It’s time to acknowledge the quality in the Knicks’ front office moves
By Kramer Smith
The quality of recent Knicks draft picks
Any grievances you may harbor with Leon Rose and his front office can stand, but what is hard to argue with is the pure talent they have acquired and built through the draft.
When Rose came to the big city, many believed he was brought in to bring a big name with him. This was an expectation and conclusion formed through the media, and after striking out on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, many were eager to call his tenure an immediate failure.
Many of those expectations were wrong, though, and Rose never came here to spend the New York fortune on just one player. Maybe he had a different vision, one built on patience and strategy. One building a true infrastructure for the franchise, rather than gutting them to their core.
The value of Knicks draft picks and cap space
A team with no room left on their cap table and no draft stock to assess is a team with very little ability to get better or change in any way. We have seen this play out in Brooklyn after the Kevin Garnett trade, and now in Los Angeles with the Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook trades.
Those trades gutted those franchises and greatly altered their abilities to do anything in free agency or the trade market.
On the other hand, when the team is patient and builds from within, like the Warriors, they control the league with their ability to be involved in just about anything. Golden State was able to sign Durant with its cap space, as well as draft players like James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga a few years later.
This was because they saw value in the draft and were patient with the process. They let Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green develop into their roles as leaders on the team. They developed their bench talents, like Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney, into perennial starters. They trusted them getting better and did not rush to trade them for an immediate “solution.”
The Knicks are following a blueprint
The Knicks have historically looked for shortcuts to success, often overpaying in value for players or being the ensued winners of free agency when they miss out on their target.
Some examples of this include signing Amar’e Stoudemire after missing out on LeBron James, harboring the future for Carmelo Anthony ahead of free agency, and trading a first-round pick for Andrea Bargnani.
Regardless of anything, these were all moves that lacked the principles of patience and resulted in very little success.
The “Knicks of new” have not been condemned to this same fate. They have not oversold their youth for a big name past their prime, like Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal. They have not overpaid (no, they did not overpay Julius Randle or Jalen Brunson) in free agency for a quick fix.
They have even admitted to failures, overhauling a massive part of the roster this summer after failing to have the success they envisioned last season.
They are sculpting this roster with a plan and are building an exciting young team.