NY Knicks: “Pass or Pursue” on 3 recently rumored trade targets
By Mark Nilon
NY Knicks trade target No. 1) JJ Redick
First on the docket, we see the 15-year veteran JJ Redick making his way towards the Knicks’ targets list.
Rumor has it, NOLA is “open” to the idea of trading away their sharpshooting two-guard, so, naturally, when compiling a list of hypothetical trade destinations, it is to be expected that teams struggling with their long rang game would be mentioned.
We here at Daily Knicks explored the idea of a potential trade for JJ Redick in the past, so this is nothing new for us.
Though they may not be a “bottom feeder” in said category, the 12th ranked 3-point shooting/ 29th ranked 3-point attempting Knicks could certainly be argued as a team that could use for a guy like Redick.
On the season, the 36-year-old is posting per-game averages of 8.7 points on 36 percent shooting from downtown.
While he may not be moving the needle much for this year’s Pelicans team, writer Zach Buckley believes the shooting guard could be an ideal fit for New York:
"JJ Redick wouldn’t hesitate to let it fly. The veteran sharpshooter had some uncharacteristic struggles early on, but he’s back to being his deadeye-sniping self of late. Over his past 14 outings, he’s averaging 1.8 threes on a ridiculous 49.0 percent shooting. As a veteran free-agent-to-be on a young Pelicans team sitting outside the playoff picture, he should be obtainable—especially to a team inside the Empire State. “There’s now a widespread sense New Orleans is hoping to move Redick to a franchise closer to his family in Brooklyn,” B/R’s Jake Fischer reported. The Knicks could bring Redick to where he wants to be. In turn, he would help them ramp up the three-point volume. It would also be a way of giving Thibodeau his coveted win-now veteran without breaking the bank."
While Buckley is correct that the Knicks are quite coy when it comes to their long-range game, and that the idea of Redick returning to his home state would be a nice touch to the twilight years of his career, frankly, the idea as a whole doesn’t seem to make much sense.
As seen above, the article brings up the idea that Thibodeau would love to bring on a “win-now veteran.” Though he would likely not cost all that much to acquire, the concept of bringing him to a team that really isn’t in a win-now mode seems a tad bit unnecessary, especially considering he likely would not be a long-term fixture for New York anyway.
If they want to make moves, they should look to add multi-dimensional players rather than an aging shooting specialist who, though has been stepping it up as of late, has been up and down virtually the entire season.