KP - obviously the greatest piece Phil has acquired, and sure, he had some luck on his side with this pick, but he did have the balls to tank, and he had the balls to select Porzingis. KP's value to the Knicks has no dollar amount. Phil will go down as a Knicks legend just for drafting him.
Willy - Awesome draft pick. Clearly a 2nd round steal at this point. Phil/Gaines get major props for adding Willy, and if it weren't for KP, Knicks fans would be fawning over him like we fawned over Lee/Chandler/Gallo/Shump.
KOQ - He's beginning to make Phil look like a genius for that contract. He's a young-ish talent, an all-around big, and a useful building block. He's becoming a fan favorite. Bravo.
Kuz - 27 year old rook, plays like a vet, plays like he knows the game and loves the game, and he's a great fit with the team. Kuz is a steal. Another piece.
Holiday - He's another young-ish, cheap player who has real value and is also a great fit with the team. Also does a little bit of everything. Also a guy worth holding onto.
Lee - One of the Knicks' larger contracts but still a good value and at the very least, could be a solid trade chip should the Knicks go in another direction and either look to cut salary or look to upgrade the roster at some point. For now, he's a good fit and a reliable player.
Baker and Plumlee - these are guys who fans on this board know have something to offer, although it may take a while before people can heap too much praise on Phil for signing them. But those are another 2 potential young pieces. Maybe never super valuable on the trade market, but valuable to a young-ish developing team trying to build a culture.
And then there's Melo - if Melo keeps playing winning basketball, I could care less about the NTC. Knicks can get a lot of production out of Melo for the remainder of his contract, and if they continue to develop the young guys, the team can only get better around him. Melo is a huge piece to the puzzle. As long as the Knicks are winning games , Phil gets props for holding onto him and putting such a team around him.
With Rose and Jennings on one year deals, for now, Noah is the Knicks' only major risk. And how major is it really? When the cap rises again next season, if Noah's deal becomes the equivalent of 8 or 9 million bucks before the cap went up at all... the Knicks can certainly work around that. Of course, there's something positive he brings to the team even when he can't play, and so I'll never really be mad at the Noah deal. He's good to have in NY even though we fans can't always witness his impact.
So with that being said, at this juncture, I give Phil an A.. but of course I'm not as hard to please as some. You have to respect the job he's done to bring in young talent though. I think it was well worth some of the recent heartache, and I thought it should be highlighted again. It's been a while since we've been able to hype this roster.
