Briefing: May 2
Is there any circumstance in which signing Kemba without Durant makes sense?
By Jonathan Macri
Other than James Dolan getting sued for apparently being away from the Knicks (and Rangers and MSG) too much, it was another slow news day.
Enes Kanter had a nice game last night, stirring up yet another round of Twitter debates that make we want to stick hot, sharp objects into my eyes, but other than that, there's nothing going on.
So I'll take the opportunity to write about a topic of interest that I kinda hope isn't actually a topic of interest when the time comes: signing Kemba Walker.
My stance on Walker all season has been simple: if KD comes and Kyrie doesn't, Kemba would be a fantastic second banana, and you could argue he'd be an even better fit than Kyrie. He'd also be a wonderful running mate for Kawhi Leonard if such a thing were in the cards. Kemba and Jimmy Butler scares the crap out of me for myriad reasons, but there are even arguments for that...ones that I'll save for another day.
For now, I want to revisit a stance that I've had, along with most smart people who write about the Knicks and the NBA: that bringing Kemba on as the only catch this summer would be foolish. As many have noted, it would be shades of 2010 all over again, and as we know, the worst place to be in the NBA is on the treadmill of mediocrity. Just ask Walker's current team, the Charlotte Hornets.
To be clear, I'm not completely sure why Kemba would even want to come here if no one was coming with him. He's expressed a strong desire to stay in Charlotte and seems to only be considering leaving because he has just as strong a desire to win.
If he were the only max player to sign in New York, there's no certainty he'd be doing any more winning here next season than he would be with the Hornets, and he'd be taking a potentially significant pay cut for the privilege to find out.
The reason I think he might consider it, however, is the same reason there's something inside me that isn't completely dismissive of the idea.
On paper, it makes little sense. We know where Kemba Walker gets you as a team's best player, and it isn't very far. But the whole "Kemba as your best player" thing has had a certain finality to it in Charlotte that wouldn't exist in New York.
Stay with me here...
Yes, if he's the only one that wants to come, it could be a sign that the Knicks still aren't a destination the league's best players want to come to. The question one would then have to ask is when and why this would change? The answer might very well be "never" barring some on-court evidence that this team can win games, show itself to have a good culture, etc, etc.
The easy response is "keep growing it with the kids and hope to nail a star in the draft," which would be fine...but is there any reason you can't do that and have Walker on the roster?
This would present three theoretical problems:
It would hurt the team's draft position
It would potentially torpedo Dennis Smith Jr's trade value (which is a sacrifice you'd make if you're signing KD + star point guard)
It would tie up cap space
If the Knicks think Smith could play with Walker and/or learn from him - not a completely crazy idea - then you ask "is it worth a worse draft slot." For one, as we all sit here rubbing lucky rabbits' feet, it's worth remembering that the lottery odds make this not as big of an issue. More significantly, though, there might be something to the whole idea of "you have to start winning at some point." We've seen losing beget more losing in places with young rosters like Phoenix and Sacramento for years. Is a season of, say, 22-25 wins really better for the development of this team than one of 35-40?
If the culture is as strong as we're being led to believe, maybe they can withstand it. Or maybe the bad habits of young players would only get worse as the games continue to be meaningless. There's no way to know for sure.
These issues aside, the main reason you don't sign not-quite-max-level players to max contracts is because you don't want to box yourself in and be unable to sign and/or acquire a true max guy when the time comes. Luckily that wouldn't be a problem for New York because even by signing Walker, you'd still have the second max slot to keep open, not only this season, but through next summer, as no young player on the roster is set to enter restricted free agency in 2020 other than potentially Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier, and by then the cap will have gone up.
The point is, signing Kemba doesn't necessarily close you off from getting a second max guy if and when the time comes, which gets us to the main point: do you need to get the first guy through the door before the second guy really gives you a look?
It would be a very, very fair question to ask, especially if, as in this scenario, guys like KD and Kawhi looked at the situation here and said "no thanks, we good." Would that be a sign that in order to get that true star to take the bait in New York, you need to show that it's a place where a lesser star - like Kemba - can come, do some good things, and make a real impact both in the win column and on the development of the young players?
This is why I think Walker might be open to the idea: he'd trust that because New York isn't Charlotte, maybe coming here would bring him a step closer to winning...just not right this second.
To be clear, I'm in no way convinced of any of my own bullshit here, and if you put the theoretical gun to my head right now and asked if I wanted to sign just Kemba to the max, I'd probably still say no.
But I don't think it's the open and shut case some people - me included - have made it out to be.
Remember when…
May 2, 2012: Tyson Chandler named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first Knick to win the award since its inception in 1983.
May 2, 1993: Knicks overcome a 15 point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Pacers 101-91 at Madison Square Garden and take a 2-0 series lead in the opening round of the playoffs. John Starks leads the way with 29 points and dishes out 11 assists.
May 2, 1991: John MacLeod is removed as head coach after compiling a 32-35 record. Pat Riley would replace him less than a month later.
May 2, 1983: Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley are inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
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Thanks for reading, talk to you tomorrow!