It always sounds silly to me when people make claims like, ‘Knicks fans are angry’ or ‘Knicks fans are thrilled’ with anything that happens with the team.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who are passionate Knicks fans. To suggest that all of them share the same opinion on any topic is reductive, I think.
So I think anyone suggesting that Knicks fans are furious, elated or anywhere in between today is fooling themselves.
I’m sure various Knicks fans have a wide range of opinions on what the club did in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft.
Below, I’m going to take a look at reasons to be optimistic and pessimistic about the club’s decisions on Thursday.
SUNNY OUTLOOK
The optimistic view of Thursday’s events goes something like this: after completing three trades on draft night, the Knicks have three future first-round picks (protected to various degrees) and 11 firsts and 11 second-round picks over the next seven years.
They were able to shed Kemba Walker’s salary to create some cap space. They should be able to shed enough salary to create the cap space required to make a competitive offer to Dallas unrestricted free agent Jalen Brunson or other top free agents (restricted or unrestricted) on June 30.
If they sign Brunson, he should give them stability at a position they’ve struggled to fill for so long: lead guard.
Brunson doesn’t necessarily need to shoot to impact winning (as an aside: Brunson is a winner. Look at his Villanova teams and the Mavs’ record when he’s on the court.)
So RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Julius Randle, Cam Reddish, Immanuel Quickley and anyone else who may be on the roster next season should benefit from his presence.
Even after signing Brunson, the Knicks will have a surplus of draft picks to sweeten trade offers for another player. They will also have young players they can offer in a trade.
So even if the Knicks don’t have a ton of cap space after signing Brunson, re-signing Mitchell Robinson and signing Barrett to a second contract, the club still should have enough assets to trade for an impactful player.
The optimist would see the Brunson signing as the first step toward New York building a consistent contender in the Eastern Conference.
A CYNICAL VIEW
A fan upset over Thursday’s moves might say that Leon Rose and the Knicks mismanaged their assets. They might confuse Rose for Sean Landeta because he keeps punting on making a major move. They might look at Brunson, notice that he is represented by CAA, Rose’s former agency.
They might look at the protections on the picks acquired (more on that below) and question their value to the Knicks.
They might wonder about the direction of the team after the Knicks had to use draft assets in order to shed Wallker’s deal. That contract was signed less than 12 months ago.
They may wonder what it would cost to shed more salary to go after a player like Brunson.
And they may wonder about the overall direction of the franchise. The club gave young players significant minutes midway through last year after some veterans were injured; the Knicks continued to play those young players throughout the rest season. But New York frequently played veterans over younger players in the early portion of the 2021-22 season amid a slow start.
Will they give more minutes to younger players at the start of the 2022-23 season? Will Toppin receive more playing time or will Julius Randle continue to play ahead of him?
Is Tom Thibodeau the right coach for a youth movement? (Here, some top members of the organization have a positive view of Thibodeau’s ability to develop players, specifically some of the young players on the Knick roster like Barrett. Thibodeau also says correctly that player development isn’t limited to young players. He has success stories of helping veterans expand their game in New York (Taj Gibson’s three-point shooting is an example).
They might also wonder if Rose’s inexperience is hurting the Knicks. The contracts signed last season are being shopped in order to use cap space to sign a free agent this summer; at the time those contracts were signed, the idea that they gave the Knicks’ flexibility was espoused. But the contracts are proving to be tougher to move than the Knicks originally thought (As it currently stands, the Knicks would need to find a way to shed Alec Burks’ $10 million contract or Nerlens Noel’s salary ($9.2 base) and waive Gibson to get enough cap space to make a strong offer to Brunson).
They might assume that the Brunson signing is an overpay that will hurt New York down the line and that it’s the first step in another financial mess.
So who is right? The pessimist or the optimist?
The answer to that depends on what happens over the next few weeks and if the 2022-23 Knicks can win games and compete for a playoff spot.