The New York Knicks Off-season
The New York Knicks management team is finally waking up, hopefully, and giving the fans a team that could be worth watching. The team has been one of the most interesting to follow in the off-season. From the draft, to trades, free agency, summer-league and etc. the Knicks have not been a sleeping team.
The Knicks are coming off a 37-45 season and have deep issues surrounding them not having an actual point guard, although, that is changing. Management has finally heard the fans’ cries and have attracted free agents like never before. President Leon Rose was able to entice point guard Jalen Brunson who received a $104 million dollar 4 year contract. In addition, Jalen Brunson’s father, Rick Brunson, was added as an assistant to coach Tom Thibodeau’s staff.
The no longer point guard starved team should be able to set up a pretty good starting five. Previously, the Knicks alo had signed Kemba Walker who was supposed to be the answer to many problems. Unfortunately, Walker could not handle the point at the expected level, forcing him to have to sit out the second half of the season. Kemba’s failure to produce caused Alec Burks to be a stand-in point guard, which gave the team a slow moving, and messed up offense. Brunson, an old school basketball type player, was often slowed by his ex-teammate, Luka Doncic’s, game. This new pairing should be beneficial for both sides.
The only issue that can be predicted is how Brunson fits with power forward Julius Randle. But, Randle’s future on the team is rocky since his 2021-2022 season did not match to the exceptions coming off of the 2020-2021 season. Jalen Brunson should be a very interesting watch especially to see how he fits with Derrick Rose.
Leon Rose has seen much backlash since he used the draft to acquire future draft picks. This move seemed like a “classic Knick move” at the time, but now it seems to be coming together. This can be concluded since the Knicks seem to be the expected landing spot for All-Star Donovan Mitchell. This trade’s details will most likely be going back and forth in the next coming weeks as both teams find terms they are happy with. The Jazz already traded Rudy Gobert, an important part of their team, therefore will not let Mitchell go for little. The Knicks recently rejected the Jazz’s recent trade proposal of Mitchell for Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin, Quentin Grimes, Miles McBride and six future first round picks. Quickley, Toppin, Grimes and McBride are young weapons the Knicks have. The Knicks have an incredible young core that is dependent on the pace of Toppin, Quickley, and Grimes. The Knicks were contenders for the Summer League championship because of their young core, mainly the Grimes-McBride duo. The Knicks are not going to let most of their young core go. But, Leon Rose acquired all these confusing future draft picks that are now coming into play as they are what the Jazz seems to want. The biggest fear of Knicks fans was to lose RJ Barrett in the trade, but Barrett seems too expensive for the Jazz, in addition to the Knicks refusing to let him go. This trade should be very interesting to watch. Mitchell also has many ties to New York as he is a native to the state and his father, Donovan Mitchell Sr., works for the New York Mets.
As mentioned before, the Knicks seem to be booming in the off-season 2k23 summer league. The 22 year old Grimes has been electric and is expected to be essential this season. Only time will tell.