Our goals before the season began were:1. Porzingis needs to show improvement/ Can he be the man? -
2. We need to showcase our veteran assets and boost their trade value... (Kanter, Oquin, Lee...)
Then explore trade options to build on the youth movement.
Our veterans have been playing better than expected and the front office now actually has the option to trade for youth and picks if they choose.
3. Tank is priority this season/ use our First and Chicago's 2nd to build the young core further.
Its never too late to tank!
4. Develop the young guys. This one kinda goes against "showcase the veterans". For example Dotson and Hernangomez are glued to the bench.
Lets leave our personal feelings aside and take a step back for a moment.. We are not ready to compete on a high level. Yes, we have been on a decent run. Yes, Porzingis carrying the team like a big time star.. Yes, there is a new type of energy...
However, it is still the same group of guys.. We are not good defensively.. The young core still needs to be built upon.. Simply it is not in our best interest to be competitive yet. We tanked and won big with Porzingis. We didn't tank and still ended up well with Ntilikina... We even picked up great 2nd rounders (Hernangomez, Dotson). Clearly the Knicks scouts are fantastic. Building through the draft has been working very well... Why not continue and actually build a solid core.?
I rather have a high lottery pick... than the 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs and get smacked.. Or a likely scenario were the Knicks just miss the playoffs and don't have a high lottery pick..
