Briefing: May 3

A great day in Knicks history. Looking back on July 2010. Should we be rooting for the Raptors to lose?

May 03, 2019

Good Morning,

Today is quite the day in Knicks history.

2018: Hire David Fizdale
2013: Win 1st playoff series in 13 years
1999: Clinch 12th straight playoff appearance
1998: Win Game 5 as #7 seed vs Miami
1992: Win Game 5 vs Detroit
1982: Willis Reed enshrined in Basketball Hall-of-Fame
1973: Win Game 2 of NBA Finals
1967: Draft Walt Clyde Frazier

Scouting

The Knicks are taking the unconventional path of scouting the playoffs, which is usually only done by teams preparing for a playoff opponent, according to Marc Berman:

According to an NBA source, Perry believes evaluating players during the playoffs is more important than the regular season, to witness how they perform in “high-pressure environments.” The Knicks scouting has not focused on the so-called “max” free agents but second-tier ones — for example, Khris Middleton, Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic — and role players.

Berman notes the Knicks are also keeping their eye on Wesley Matthews, who the team acquired in the Kristaps Porzinigs trade before waiving him so he could join a playoff team.

Back to July 2010

Dwyane Wade says 2010 decision came down to Chris Bosh and cap space. Talking to Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast, Wade explained how he and LeBron chose Miami in 2010.

Chris Bosh was the perfect running mate. Why not Amare? “Amare? Man, Amare good. But we all alphas...That ain’t going to work…Egos might get in the way…”
Why Miami? “When it came down to it, Miami was the only team who had enough money to get all three [Wade, LeBron, Bosh] of us.”

What were the Knicks doing?

The Knicks signed Amare to a five-year, $99.7 million contract before LeBron and Wade had made their decision. After signing STAT, the Knicks had $17 million of cap space left, which was enough to sign one more max player, essentially making LeBron chose between Wade and Amare.

As we learned from the Wade interview, LeBron considered Bosh the perfect piece to complement his talents, along with Wade. Bosh was on the Knicks radar before signing Amare, but there were concerns he would ultimately sign somewhere else and the Knicks would end up empty handed, so they moved on Amare to at least secure one star as a recruiting piece.

Amare after signing with the Knicks:

“Both guys, Dwyane and LeBron, I’m pretty sure would love to play with me,” Stoudemire said, according to the New York Times. “And vice versa. So hopefully, we can get one of those guys to join me here this year.”

Wade, LeBron, and Bosh ended up forming the Big Three in Miami, and the rest is history.

Of course, this summer represents a new opportunity for the Knicks, quite different than nine years ago. The Knicks are equipped with the most practical cap space in the league, which would allow Kevin Durant to choose his running mate. Interesting to think whether Kristaps Porzingis playing the role of Amare Stoudemire in this equation had any impact on the Knicks decision to ultimately trade him, besides the indication that he wanted to leave.

Speaking of Amare…

In talking to Sports Illustrated yesterday, he offered some words to potential free agents:

“I had a beautiful time playing with the Knicks,” Stoudemire said. “Jim Dolan was really trying to do whatever it took to build a championship caliber team.”

Should the Knicks trade their pick if they don’t win the lottery?

Ian Begley, fresh off leaving ESPN, made an appearance on WFAN yesterday:

"In my mind, if you don't get that number one pick, you're working the phones all the way from May 14th to draft night to see what you can get in a trade for that 2, 3, 4, 5 pick, whatever it may be," Begley said. "Because you're going to be in win-now mode if Kevin Durant comes here. You're not going to have the luxury of waiting for an 18, 19-year-old to figure out how to succeed in the NBA.
"They're going to need veterans who are ready to win and ready to perform on the playoff stage. So it's just going to be a different set of circumstances for the Knicks then we've seen over the last year."

Listen to the entire interview.

Should we be rooting for the Raptors to lose?

by Jonathan Macri

As I was watching the Raptors get their butts kicked last night, I couldn’t help but think Knick fans should probably pay pretty close attention to the outcome of this series.

While I think there’s a school of thought that Kawhi Leonard is leaving Toronto regardless of what happens in these playoffs, one has to think it will be a lot harder for him if the Raptors make a deep playoff run.

Losing to Philly would not qualify. If that happens - and we’re now officially halfway there - Leonard would be faced with signing a max contract in a situation that probably gets worse before it gets better.

Yes, Pascal Siakam is the real thing, and he’ll be on multiple All-Star teams - if not a few All-NBA teams - before all is said and done. But once Serge Ibaka turns 30 in September, he’ll join Lowry (32), Green (31) and Gasol (34) in that age bracket. They also owe this year’s pick to the Spurs from the deal that brought Leonard aboard.

All this is to say that it seems only a Finals run would likely keep Kawhi in house. Putting aside the question of whether he’d ever consider the Knicks - your guess is as good as mine - even if we assume he makes a bee line for Steve Ballmer, Doc Rivers & co. in LA, that’s an important domino to fall in the KD sweepstakes.

While the possibility of Durant joining Kawhi in LA certainly exists (assuming the Clips would be happy jettisoning Gallinari to open up the cap space), just reading the tea leaves - and, my God, are there a lot of them - it’s reasonable to ask whether he would he would really leave a super team to go form another super team.

The obvious question is “How is that different from joining Kyrie in New York?”

It’s fair, and while Irving will probably finish on the All-NBA second team this year, remember: in the NBA, with this level of player, perception matters a lot.

Kawhi, for as quiet as he is, is one of the 5 or 6 true Alphas in the game. Durant is about to finish his third year of “Who’s team is this, really?” Does he want to go through four more years of that? I doubt it. In New York, even with Irving, there’d be no question about the pecking order.

So does that mean Toronto losing in this round makes KD to the Knicks more of a fait accompli than many are already making it out to be? I say no, because for as much as we all get annoyed with the media’s seeming love affair with Brooklyn, the Nets will absolutely get a meeting. If you want to discount the possibility of that sales pitch going really, really well (and the Knicks’ pitch somehow going poorly) do so at your own risk, D’Angelo Russell’s recent gaffe notwithstanding.

With that caveat, I’ll be rooting hard for Philly over the rest of this series. And hey, if the Raptors come back, it probably increases the chances that Jimmy Butler leaves Philly, and (takes swig of of whisky at 7 am) who wouldn’t want to give him four years at the max! Amiright? Eh? Ehh?

Snap of the Day

Frank Ntilikina working out with French Basketball Team trainer Fabrice Gautier. Notice Rudy Gobert in the background.

Knicks Film School

Discussion about this post