A bit off topic from today’s newsletter is the recent news that San Antonio wants a draft pick to take on Fournier’s contract.
And on the heels of this information are Knick writers discussing the possibility that the Knicks will simply buyout Fournier.
This news got me thinking about the Rose administration and wasted Knick assets. A few of them:
--the #8 pick in the 2020 draft being dumped for two very weak second round picks.
--the #11th pick in the 2022 draft being used to dump bad contracts. Bad contracts that were signed just a couple of seasons earlier by the same administration.
--the 2021 2nd round pick, 34th pick overall, Rokas Jokubaitis, stuck in Europe as the current roster has no room for this very promising PG.
--watching protected future first round picks, never particularly valued by most of the league, leak value with each succeeding year.
--Most of the key free agent signings from 2021, costing the team over $100m in value, all being dumped by attaching picks.
This list includes Burks and Walker and soon to include Fournier.
Of course, there have been great draft picks in Quickley, Grimes, and to a lesser extent Jericho Sims; good trades in the pick to obtain Hart and the aforementioned Brunson signing. However to rise to the next level in the NBA hierarchy will demand a much smarter use of all our assets as expecting lighting to strike twice is unlikely.
The truth is that if the Knicks didn’t get a bit lucky that Jalen Brunson appears to be a grand slam free agent signing,
Rose very well might be out of a job right now.
My hope going forward is that this administration will take draft picks more seriously in the future and be careful not to end up in a place where the team has to give away picks to get rid of semi-recently signed players.
I would like to see us use some of them. You need a stream of young players to balance out the cost of veteran contracts. The fact that we haven’t made a real pick in the last two years is disconcerting.
I think they will hold onto Fournier as potential inclusion in a star trade at the deadline. But I agree with your larger point. Fournier was a bad signing to begin with, whose only potential value is as an expiring contract in a trade. The Kemba trade where they burned the 11th overall pick to create cap room was very tough (especially when Jaylen Williams was right there and looks like the exact type of wing this team desperately needs). As was the Obi pick (I wanted Haliburton very badly at the time). That said, I think you can find situations where every front office has screwed up. When you have a superstar, some of the mistakes don’t look as large. We don’t have a superstar, so our margin for error is very small.
I’m glad they haven’t made what I would consider a panic trade for LaVine or Towns or Harden or something. The bar is low here, but to me the front office has been somewhere between competent and very good overall. In the end they’ll be judged on whether they can get a star in the door and get to at least a conference finals with Brunson. Obviously I’d like the Knicks to win a championship while I’m still alive... it feels like we will need some luck to do that.
A bit off topic from today’s newsletter is the recent news that San Antonio wants a draft pick to take on Fournier’s contract.
And on the heels of this information are Knick writers discussing the possibility that the Knicks will simply buyout Fournier.
This news got me thinking about the Rose administration and wasted Knick assets. A few of them:
--the #8 pick in the 2020 draft being dumped for two very weak second round picks.
--the #11th pick in the 2022 draft being used to dump bad contracts. Bad contracts that were signed just a couple of seasons earlier by the same administration.
--the 2021 2nd round pick, 34th pick overall, Rokas Jokubaitis, stuck in Europe as the current roster has no room for this very promising PG.
--watching protected future first round picks, never particularly valued by most of the league, leak value with each succeeding year.
--Most of the key free agent signings from 2021, costing the team over $100m in value, all being dumped by attaching picks.
This list includes Burks and Walker and soon to include Fournier.
Of course, there have been great draft picks in Quickley, Grimes, and to a lesser extent Jericho Sims; good trades in the pick to obtain Hart and the aforementioned Brunson signing. However to rise to the next level in the NBA hierarchy will demand a much smarter use of all our assets as expecting lighting to strike twice is unlikely.
The truth is that if the Knicks didn’t get a bit lucky that Jalen Brunson appears to be a grand slam free agent signing,
Rose very well might be out of a job right now.
My hope going forward is that this administration will take draft picks more seriously in the future and be careful not to end up in a place where the team has to give away picks to get rid of semi-recently signed players.
I would like to see us use some of them. You need a stream of young players to balance out the cost of veteran contracts. The fact that we haven’t made a real pick in the last two years is disconcerting.
I think they will hold onto Fournier as potential inclusion in a star trade at the deadline. But I agree with your larger point. Fournier was a bad signing to begin with, whose only potential value is as an expiring contract in a trade. The Kemba trade where they burned the 11th overall pick to create cap room was very tough (especially when Jaylen Williams was right there and looks like the exact type of wing this team desperately needs). As was the Obi pick (I wanted Haliburton very badly at the time). That said, I think you can find situations where every front office has screwed up. When you have a superstar, some of the mistakes don’t look as large. We don’t have a superstar, so our margin for error is very small.
I’m glad they haven’t made what I would consider a panic trade for LaVine or Towns or Harden or something. The bar is low here, but to me the front office has been somewhere between competent and very good overall. In the end they’ll be judged on whether they can get a star in the door and get to at least a conference finals with Brunson. Obviously I’d like the Knicks to win a championship while I’m still alive... it feels like we will need some luck to do that.