Re-Grading the Knicks 2023 Offseason Moves Ahead of the Playoffs

At a time when the team is entering the postseason as good as they’ve ever been in the last two decades, it’s become a common trend in the halls of Knicks Twitter to jokingly reminisce on the old and somewhat painful days of the organization and its penchant for woeful roster building. 

For years, that’s really what the loyal Knicks fan was subjected to. The front office struggled to put a competitive lineup out on the Madison Square Garden parquet, forcing fans to consume tragic season-long performances from a string of underachieving players. It left many wondering if the illustrious teams of the ’90s were still possible or simply a fantasy to never be seen again at the Mecca. 

That was until Leon Rose stepped into the helm as team president and general manager, beginning a slow and steady rebuild of the Knicks roster from the ground up. Rose added underrated players to make the team better and assets that set up bigger moves down the line, and soon the Knicks were an enticing playoff team again with their third appearance in four years starting on Saturday. 

It wasn’t always an easy process, one that saw the Knicks have to part ways with homegrown talent that longed to be a part of the successful future. New York was able to land contending pieces like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby who will be here for seasons to come, but it came at the cost of seeing young bucks like RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley move to new cities to continue their own stories in the NBA.

Nonetheless, the Knicks have finally worked themselves back into a trajectory of being relevant in the league and earning serious respect from the competition. They are doing all of the important aspects of winning basketball well and it started with making the correct moves in the 2023 offseason to get them to this point. Let's take a look and grade these moves.