The New York Knicks are slowly making progress in their mission to become true title contenders, but they still have a long way to go. This past season, the team finished 11th in the East with a 37-45 record overall. They did not qualify for the play-in.
This summer, as the team evaluates its future, the place of several team members hangs in the balance. Among them is young stuff Mitchell Robinson, who will reportedly receive a multi-year offer to stay in New York City.
“The Knicks are widely regarded as a team looking to shed a number of contracts (such as those possessed by Alec Burks, Kemba Walker and Nerlens Noel) to create salary-cap space for the potential free-agent pursuits of Dallas’ Jalen Brunson and perhaps even (gasp) Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving. Yet Monday night also delivered the strongest rumbles I’ve heard to date that a new multiyear deal to keep Mitchell Robinson in New York is looming,” wrote NBA insider Marc Stein.
Other than Mitchell, New York’s summer plans remain a mystery for the most part. The future of Julius Randle and other high-profile names isn’t secure.
But, it has also been reported that the Knickerbockers could bring back a very familiar face: 10x All-Star Carmelo Anthony.
“They’re [the Knicks] considering it, a lot of teams are,” wrote Sean Deveney on Carmelo Anthony. “He shot the ball well and he is a minimum (contract) guy. Every team is going to talk about him ahead of free agency. It would be a surprise. It would not be something that Thibs wants. He was not crazy about the Kemba Walker thing, but the Knicks had it as a homecoming thing and a good story but you saw how that worked out. So you bring in Melo and he is a defensive liability, Thibs does not play him, and all of a sudden, that becomes the story, just like with Kemba,” an Eastern Conference executive told Sean Deveney.”
Whatever the Knicks have lined up for this offseason, a lot of changes need to be made if they want any hope of a better future. As a strong and dependable big man, locking up Robinson is a good start, but the moves cannot stop there.
The core they have now is clearly not enough, and building around Randle, Barrett, and Robinson may just be a dead end. Ultimately, though, there is only one way to find out.
