The four-time champion and well-known Knicks skeptic believes the gamble on Mikal Bridges will backfire and force team president Leon Rose to once again rebuild.
“I don’t think this team is good enough to beat Boston. It comes down to building a team that can beat Boston, and I don’t think that team can beat Boston,” Warriors power forward Draymond Green said. He spoke on the podcastThe Draymond Green Show. “They had a year or two like the Houston Rockets. You guys remember the Rockets? [the Warriors] We had a two-year reprieve on our run, and, oh, it didn’t work out. Clint Capela’s gone. The first domino fell. And once the first domino falls, that’s it. It’s over from there. That’s what I think will happen. That’s how I see it unfolding. If it doesn’t work out, that’s exactly how it will unfold. So, that’s where you heard it first.”
Green was referring to the Rockets, whose James Harden-led franchise failed in its bid to advance past the Western Conference finals and lost to the Warriors three times in the playoffs.
The dismantling of Houston’s team, which began with Capela’s trade to the Hawks, has seen them miss the playoffs for four straight years now, with three of those years seeing them finish with a winning percentage below .270.
The Knicks, who haven’t reached a conference finals since 2000, agreed to give up five future first-round draft picks and a pick swap to the Nets to acquire Bridges.
It was the boldest move yet for Rose, who had been saving up draft picks in search of a chance to acquire a star player.
Bridges is far from a superstar, but he’s a former college teammate of Jalen Brunson and is seen as a perfect fit as a tough two-way player.
The good news is that they have a roster that could compete with the Celtics and potentially beat them.
It’s a gamble on Brunson’s star power, OG Anunoby’s health and Julius Randle’s impact on winning.
Green is betting on a decline.
“The Knicks are trying to go all out right now, and I respect that and I think they should go all out at some point,” Green added. “But what happened with this trade is that if this doesn’t work out in two or three years, the Knicks are going to have to rebuild again, because they traded all their draft picks, and then they’re going to trade guys to get those picks back and that’s what it’s all going to be.”
“Sorry to the Knicks fans, but I think that’s how it’s going to play out and I don’t think it’s an indictment on Michal. I think he’s one of the best players in the NBA, and there are different levels, but he’s a really good player. All-NBA Jalen Brunson, Julius [Randle] Donte was selected to the All-NBA [DiVincenzo]Nothing but love for Donte and OG [Anunoby]the champions. Actually, this is not a knock on any of them. I just don’t think that group is good enough to beat Boston.”
Green recently predicted the Knicks would lose to the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs, but he was wrong about the Knicks.
“Nobody’s gonna stop [Joel] “Embiid,” he declared at the time.
The Knicks won the series in five games.
