NY Knicks: 3 positive takeaways from the 2021-22 season
By Kramer Smith
3: The Knicks were not impulsive
Rewind this year to the trade deadline, and the results of this season were still very much in the air. The team was teetering between a fringe playoff team and a lottery-bound team, and this left the franchise at an ultimate crossroads when it came to decisions about the roster.
Leon Rose has been very adamant that this administration would be tactical and patient with their decisions about the roster. Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back on the prior offseason adjustments, I don’t believe many were upset.
The team retained all the key players from the playoff run and improved their back court when they added Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier to the mix.
Obviously, we can now say things didn’t work out for this team, and adjustments may be made this summer. But I think it’s important to discuss the discipline the team showed when all else was failing.
The New York Knicks had options at the 2022 trade deadline
There’s no doubt that the Knicks received calls at the deadline about their players. It was rumored that the Lakers were interested in Cam Reddish and it’s a certainty that teams at least entertained the idea of bringing in a solid veteran like Alec Burks.
New York was at a crossroads. The team could’ve spent assets (first-round picks or young players) to engage in a trade for players to make them better immediately. This could have been Myles Turner, Jalen Brunson, or another veteran player on an expiring deal.
They could have sold assets. They could’ve sold cheap on Burks or Fournier to clear the roster of current veterans and cap space and admit this season was a failure. This was the route many fans wanted to see, as many longed and awaited to see a change to a younger rotation.
The Knicks opted to hold steady and not make any trades they might regret. They rode out the roster they built for 2022 until the very end, inevitably missing the playoffs. Rose remains optimistic that this team has all the right pieces and is on the right track to success, though.
Leon Rose: “We have to stick to the plan.…build one block at a time. We feel like we're set up really well….With regard to opportunities that may come along, we feel like we're very flexible & able to do that; but…we want to show patience…& continuing to develop what we have” pic.twitter.com/QXFonE0zuO
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 10, 2022
So, why is all this a good thing?
The New York Knicks have roster flexibility during the summer of 2022
New York will enter this summer with a full hand of assets and all the chips on the table. The young players proved they’re fit to take on a bigger role in the upcoming season and have in turn made some veteran players potential liabilities. These liabilities become assets on the trade market.
The biggest difference between a midseason trade and an offseason trade is cap space. Team’s have significantly more flexibility, especially on draft night when rebuilding franchises become hungry to start swapping picks, and potentially take on heavy contracts to pay for it.
One could argue that the Knicks possess arguably the heaviest arsenal of assets ahead of the draft, and Rose’s comments about opportunities alludes to the idea that the team is open to the idea of running the card table this summer.
Where should the New York Knicks go from here?
It’ll take time to find out if their talk will be backed by progressive results. We’ve seen signs of promise from this team the past two seasons, and there are a lot of positives to take away from this sinking ship.
The Knicks are surely in a much better place than teams of years past and possesses considerable assets and opportunities to get better. It will now fall to Rose and his team to get this ship floating again in the summer of 2022.
