New York Knicks: 5 questions at the season’s quarter mark
3. Should they sacrifice the present for the future?
Of all the questions facing the team over the rest of this season, this is the only one without a clear right answer.
The choice would seem to be an easy one: if someone comes knocking on your door and offers you a protected first round pick – even a bad one – and/or a semi-intriguing young player for Courtney Lee, Enes Kanter, or Lance Thomas, run, don’t walk, to the fax machine to get the trade into the league office.
Logically it makes sense, but NBA teams don’t operate in an emotionless vacuum. Enes Kanter, advanced stats be damned, has brought something to the team that the guys seem to thrive on. Courtney Lee and Lance Thomas, while less demonstrative players, contribute to winning nonetheless. Moving them for nothing of value this year essentially means telling your superstar – someone who has been very clear about his desire to make the playoffs this season – that you don’t think much of his life goals.
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We’ve already had the “to win or not to win” debate, and there’s no right or wrong answer. But the team better be damn sure that they have a rapport with Porzingis and his people to be able to say “trust us…you’ll thank us later” and execute a move that makes the team worse this season. It’ll be easy if they’re is 20-30 on February 3rd; less so if they’re within a game or two of .500 and within shouting distance of a playoff spot.
It may be a moot point.
For all of his rah-rah hutzpah and beasting on the boards, Enes Kanter is still what he is: a fundamentally flawed player that can be game-planned off the court by elite playoff teams. Finding a trade partner with the need, financial flexibility, and requisite assets to send back would be tough.
Despite Kanter’s troubles against Golden State, the Cavs could still come calling. New York is likely done helping Cleveland win championships though, and besides, they would want more than just the financial flexibility that comes with dumping Kanter’s 2018-19 salary for Channing Frye’s expiring contract and Iman Shumpert’s $11 player option. The Cavs next first rounder might not convey until 2021, so this seems like a dead end.
The Wizards would need to include their next 18 first round draft picks to get the Knicks to take back Ian Mahinmi’s possibly-worse-than-Joakim-Noah’s contract (although seeing Noah and Mahinmi sitting next to one another in street clothes on the bench for the next two and a half years might be worth it for comedic purposes alone), so that’s unlikely as well.
Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, and New Orleans’ lottery protected first would make some theoretical sense, as would Moe Harkless and Ed Davis from Portland. That’s about all the teams that figure to be in the hunt for Kanter.
Plenty more may come calling for the Knicks starting small forward.
Courtney Lee is currently one of only 14 players taking at least three triples per game and hitting 45% of such shots. That, combined with his unspectacular but consistent defense and ability to toggle between both wing spots, could result in several suitors come February. Lee just turned 32 but hasn’t shown signs of aging thanks to low usage his first few years, and the $25 million he’s owed over the next two seasons isn’t cheap but isn’t onerous.
The Pelicans are all in and are more desperate for shooting than they are for a backup big; Asik plus a lightly protected first might get it done. The Wizards could use some bench help and have their own first round pick to deal, along with enough salary to move back in a trade.
The most interesting suitor might be Detroit. Stan Van Gundy has a history with Lee, as the Knicks do with Langston Galloway. The Pistons have enough low-level expiring salary to make the money work. If Detroit puts their first rounder on the table, the Knicks would be hard pressed to pass up a trade involving Galloway, the first, and salary filler.
Whatever opportunities come their way, the Knicks better be very careful with their decision making process because…