The New York Knicks pulled off a blockbuster trade for Mikal Bridges earlier this week, but Draymond Green still doesn’t see them winning a title anytime soon. On the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show, Green was asked if the Knicks will make it to the NBA Finals in the next three years and he doesn’t believe they will.
“No, I do not think so. No,” Green said. “… I’ll tell you now, I don’t wanna see that team in the regular season, because they are going to be playing harder than nobody’s tomorrow… Defensively, that team is going to be tough. Like, tough, tough.
“And playing against a team like that during the regular season when you really don’t got time to prepare and then you go up against that defense? Man, that’s going to be hard,” Green continued. “It’s going to be very hard. Would not shock me if they get a No. 1 seed, No. 2 seed. Wouldn’t shock at all.
“But ultimately, I think when it comes down to winning the championship, you have to have guys who can get a bucket by any means necessary on anybody,” Green stated. “I don’t care who your defensive adjustment is, who you go to. That guy gotta be able to get a bucket on him in order to carry a team to a championship and their guys, you can make it tough on and so I don’t think so.”
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While Green likes Bridges as a player and thinks the Knicks have a fine roster, he doesn’t believe they have enough to get past the Boston Celtics. It’s why the 34-year-old isn’t a big fan of them giving up five first-round picks in the trade.
Green thinks that in a few years, the Knicks will be in rebuild mode after coming up short and will trade away some of these players to get draft picks back. If I had to pick between what was likelier, this outcome, or the Knicks winning a championship, I would go with the former.
I think Jalen Brunson is a player who can get a bucket on anybody, but he is pretty much the only one on the Knicks who I would say that about. Brunson’s co-star Julius Randle has struggled mightily in the playoffs while Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo just aren’t top-tier offensive players.
The Knicks will be a great defensive team and I also think there is a good chance they finish as the top seed at some point, but I don’t see them getting over the line. If the Celtics have some major injury issues, then they might get out of the East, but that’s it.
Draymond Green Has Never Believed In The Knicks
Green stated during this episode that he isn’t a Knicks hater, but he sure is developing a reputation for being one. The Golden State Warriors forward has made some comments over the last few months that haven’t gone down too well in New York.
First, Green wasn’t sold on the Knicks being a legitimate Finals contender after they acquired Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Alec Burks at the trade deadline. He felt the team got better, but wasn’t sure they’d go all the way.
Then during the playoffs, Green stated Brunson can’t get the Knicks to the Promised Land. The guard shone in the postseason, but the four-time NBA champion didn’t think that ball-dominant style of play would lead to titles. Green also called the 2024 Knicks a fluke and felt 15 years of misery might be lying ahead, but he has changed that stance at least following the Bridges trade.
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