Who says NY Knicks hot takes are dead until the season starts?
In a recent article by Marc Berman of the NY Post, he had a chance to get a few words out of team President, Leon Rose after a 14-month long media hiatus.
Berman went on to say:
"Knicks president Leon Rose said Friday he was happy with how free agency played out, but didn’t sound like a man who is done shopping.Breaking his 14-month media silence in a 40-minute chat with a small group of writers at the team’s Tarrytown complex, Rose said he’s thrilled 2021’s free agency established “continuity and flexibility’’ and feels the Knicks are in position to get even better. The Knicks finished 41-31, earning the fourth seed in the playoffs.Rose, who hadn’t spoken publicly since introducing Tom Thibodeau as head coach on July 30, 2020, said the club will remain “aggressive.’’Though they won’t have cap space in 2022, the Knicks still are attempting to make a blockbuster trade with a host of disgruntled stars potentially looming, including Damian Lillard, Zion Williamson, Ben Simmons and Karl-Anthony Towns, who was Rose’s former client at Creative Artists Agency."
Could the Knicks be looking to trade for a Superstar soon?
I think the fanbase is generally pretty satisfied with how the offseason played out as the Knicks retained some of the key members from last year’s team while upgrading in the spots that needed a little extra juice by bringing in a former All-Star and native New Yorker in Kemba Walker as well as a sharpshooting, playmaking, multi-dimensional threat in Frenchman, Evan Fournier.
That said, it seems as if Leon Rose acknowledges that today’s roster won’t be able to compete with the likes of Milwaukee or Brooklyn anytime soon, so while he’d like to keep the team relevant and an attractive destination for a Superstar if and when one requests a trade.
Rose also mentioned:
"“We’re gonna be aggressive as far as knowing what’s going on and as far as being on top of things and looking at opportunities,’’ Rose said. “But at the same time, we’re going to be prudent and disciplined in decisions that we make that are going to take into account positives and negatives, short term, long term, all those factors in a decision-making process.’’“Last season was definitely a successful season,’’ Leon Rose said. “Most importantly for us, we built a foundation. Thibs did an incredible job building that culture and foundation. [Coach of the Year] was a very well deserved honor. I’m proud of that and proud of him.“As we went into the summer, in order to build on last year, continuity and stability were two important factors in what we did. In doing all this, we’re always looking to get better and we want to remain flexible and we’ve done that.”"
I mentioned in a recent article of mine that the Knicks and Leon Rose need to make a trade for a Superstar but the real question is when to strike.
I wouldn’t want the Knicks to force a trade for a marquee player just for the sake of doing it.
It needs to be the right player at the exact right time. It looks as if Rose shares my exact sentiment as well.
Additionally, Rose mentioned two very important words in regards to what his focus was this offseason; continuity and stability.
Two concepts the Knicks haven’t cared enough to consider over the better part of the last two decades.
The summer of 2019 looks to have been a huge wake-up call for the Knicks because it seems like the entire organization, the media, and the fans were all convinced that they’d be signing not one but TWO huge free agents that summer.
Instead, they came away with about 28 Power Forwards and got extremely lucky when one of those Power Forwards turned out to be a reinvented Julius Randle.
The two biggest names from that summer were of course Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and they chose to take their talents to New York…just not the Knicks.
This likely lit a fire underneath James Dolan’s behind and made him realize that it’s not just about the location of the team or how much money was available to shell out.
The Knicks needed to become a winning organization with an attractive culture first, which is exactly what they’re trying to accomplish now.
Now, the only questions left really are who the Knicks will target and when…