New York Knicks: After whiffing in free agency, where does NY go from here?

After whiffing in free agency once again, what’s next for the New York Knicks?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The New York Knicks, who entered this free agency period with enough cap space to sign two of the best free agents available, came away with absolutely nothing.

OK, not nothing. They did sign Julius Randle. He’s a good, young player with some untapped upside who could help just about any team in the league. Even that type of move would seem to be out of character for the Knicks but, alas, here we are. Progress!

Oh….oh no. Wait.

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They also signed…

*checks Woj’s Twitter feed*

Taj Gibson? And Bobby Portis? And Elfrid Payton?!?!

What is the organizational plan here? Is there one? If there is, is it based in any sort of common sense?

This line of questioning is one of the fundamental problems with this team, and perhaps one of the main reasons that their primary target in free agency, Kevin Durant, chose to live across town, in Brooklyn, and play for the rival Nets.

It’s easy to forget now, but there was a time, a long time ago, when the Knicks were considered an attractive destination for LeBron James ahead of his league-altering free agency in 2010. All year, we heard the same discussion about Durant. About how he wanted his own team so that he could prove to all the naysayers, media pundits and social media critics that he could win on his own terms.

About how his business manager, Rich Kleiman, is a lifelong Knicks fan and the impact that would have on his decision. About how he wanted the challenge of resurrecting the moribund Knicks brand and franchise, and how that alone would elevate him in the pantheon of the all-time greats of the game.

Those were all separate talking points throughout the entire season and they all proved to be incorrect. Durant opted for a partnership again, this time with Irving, rather than a solo act. Judging by his decision, he had no interest in the Knicks brand, or in restoring glory and respect to it. Perhaps the injury he suffered in the Finals, and the severity of it changed his perception on the league and, subsequently, his decision. We’ll never know.

The Knicks are now left to pick up the pieces, again, which they’ve done by signing all of these second-tier free agents to two-year deals. Aside from Gibson, Portis and Payton, who they gave $20 million, $31 million and $16 million, respectively, all on two-year deals, the Knicks also signed Wayne Ellington to a two-year, $16 million deal and Reggie Bullock to a two-year deal worth $21 million.

When the Knicks last missed out on their desired free agent prize, they signed Amar’e Stoudemire to a five-year, $100 million deal. While that number looks small relative to today’s salary figures, that contract did not age well.

What the Knicks have done in the wake of missing out on Durant is certainly a little different than going after the next best star, in hopes of selling hope and tickets. But the shortsightedness of these moves is troubling, particularly in an NBA environment where teams are routinely looking to dump bad contracts, often with an asset attached, into another team’s open cap space.

It’s as if Scott Perry and Steve Mills, the two head basketball executives for the Knicks, believed that their cap space would become an unusable and useless asset if it wasn’t used by the end of the moratorium period – on July 6.

They could’ve gotten creative with this space, by positioning themselves as the dumping ground for any shorter-term bad contracts that teams around the league are desperate to get off of. They could’ve gone after younger players with upside on longer deals to grow with their young core so that they can build something approximating a culture, something that might be attractive to free agents in the future.

Instead, they’ve put together a collection of promising young players, younger guys with questionable fits on this roster and older, role players. Ellington and Bullock are nice players, but they’re the type that would fit much better on a contending team, utilizing their spot-up shooting ability alongside a transcendent shot creator like James.

The timing of these deals also reveals a lot about the Knicks’ aspirations and illustrates their inability to learn from past mistakes. Every free agent they’ve signed so far, aside from Randle, has inked a two-year deal. While they hold a team option on almost all of these deals, the Knicks clearly have their eyes on the free agent class two years from now.

It just so happens that the current MVP of the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo, is currently signed to a deal that expires after the 2020-21 season. Coincidence? I think not. It appears the Knicks are going star-chasing again. But what will be different this time? The growth of their young players and the possible emergence of R.J. Barrett? The promise of another max slot to offer Giannis the sidekick of his choosing?

If this pitch sounds familiar, well that’s bad news for Knicks fans. Because we already know how the story ends.