NY Knicks: 3 Centers the team should trade for at Thursday’s Deadline
By James Ryder
February 10th is the NBA’s Trade Deadline, and the NY Knicks are expected to be active.
There are rumors of Julius Randle potentially being available. If that is true, then such a trade would immediately launch another rebuild for New York.
The more likely scenario though is for the team to do a bit of re-tooling.
By moving on from guys like Alec Burks or Nerlens Noel, and even Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, the Knicks can free up both rotation spots and future cap space, paving the way for another bigger move down the line.
This team at best will probably limp into a play-in tournament game, and even if they somehow made the playoffs that way, they’ll be lucky to win just one game on their way to a second straight first-round exit.
Should the NY Knicks trade for a Center that can shoot?
At worst (record-wise anyway), this squad misses the tournament entirely and gets a higher lottery selection.
Some semblance of a youth movement is probably on the horizon.
Either way, it looks like the second half of New York’s season will be one in which they experiment with what can work going into next season and beyond.
Therefore, I’d like to advocate for an experiment I have been dying to see the Knicks implement.
There are a couple of centers on the market, specifically stretch-5’s, who I’d like to see the Knicks take on.
Especially if Randle stays on the roster, a center who can stretch the floor would be a great weapon that would help change the dynamic of the team this season and in future seasons as well.
And before you jump to conclusions, I won’t be suggesting Myles Turner (sorry Jeremy).
In a reserve role behind Mitchell Robinson (who for the sake of this article I assume will be re-signed), my three candidates can provide valuable reserve minutes by allowing the Knicks offensive attack to shift on an opponent at a moment’s notice.
Without further ado, here is my first recommendation.