After a tumultuous year, the New York Knicks look for a return to normalcy in 2017-18, one which figures to heavily feature their budding young star
The New York Knicks’ summer was defined as much by what didn’t happen as by what did.
At press time, Carmelo Anthony is still getting his checks from the Madison Square Garden Corporation. Or from James Dolan directly. Or maybe he gets a portion of the receipts from the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Wherever they come from, it became clear that even after Phil Jackson’s departure, members of the organization would just as soon pay Anthony to simply go away.
And who can blame them. We don’t have time in this space to hold court on Anthony and decide how much of the blame for the last several years belongs at his feet. It’s been done to death. The jury is still hung.
Regardless of whether you’ve been a Melo critic or supporter in the past, what’s become undeniable is that his time with the organization has run its course.
Whether greener pastures lie ahead or not, most fans – like Anthony himself – are eager to see what awaits the team on the other side of the hill. Despite the mutual agreement, Scott Perry appears to be taking my advice and playing the long game.
Still, it would be shocking if everyone didn’t get their wish sooner rather than later.
The other big news of the summer is that sanity still carries some water in this town, and Kristaps Porzingis was not traded.
Despite his professed allegiance to the team and the city, there are still murmurings about his discontent. For now though, the seas appear calm.
With the unicorn in tow, expectations for the upcoming year are for an offense focused on exploiting his many talents, if not one that produces many victories. Vegas has the team pegged for about 30 wins, which seems fair.
A big reason for this is that the team figures to have one of the worst point guard depth charts in the league, but this was the case last year as well. Which brings us to…