Knicks Morning News (2022.09.07)

Re-post:
A lot of folks are going to praise Danny Ainge for what he has done thus far with the Jazz, but it isn’t every day that a guy can walk into a situation where there is a multiple DPOY in his prime and a young all-star just entering his prime, both under contract, on a team that is a lock to make the playoffs for the next few seasons and that has some draft capital to work with, that you have permission to swap out for draft capital and go full tank mode. I can’t think of another example of that happening to this degree.

The closest the Knicks have come to that in forever is KP, who was coming off of an ACL tear and demanded out. Had they gone full rebuild, the only draft capital they could have acquired would have come from renting out cap space.

In other words, it’s easier to accelerate a down-to-the-studs rebuild when you have multiple stars to trade. But still, the most valuable assets Dany has rignt now are his own picks.

In that sense, I agree that “tanking” is the most controllable way to acquire stars…far from certain in a short timeline, but eventually it works.

But as many teams have shown, it’s not the only way, and still requires competent decision-making in all phases of team-building. Drafting stars does not automatically equal building a contender.

Minny drafted KAT 7 seasons ago AND acquired Jimmy Butler as a second star. They have 2 first round exits to show for it.

In the past 15 years, the Pelicans drafted CP3, AD, and Zion. They STILL have yet to get past the second round (2 appearance in 21 years)

The Suns missed the playoffs for 10 straight years despite having multiple picks in the high lottery. Their best players were two late lottery picks and a well past his prime superstar PG. Most of their high lottery picks were busts.

The Kings have made tanking an art form (haven’t hit the 40 game mark since 2005-06 and since then have finished with under 30 wins 8 times) and haven’t made the playoffs in 16 years and counting.

Since 2011 the Magic have not gotten out of the first round and have had several high lottery picks.

The Pistons have not gotten out of the first round since 2008 and have missed the playoffs in 11 out of the past 13 seasons.

Sam Presti, one of the most successful GMs in the NBA in terms of draft acumen, acquired 3 HOFers via the draft in a short time and has still yet to hang a banner. His team had 4 straight first round exits before he fully embraced the tank, and even with all of his picks, his team looks at least 3 years away, which would amount to 5 years of abject tanking. That would be an impossibility in NYC.

Let’s see how long it is before the Rockets make any noise in the WC.

Same with the Spurs, who are embracing the tank as we speak.

In 2005, CLE drafted the modern GOAT with the #1 pick. It resulted in one finals ass-kicking. If LeBron didn’t decide on a homecoming as a free agent, they would still be on one finals loss. and possibly a 12 year playoff drought. Like Minny, they have gone all in on a core 4, sacrificing nearly all of their cap space and future draft capital. Lets see how it works out.