The Case For a Trade
If you subscribe to the Daryl Morey theory of team building, your argument is a simple one. Get the star first, and worry about the rest later.
Jeffrey Bellone of the Knicks Wall recently did an excellent piece in favor of selling out for Kyrie. In short, he advocates for making a move because not doing so would essentially mean continuing to build around youth, which sounds nice…except for two caveats.
The first is that draft picks are hard to nail. Keeping their draft assets may net the Knicks a star…or it may yield them something far less.
Kyrie Irving is a bird in the hand.
When the Knicks go into a bush, they usually come out with an ass full of thorns. For every Kristaps Porzingis (yay!), there’s one Danilo Gallinari (woo…hoo?) and three Jordan Hills, Channing Fryes, or Mike Sweetneys (fart noise).
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Speaking of the Latvian wunderkind, Bellone’s second point is that with Porzingis about to enter his prime, not a moment of the next several years should be wasted. Even if you draft the right guys, young players take time to develop. He makes a compelling argument that the Knicks would be better off taking advantage of as many of KP’s best years as possible. That means trying to win right now.
Both are strong arguments, but neither hits on the best reason for making an Irving trade, even if it involves moving (a theoretically compliant) Carmelo Anthony, rookie Frank Ntilikina, and/or multiple draft picks.
No, the best reason is the NBA’s dirty little four letter word: Star.
Kyrie is one of the few true ones the league has by any metric – sneaker sales, clutch performances, YouTube montages, you name it.
This is the part where every Knicks fan cringes. They just spent the last six and a half years dealing with the consequences of a star player’s overinflated ego. “Star” equals “ball hog” equals “Oh please God, not again.”
Kyrie is a different animal altogether. The man can dish it, and will do so willingly as long as he can control the offense. This doesn’t go unnoticed.
We’ve seen it with LeBron, KD, and most recently Chris Paul.
Stars attract stars.
The Knicks already have one in the making. Kyrie would be a second. As toxic an environment as the Garden has been for some time now, when the next big name hits the market, New York would be in prime position to land a third.
Yes, stars cost money, but the Knicks aren’t as far away from max cap space as they look. Even if the Knicks take back equivalent salary in dealing Carmelo Anthony – Kyrie and some filler in this scenario – they’ll be hovering just above the cap.
Joakim Noah’s contract can be stretched to open up about $10 million in room. A team would likely take on Courtney Lee for a second rounder, opening up another $12 million. Kyle O’Quinn is one of the few underpaid bigs in the league, and is likely to exercise his player option to become a free agent next summer. That’s another $4 million. Mindaugas Kuzminskas is another easily moveable piece on what will be an expiring deal. Throw in Sessions’ one year contract ending, and that gets them to just about $30 million in space.
But the Knicks needn’t worry about next summer. Although many glitzy names can enter the market, few will be likely to change teams, and those that do don’t figure to be in the Knicks plans for various reasons.