The New York Knicks are tanking!
Maybe.
It says a lot about their current position that the Knicks haven’t offered any stupid-expensive contracts (that we know of) to players who don’t fit their timeline. There’s still time for them to do something reckless and Knicks-y in free agency, but it sure seems like acting president Steve Mills is, in the wake of Phil Jackson’s departure, favoring future flexibility over instant gratification.
In fact, his feelings might go one step further, into the NBA’s oft-forbidden land of tanking, according to the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
Nobody from the Knicks organization — especially coach Jeff Hornacek — will use the word “tanking” about next season, but if it smells like Sam Hinkie’s signature “Process’’ with the 76ers, it likely is.
According to multiple sources who have spoken to members of the organization, Knicks acting president Steve Mills is all in for a youth movement, except at point guard, where they are attempting to find a veteran mentor for 18-year-old Frenchman Frank Ntilikina.
“The focus is on young players, but they still need some veteran presence,’’ said one team executive who has spoken to Knicks officials. “They’re waiting to see where there are good young players that would take shorter deals. The focus is definitely on building around young guys.’’
If this is true, good for the Knicks. They still need to trade Carmelo Anthony, and they definitely need to hope Joakim Noah has enough emotional juice left in the tank to help guide the kiddies through a tank job, but their decision to avoid yet another quick fix is, compared to their usual discourse, downright admirable.
Tanking outright will be hard if Kristaps Porzingis is healthy. He is good enough on his own to put the Knicks in 30-win territory, and the Eastern Conference remains a haze of basketball dreck. But there are 11 to 13 teams in the Western Conference who can talk themselves into chasing a playoff berth next season. Some will inevitably become sellers, but the Knicks have a leg up on every single one if they embrace the, ahem, youth movement from the start.
This route is worth a shot, even if it’s only for one year. The top prize in next year’s draft is Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr.—a 6’10” combo forward who would look mighty good at the 4 next to Porzingis at the 5.
Do the Knicks have the stomach to do their best Sam Hinkie impression? It sure looks like we’re about to find out.
