implies they can be. It stands to reason that they can provide the foundation for success, however, as they complement one another quite well.
For as true as that may be, one simply can’t help but acknowledge the fact that the Knicks have an opportunity to take this unit to an entirely different level in 2018.
Hardaway and Porzingis are both dynamic scorers, albeit with different styles—styles that mesh. Ntilikina adds the unique dynamic of being a willing facilitator who even looks the part of a clutch scorer when he removes hesitation from his game.
Throw in the fact that both Ntilikina and Porzingis have elite size and length for their respective positions, and the Knicks could produce high-low dominance on defense.
With the 2018 NBA trade deadline nearing, however, many are getting caught up in the euphoria of early success. As the Knicks continue to plummet down the standings, but memories of the beginning of the 2017-18 season have created a sense of urgency to end what’s becoming a five-year postseason drought.
In turn, fans and analysts are missing out on the most appealing possibility of all: Adding one more draft pick to complete this promising puzzle.
Porzingis is a two-way star, Hardaway is a skilled playmaker, and Ntilikina has the potential to get the job done on both ends of the floor. In a division with the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, however, it’s clear that young talent is the key to winning this arms race.
Painful as it may be for Knicks fans to accept, it’s also clear that Boston is the perfect example of what New York needs most: An identity.
Adding a star to the roster could be helpful, but if they don’t change the culture, it would almost be a lateral move. The talent level would improve and the win count would likely follow, but the Knicks will have lost long-term assets in favor of a short-term upgrade.
Instead of breaking the bank on a player who can appease impatient minds, the Knicks should do what needs to be done and solidify the foundation.
By keeping the first-round draft pick and entering rebuild mode, the Knicks could add the star prospect who perfectly complements the current core. In turn, the organization would have impressionable basketball minds instead of a veteran leader who may be stuck in his ways.
Thus, if the Knicks are going to trade for a star, then one simple word must be checked off at the top of the list of requirements: Culture.
Veterans who change the culture are players whom every franchise covets, no matter what stage of the building process they’ve reached. Unfortunately, those players are far more difficult to acquire than one might hope.
Thus, the Knicks’ chances of finding their next Tyson Chandler at the 2018 NBA trade deadline are admittedly slim.
As the deadline nears and the pressure to improve mounts, New York must look at its current core. Blowing the roster up and trading all of the veterans may not be the answer, but acquiring developable talent may be.
Much has gone wrong over the past two decades, but the Knicks can rectify some of those issues by seeing a rebuild through.
Must Read: Trades that would facilitate the rebuild
The question is: Will the New York Knicks remain patient and committed to the vision in the face of adversity?