The free agency period is now active in the NBA. Players have been signing huge deals to either stay with their current team or head to a new NBA city. Plenty of names have agreed to contracts. Memphis has kept Mark Gasol and are working on a new 5-year, $100 million deal. The San Antonio Spurs are an improved team with Lamarcus Aldridge coming for 4 years paying him about $80 million. Even the L.A. Lakers are better. They have contracts with Lou Williams, who was the Sixth Man of the Year last year for the Toronto Raptors, and Brandon Bass. All these moves should help these teams.
One NBA team which hasn’t done much in free agency so far is the New York Knicks. The Knicks had $34,184,792 to spend to try to make the Knicks a winning basketball team. The only players who have agreed to come to the Knicks are Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo. Robin Lopez is mostly a defensive center. Arron Afflalo played in Denver with Carmelo Anthony from 2009 to 2011. Afflalo will help the Knicks on offense. He can make baskets. Both of these are high-quality moves but the Knicks are not going to be a better team with just these two additions.
At the start of free agency, president of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson was suppose to deliver free agents or at least have a chance to talk to them. That didn’t happen. Center Greg Monore, who even considered signing with the Knicks this offseason, decided to head to Milwaukee. Milwaukee probably has a greater chance of winning and going to the playoffs than the Knicks.
There are numerous difficulties with the Knicks. They are coming off the worst year in team history. Last year they went 17-65. What players would want to go to New York after that kind of season? Their star, Carmelo Anthony, is a great scorer but doesn’t pass the ball to open teammates and won’t play defense. This has been his style his whole career.
The only way the New York Knicks can be a better basketball team is if they improve on defense. The moves they have made so far won’t help them. Lopez may be the best defender on the team. The Knicks might be lucky to win 30 games this season. That would be a step in the right direction and a 13-win difference from a year ago. It wouldn’t be good enough, even in the weak East, to make the playoffs.
Whether or not Phil Jackson wants to admit it, the New York Knicks are still rebuilding. It will take a few years for them to be a competing basketball team. Once they establish a winning atmosphere, they may be able to lure in big name free agents.
What do you think is the problem with the New York Knicks?
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