During the getting acquainted portion of the transition, the newcomer Knicks jumped through the orange and blue colors to get through that portion. They won the first five games with OG Anunoby in the lineup. They are now 9-2 since the deal and head into Tuesday night's interdistrict matchup against the Nets at Barclays Center.
The potentially awkward buyer's remorse phase occurred Saturday night when RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley returned to Madison Square Garden to a loud welcome and matching That's when he paid his respects via video. It was a sweet and emotional night, with the Knicks winning by 26 points and having zero regrets so far anyway.
And against the Nets, the third part of this four-part plan to rebuild the Knicks resumes. The Knicks will play 10 games between now and Feb. 12, but only next Monday's game against Charlotte (9-31 Monday admission) will not be played within New York City limits.
There are some thorny tests during this period, with the Nuggets, Heat, Jazz, Pacers, and Lakers all called up, but the Knicks have a great opportunity to strengthen their position in the East's 4-5-6 retention zone. have. Currently, about six different teams use the play-in zone. Assuming reasonable health, everything should work out pretty well for the Knicks.
However, the fourth and final part of this equation remains.
And that's this:
Between now and February 8th at 3 p.m., the Knicks must look different. He should have at least one more to surpass Leon Rose. The Knicks will be at the Garden that night, preparing for a rematch with Kyrie, Luka and the Mavericks. It's important to note that the tip-off is that the game itself is only a secondary (and sometimes tertiary) story.
Someone else has to be here.
Someone else could be Bruce Brown, who, like Anunoby, plays the game the way Tom Thibodeau would have built it if he had a basketball erector set. He will bring championship-level chops as a key member of last year's Nuggets (and as a very reliable contributor to the Kaza/Shoda/Walda Nets in 2021).
That person could be Malcolm Brogdon, who won the John Havlicek Trophy for the Celtics as the NBA's best sixth man just a year ago, and played well despite a slump in the loss to Portland. unknown.
(Theoretically, it could be Dejounte Murray, a great player but clearly not the right fit. That's the player we would suggest to Leon: say no.)
That won't happen unless the planets are completely recalibrated, the fundamental alpha this team still covets, but a confluence of circumstances has made Giannis Antetokounmpo unavailable, Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel – Embiid is too indispensable for the team to do justice, and Donovan Mitchell and Shai Gilgas-Alexander are illogical choices.
That's the harsh reality of the Knicks.
But that doesn't mean you should be passive about deadlines. If anything, what they've shown over the past three weeks should double down on Rose's desire to make one last significant move. It looks like Mitchell Robinson will be back for the playoffs, so that represents a move that won't cost them a dime.
But the Knicks also face a situation where the clock is ticking. Their most important asset right now is Evan Fournier's expiring contract, which sits on the bench most nights, gathering dust as a museum piece. The Knicks have a team option on Fournier for next year, so they don't necessarily lose that asset if they don't use it by Feb. 8. But given the salary, it could be a dangerous game of chicken. Cap implications and roster flexibility.
The pile of draft picks also started to dwindle this summer, especially the Dallas pick acquired from Kristaps Porzingis, which was pushed back to this year due to the Mavs' collapse late in the season.
Most NBA insiders believe both Brown and Brogdon could be acquired as part of the Fournier deal and the Knicks' bundle of second-round picks. Even if it doesn't exactly have the ring of “The Last Champion Piece”…well, the Knicks have always had a ceiling this season as a group of players discovering hitting above their weight class, similar to the 2004 Pistons. I was watching.
Larry Brown, who led the Detroit team to one title within minutes, returned to training camp and said: Every game, every practice gets better. We were defensive-minded and hard-working.
“And knowing Thisbus and what he believes in, I think the Knicks are the same way.”
They certainly looked that way in the new year. Maybe they're less than one player away from contention. But that one player is going to make potential contenders question whether they have to face a team like this in the playoffs. All I want is a puncher's chance. That would give them a puncher's chance.
