NEW YORK – Since the Knicks’ 120-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, many in the pro basketball world have been talking about the emergence of the supporting cast.
The Knicks are 10-3 in their last 13 games and are 18-18 overall. What everyone has said—and rightfully so—is that the play of Jeremy Lin and the second unit has propelled the club through what should have been a very rough stretch.
What nobody has said—until now and until me—is that the emergence of that second unit has essentially vindicated James Dolan for jumping into the Carmelo Anthony trade talks last February to offer more than Donnie Walsh was willing to part with.
The verdict is in: Gutting a roster full of second- and third-rate NBAers in return for an All-NBAer is something that you do each day and twice on a Sunday.
And here’s why it’s not too soon to make such a bold declaration: Glen Grunwald was able to rebuild this team around Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire in a matter of weeks.
Imagine, after all the stated concerns over gutting and rebuilding the team … a mere year later and the Knicks have a bench that everyone agrees is pretty deep.
True. These Knicks are no world beaters. They’re currently a .500 team and are barely clinging to the eighth playoff seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. But they’re weren’t exactly tearing up the league with Raymond Felton or Danilo Gallinari last year, either.
Last year’s team had a superstar playing at an MVP level, a point guard who was playing the best basketball of his career, and a few young, promising players. Since then, Stoudemire has steadily regressed and Felton has been demoted to being a backup point guard.
If that team stuck together and both Stoudemire and Felton regressed, even with steady improvement from Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov, that team would be a 2011 version of the Atlanta Hawks.
In all seriousness: how high was the ceiling for the 2010-2011 New York Knicks? They had cap space and flexibility, but the only five-year plan Stoudemire had in mind was the one that was attached to his $100 million; he didn’t want to wait that long to contend. He was promised a quicker rebuild.
Today, how high is the ceiling for the 2011-2012 New York Knicks? They have no cap space and limited flexibility, but they have one guy—Anthony—who is a perennial All-Star, another—Stoudemire—who usually is, and a third—Tyson Chandler—who should have been.
Remember that lockout? It robbed them of any chance to build chemistry.
Remember its resolution? Free agency began the same day that training camp opened.
Remember the last time everyone was healthy? Me neither.
The ceiling for this current Knicks team is unquantifiable.
Remember when Miami embarrassed the Knicks eight days ago? If things go well for D’Antoni’s crew, you probably won’t see a repeat by the time the teams meet again on April 15th in Madison Square Garden.
None of us can tell the future. We don’t know if things will work out.
But consider that almighty “C” word: Ceiling.
It dares you to imagine the best-case scenario. And if you do that, with this Knicks roster, they’re easily better than the pre-Melo version.
That doesn’t mean that the Knicks didn’t overpay for Anthony. They did.
But at the end of the day, in pro basketball, you trade five quarters for a dollar bill, because the pieces required to make that dollar bill worth more are a dime a dozen.
In less than one year, Glen Grunwald proved that.
You may have also missed another age-old adage being proven: Real recognizes real.
Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith, Baron Davis, Steve Novak and Mike Bibby all came to play in New York because they believed that they could help StoudeMelo get to the next level.
Few, if any of them would have signed on in New York if not for James Dolan doing whatever it took to get Anthony.
Again, there’s no way of know how the Knicks would have been built if Anthony were traded to the Nets. But the saved cap space wouldn’t have meant much if there wasn’t an impact player to spend it on in July 2011. And by July 2012, it’s entirely possible that Amar’e would have broken down to the point of no return.
Instead, the move to acquire Anthony—and its steep price—has dominoed into accruing a smorgasbord of talent. The result is a team whose best days are in front of it.
The major catalyst for this optimism is Jeremy Lin. He fell out of the sky. It was sheer luck.
But the Chicago Bulls lucked out when they won the 2008 NBA Draft lottery and selected Derrick Rose. That only had a 1.7 percent chance of happening. And it did.
The Boston Celtics lucked out when necessity forced them to make Rajon Rondo their starting point guard after the Kevin Garnett trade.
And what about the Oklahoma City Thunder? If the Portland Trail Blazers selected Kevin Durant with the first overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Thunder would have taken Greg Oden.
Luck always has and always will be a part of winning in the NBA.
And although he will likely cost Dolan several million dollars when he becomes a free agent on July 1, 2012, Jeremy Lin will probably be a long-term part of the New York Knicks.
Landry Fields—another free agent to be—is very likely to return, as well. He will become a free agent, but the Knicks will have his “early bird rights” and can exceed the cap to re-sign him. Steve Novak — who could only be offered a veteran minimum contract — is the player most likely to defect.
Smith will have the option to become a free agent and, I’m told, will probably do so if he feels he can make more than the $2.5 million the Knicks would pay him if he opts into the final year of his deal.
So, amongst a mostly upbeat and positive weekly address by yours truly, the worst-case scenario for these Knicks is probably a first-round exit at the hands of the Heat or the Bulls and then the possible losses of Bibby, Davis, Novak, and/or Smith.
Imagine that.
How long has it been since the Knicks had a group of incumbent free agents that they actually wanted to keep?
With the ability to go 10 deep and get meaningful contributions from a number of sources, the Knicks have a higher ceiling than they did before they acquired Anthony back on February 21, 2011.
And even if they lose any of the aforementioned players due to free agency, they’ll go shopping for replacement parts—just like they did this past offseason.
It’s much easier to patch a flat tire than it is to rebuild a transmission. Fortunately, for the Knicks, after going scoring 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field on Wednesday, Anthony seems to be gearing up for the Celtics on Sunday.
With him and this nucleus, the outlook for the Knicks is brighter than it’s been in quite some time. Although we have yet to see if it all works out, the talent is clearly there.
For that, in some way, you can thank Anthony and Stoudemire.
And for acquiring them, as strange as it may sound, you should credit James Dolan.
Had he not been stubborn enough to force a trade that few in his organization believed was in the best long-term interest of the club, Knicks fans would probably be clinging to the hope that the Summer of 2012 would yield a free agent prize or two.
Instead, come Summer 2012, the Knicks and their fans are hoping that the team has fulfilled some of its immense potential.
With Anthony, Stoudemire, and—most importantly—a strong supporting cast, there’s no reason to believe that this team won’t ultimately be better off with Anthony than they would have been without him.
Somewhere, Jim Dolan is smiling.
Moke Hamilton covers the New York Knicks for SheridanHoops.com and is the Lead NBA Writer for CHARGED.fm. For the latest on the New York Knicks and all things NBA, follow him on Twitter.
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No-one said Dolan was stupid for going after Carmelo. They said he was stupid for paying over the odds to get Carmelo mid-season instead of in free agency.
If not for lucking out with Jeremy Lin, who wasn’t even on the roster at the time, we wouldn’t be talking about the Knicks bench. We’d be talking about them getting a lottery pick. Jeremy Lin doesn’t make the decision making better in hindsight from Dolan.
Embarrassing article.
I really think Moke is really Isiah Thomas writing under a pen name.
The most valuable things in the NBA is roster flexibility and cheap assets, otherwise known as players playing at a higher level than their contracts. Star power doesn’t mean a thing if the “stars” don’t play up to their contracts. If Melo and Stoudemire flop, the Knicks are doomed because they won’t be able to move them or their bloated contracts.
The Knicks need to hit home runs with cheap bench guys because they don’t have any room for error. There cap situation gets worse and worse over the next four years because of the contracts given to Melo, Stat and Chandler and the Knicks don’t have first round picks in 2012 or 2014. The keys to sustained success are not there. The Knicks have about a 2-year window to make a run for a title. After that, they’re going to be back to square one.
Hey Moke, Like your writing, but this one sounds strange, going out of your way to praise Dolan??? Strange, to say the least.
Knick Fan
Perhaps Moke is on the Dolan payroll. Novak and Davis are on the Knicks because they were claimed off waivers. Chandler got a boatload of money and Mike Bibby is useless. JR Smith maybe.
Melo has been awful. The Knicks are 5 games over .500 without Melo over the past two seasons and 7 games under with him on the floor. He is having the worst season of his career and barely better than Gallo in 2011-12. Jeremy Lin turned the team around when Melo decided to sit it out.
Can you write a follow up article about how Jim Dolan is the spawn of Satan?
Nice article Bruh!! Though I hav to say the jury is still out regarding this team. Unquestionably, we are deeper as a unit and some credit has to go to the owner of the team. Everyone agrees that Melo would have been a Knick at seasons end. The reason y I am hesitant to grant the owner credit is we could hav had Melo much cheaper if guitar James had let Donnie do his job w/o any sabotaging. But as I said earlier, good article Bruh!!
The only smart thing Dolan has done in the last decade was hire Donnie Walsh, who cleaned up the massive cap mess and freed up the cash that allowed the Knicks to bring in Amar’e and Melo. Dolan repaid Walsh by driving him out of the Garden. Another brilliant move! If Dolan hadn’t intruded in last year’s trade dealings with the Nuggets, the Knicks might still have Wilson Chandler or Gallinari instead of trading half the team for Melo. And do we have to get into the fact that the ever-greedy and fan-unfriendly Dolan’s team was unavailable to hundreds of thousands of viewers when “Linsanity” struck because he was knee-deep in yet another battle with a cable company, squeezing their customers for more cash? Dolan has surpassed Walter O’Malley as the most reviled man in the history of New York sports. People only root for the Knicks in spite of him. He deserves ZERO credit for any success the team enjoys.
Ding ding ding. I love my Knicks but this team wont win squat until James Dolan shuts his mouth and leaves the basketball activity to the basketball minds. If Dolan had been smart you’d still have Ray Felton playing out of his mind in D’Antoni’s offense, Wilson Chandler at the 2, Melo, Amare and some combination at C with gallo as our 6th man or solid trade chip. You might have what it took to beat Miami and Chicago. It would be better then what you have now
I think you’re completely wrong. The reason why these Knicks are winning is because they got lucky with Lin. Luckier than OKC did with KD and Chicago with Rose. If those 2 teams hadn’t picked those 2 superstars, they’d still be playoff teams today. Chicago could have acquired more offense through FA or trades, and Thibodeau would be there anyway, making their defense one of the best in the league. In OKC, James Harden would have a bigger role, which he has proven he can handle, and the team, while not the clear cut-favorite in the West, would still be in the playoff hunt with everyone else.
These Knicks have the potential to become title contenders, and without Lin, they’d barely be a playoff team(in the East, which is saying something.). It’s not the same thing. Also, they’re lucky that they avoided Felton’s decline. They probably didn’t know it was going to happen, and if they did, they should have traded him for something else, instead of overpaying for Anthony. Not making the trade for Carmelo would’ve meant a chance to make a very similar trade for D-Will, who would be a much better and natural fit with Amar’e. There’s no way of defending Dolan for that trade. He messed up, and luck saved him. That’s very different from making a good rebuilding plan and having it go better than expected, which is what happened to OKC and Chicago.
Good well thought out article: but I have to disagree. Anthony was going to NY as a FA regardless of whether he got traded to NY during the deadline. Had they held onto the assets used to acquire Carmelo they could have moved them to potentially land Chris Paul. Gallo, Felton, Mozgov, Chandler, and although not included, Landry Fields also would have been easily movable players in a CP3 deal. All the nonsense that occurred due to a lack of a point guard early in the season would have been avoided. If they are this good with Lin imagine how good they would be with CP3. Although Stern may have prevented him ever landing in NY given Dolan’s previous embarrassments to the league via Isaiah
This article would hold more weight if the Knicks were actually winning BECAUSE of Melo. But they’re not. In fact, the last couple of losses were directly a result of trying to incorporate Stat and Melo into the chemistry that the team had when the offense ran through Lin. Last year’s team was a legit center from becoming a force. Their upside? Think last season’s Memphis Grizzlies.
The NYK arent losing because of Melo. Statistically hes on par with what hes done throughout his career. Theyre losing for a number of other reasons though:
1) Coach Pringles is soft. Soft as in Charmin double ply soft.
2) Amare and Chandler cant play together so far. Not so much Chandler but its affecting amare’s game. Amare is typically a 52-55% shooter, now he hovers around 43%. Hes shooting 37% with Chandler on the floor and 50+ with Chandler off the floor.
3) Amar’e isnt pulling his weight. His explosiveness is not there. They have shooting jumpers off curl plays a handful of times every game. He’s Larry Johnson as a Knick right now. This is the most concerning part: Its known within NBA circles that Microfracture has an expiration date. Its known that the knee needs to be cleaned out every 6 years or so. That time might have arrived. Amare this week talked about not having picked up a ball all summer and the lockout but it wouldnt have taken this long to get in to game shape. The back was the issue late last season, now the lack of explosiveness…somebody is compensating and playing hurt.
4) The lack of playing time together cant be dismissed as well but that all stems from Dolan sticking his nose where it doesnt belong and trading half the squad for Melo.
Melo isnt the problem, the problem is Melo being asked to be a point forward for half the year. Not everyone is that versatile. He didnt play the role terribly but it did hurt the Knicks offensively because he doesnt facilitate ball movement. To be fair, Melo is a known isolation scorer and hes among the elite at what he does. He averaged 4+ assists playing a point forward role much of this year that he hasnt played since HS. He also had the thumb, ankle, and all the other nagging injuries he tried to play through.
Melo is not the problem. Just the opposite in fact. The Knicks ARE winning because of Melo, Chandler and Lin.