The New York Knicks have disappointed fans again

The New York Knicks latest failure to deliver marquee free agents has added another chapter in their long list of disappointing offseasons.

The New York Knicks free agency has happened and well…what can you say?  Anytime you can sign three guys who play the same position, a point guard who can’t shoot or stay healthy, and overpay for two shooters to be 8th men you have to do it right? This was an acceptable alternative to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

First things first, the whole “we didn’t offer him the max” narrative is BS. This is so patently ridiculous I can’t believe it’s even being reported. It’s the NBA equivalent of the D&D playing 8th grader saying the prom queen totally would have gone with him, but he didn’t ask. If Durant had told the Knicks to give me the max and I’m yours, James Dolan wouldn’t have been able to get that contract signed fast enough.

There’s a line of logic where this could have been defensible. Durant is going to be entering his age 32 season, with a ton of miles on his body, coming off an injury to nobody has been the same player post surgery. Irving has replaced Dwight Howard as the league’s worst teammate (no Jimmy Butler in Minnesota division) and has his injury concerns. You could sell this if you offered a real alternative. The Knicks did not.

I’m good with passing on Tobias Harris, Butler and giving another year to let the kids develop and try this all again in a year or two. However, I’m struggling with the logic of the moves the team did make. Taj Gibson is replacing DeAndre Jordan‘s minutes I guess, and Julius Randle will be the new PF.  Randle is not the best fit with Mitchell Robinson, but I think he’s an asset and will put up negative numbers on the team. Is noted pugilist Bobby Portis adding much for his 15 million per year? Is he three times better than Enes Kanter?

The backcourt/wing rotation is even more confusing. You have two ball dominant scorers that are meh shooters (Dennis Smith Jr. and R.J. Barrett) and two that can’t shoot at all (Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina).  There is Kevin Knox who is as likely to go 3 for 22 as he is to score 25 points, and then Reggie Bullock and Wayne Ellington who can shoot but would take away minutes from the young guys you’re looking to develop.  I haven’t even mentioned Allonzo Trier another offensive black hole and Damyean Dotson.

How are the minutes going to be carved out? Did you sign Gibson, Ellington, and Bullock to play eight minutes a night? Why bother? If they’re getting more than that, who is being benched? There are only 240 minutes to give out; I don’t understand how they plan on using them.

There’s also the question of how these players fit together. I think Payton and Barrett are fine together. Robinson needs a frontcourt partner who can shoot from the outside and help defensively to keep him out of foul trouble. A seven footer who could protect the rim and shoot threes…man I wish they had someone like that. Oh, wait…

There’s no point in going back over the Kristaps Porzingis trade, but the cap space and player returns are not what was hoped for. Maybe there’s a trade to be made still. It’s worth calling Golden State about D’Angelo Russell and seeing if there’s any combination of role players and young assets that interest them.

Outside of that, it’s another year of promises unfulfilled and false hope about Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021. I’m going to listen to JD and the Straight Shot song and watch footage of the late 90’s Knicks for awhile…..Go Knicks!!!!!