by Jonathan Macri
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it...
By the time I finally crashed after being up for 20-something consecutive hours that included a flight delay, the most anticipated NBA debut since LeBron James, and an earthquake, I figured I'd wake up to the NBA world talking about Zion >>> RJ, and maybe a snatched rebound or two.
So much for that.
In the middle of the night, the league's balance of power shifted more in one series of transactions than perhaps any single moment in NBA history. The Raps contention window open and shut in a year. The Clips' window is now open for the foreseeable future, and the Lakers stranglehold on the league ended before it could start. Next season will now bring about an era of parity the likes of which the league hasn't seen since the late 70's, and that was only because cocaine was running rampant throughout the NBA and several would-be stars of the time could never gain their footing.
This is different. The superteam era hath wrought a bastard child: an arms race where staggering prices are paid for stars, either in the form of assets or dollars or both, for fear of getting left out in the cold. Almost every nominal contender (in no particular order: Philly, Milwaukee, the Lakers, the Clips, Utah, Denver, Houston, Portland, Golden State, and yes, Boston) made a move at some point in the last calendar year that could be defined as a massive risk, but also one that the general consensus says needed to be taken to keep up.
Which brings us to the Knicks. If there is one thing that has defined the franchise more than anything, it is taking the wrong kind of risks. Dating back to the ill-fated trade for former MVP Bob McAdoo to (Insert Isiah Thomas transaction here), these moves have never worked out for the better. The most successful acquisitions the organization has ever made have been those to solidify a core that was already in place: trading Walt Bellamy for Dave DeBusschere, and then Bill Cartwright for Charles Oakley two decades later.
Both of those moves came after laying a foundation. The convenient narrative that has taken hold this summer is that the Knicks traded the foundation (Kristaps), thus putting the cart before the horse as usual.
The Knicks did learn a valuable lesson this summer: players want to come to something that is already at least partially built. Looking at the list of teams above, every one of them had something in place they could sell. New York thought they might, but they weren't far enough along in that construction to make a valid case.
But if the culmination of the Kawhi sweepstakes has reminded us of anything, it's that Step One in any rebuild is making sure that foundation is solid. If you start with cracks, the whole thing is likely to crumble, especially in the cauldron that is New York City and MSG. Writing about the Paul George trade last night, Ramona Shelburne had this to say:
You don't have to trade a player once he asks to be moved. But usually you wish you did, as the unhappy superstar and corresponding chaos these situations create thwart any chance at team building.
The critiques that have flown around about the Knicks the last few days - ones openly asking whether or not the working environment under James Dolan has changed enough since KP soured on the franchise as a whole to ever make building a winner here truly possible - are absolutely valid. The fact is, we don't know for sure whether it's a place players can ever truly view as a destination as currently constituted.
But don't think for a second that Scott Perry, Steve Mills and David Fizdale aren't doing everything humanly possible to make that the case. There were a multitude of opportunities in the last several weeks to try and throw some dirt in a hole and call it a steady base, whether it was mortgaging everything to get in on the AD sweepstakes or signing a B-level star to the max.
Whether or not those options were ever truly on the table is less important than the fact that the front office backed away before things ever got that far. Even Woj and Shelly insinuating that the Knicks had serious reservations about going full bore after the notorious quagmire that is Kyrie Irving, even if it potentially cost them KD, is an encouraging sign. Might it have cost them Durant? Absolutely. Will it turn out to be the right move? Who knows?
But it's more evidence that there's a process in place that does not include (say it with me now) skipping steps.
Sure enough, with PG gone, Russ-to-NY rumors will run rampant. Russell Westbrook will be 31 in November and is owed over $170 million over the next four seasons. Look up "Classic Knicks" in the dictionary and it's a picture of a fax with the terms of a Knicks/Russ trade. It is not the move a good organization would even think of making right now.
The Knicks are trying to get to that point - one where they can simply be considered a "good" organization in terms of how they operate on a day to day basis, as well as through their big picture decision-making process. The Dolan stuff will eventually go away. Or it won't. All fans can do is hope that incrementally, inch by inch, the Perry/Mills/Fiz trio keeps doing the little things that equate to winning. Every day is another opportunity to add a brick, and if there are enough of those in place, eventually, the Knicks will be the team in position to swing for the fences.
As we saw last night, right now it's all about singles and doubles. Speaking of bricks, yes, RJ Barrett threw up a lot of them last night. It was commensurate with an 18-year-old playing against NBA competition for the first time under the brightest spotlight imaginable for the given circumstances. Comparing him to Zion isn't fair; we all saw last night why he's been considered a generational prospect for some time now.
RJ is just a normal rookie. One with high hopes, sure, but a rookie nonetheless. As our own Spencer Pearlman details here, there's a lot to work on but also some encouraging signs. Aside from RJ, we saw nice stuff last night from others as well, including some great passing from (gasp!) Allonzo Trier and strong defense from (double gasp!!) Kevin Knox.
And then there's Mitch. Fresh off his selection to the Select Team with USA Basketball, Mitchell Robinson reminded every Knicks fan to turn a deaf ear to anyone who says there isn't a legitimate building block already in place. Not only did he repeatedly (and most rudely) deny Zion soup, but on the occasions when Williamson got the better of him, you could tell Mitch took it personally. He not only wants to be the best player on the court, but he acts like he's the best player on the court.
The sight of Mitchell Robinson treating a summer league game like it's the postseason is what Step One looks like. KP soured on the Knicks. That is on them, and it is a shame. But by every indication, Mitch is having a blast being a Knick. Ditto for RJ, who openly campaigned to be a part of this organization.
Hopefully as this week continues, we'll see more encouraging signs on the court from all the kids. Either way, this is the Knicks' chance at redemption - redemption from the sins of the last 20 years, the ones which left them forced to sit on the sidelines this summer, hoping for the best but accepting their fate either way.
If you're anything like me, you're damn excited to sit back and see how it unfolds.
These are our Knicks.
The best is yet to come.