After many rumors and fake trade scenarios, the New York Knicks have finally made the move. Carmelo Anthony has been the face of the franchise for years and ownership was ready to move on from the All-Star forward. Melo has been one of the best players in the NBA since he came into the league with one of the best draft classes of all-time in 2003. He has only been to the conference championship once in his 14-year career and has never made a finals appearance. The Knicks clearly know that this team isn’t going to compete for some time. Anthony is coming to the back end of his career. Despite what they got in return from OKC, this was the best move for the Knicks future.
The Next NY Superstar
The obvious answer is Kristaps Porzingis, who has shown to be one of the best young talents in the NBA. The Knicks looked like fools when they drafted him two years back, but now they look like geniuses. He has the chance to be the next best European born player and unite a whole city. He’s already adapted to the culture and is now embraced by the fan base that booed him on draft night. The only issue I see here is having expectations that he may not be able to reach. The Knicks fans want this guy to be the next Dirk, but we’ll see how well Zingy handles the pressure of being the next big thing in NYC.
The other possibility is whoever they draft in the 2018 NBA draft. The Knicks look to be one of the bottom five teams in the NBA, which means they could end up with a very talented player. The Knicks don’t always have the best luck in the lottery, but there will be plenty of talented players from 1-10 that could be superstars in the league or at least for the Knicks. For example, the Knicks could end up with Michael Porter Jr. who could fill that SF spot for the Knicks on day one and become the next big NY superstar.
Point Guard Future
The Knicks used their top-10 pick in the 2017 draft on Frank Ntilikina. The French guard was not on many teams radar on draft day, but New York had success drafting players from European countries such as Kuzminskas, Hernangomez, and Zingy. Ntilikina has great size at the position at 6’5″ and is a talented slasher with range to make plays. The Knicks probably won’t start him immediately, but it looks like the plan is to make him the PG of the future. Who knows? Maybe he even becomes one of the better PGs in the whole NBA?
Center Problems
In the trade for Melo, the Knicks received Enes Kanter, a skillful offensive center who can put the ball in the hoop but can’t stop someone else from doing it. They already have two centers in Hernangomez and Noah, so it will be interesting to see how they can play all three. The Joakim Noah signing was not a great signing for the team. It seemed more like a publicity stunt to get Noah back in NYC. If I’m the Knicks, I would ride with Hernangomez as your starting center with Kanter continuing his role he had for the Thunder. Kanter can provide the scoring off the bench that the Knicks desperately need. Noah’s contract is going to be impossible to trade, so it seems like he’s just going to take his money and sit on the bench.
Overall Knicks Future
This year, I expect the Knicks to be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. I don’t think they will be as bad as the Nets but pretty close to it. The focus for the Knicks this year should be to continue getting young talent and making sure they are progressing. Zingy, Hernangomez, and Ntilikina are the future of this team and are all under the age of 24. They also just signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a deal that left Knicks fans confused, however, the Knicks are expecting him to provide a good percentage of the scoring for the team going forward. The veteran pieces they need will fall into place once the talent starts to show. Currently, they have some solid veterans in Courtney Lee, Ramon Sessions, and Michael Beasley. It’s going to be strange to watch a Knicks game without Melo, but Knicks fans should be happy with this move and time will tell if they can progress their team back to playoff contention.
JTA (@jtapersources)