Worst_to_First wrote:DickGrayson wrote:I honestly don't see the rush in getting an immediate impact player. If we can get an all star 3-5 years from now from this draft...I believe we succeed. Let's plan for future success beyond Melo's prime. (Yea Melo's prime would be wasted, but thats how it is right now)
Not wasting Melo's prime will be addressed through FA. What we can do with our pick if given choices is to get a prospect that is best for the long-term while at the same time hopefully fits perfectly with Melo both offensively and defensively. I believe Karl-Anthony Towns is that guy.
Thumbs up to both of you. In fact Ill take it a step further. Thats how we should approach free agency as well. I never felt we needed to rebuild by trading Melo for a slew of picks and choosing to suck over the next five years. On the other hand thoughI don't think we gotta go out and sign all these so called " win now" players who minimize our flexibility or have a short window. I think fans don't wanna see us become what the Nets are now where we go all in with a total disregard for the future.
And to those fans their antithesis is the total rebuild, complete with 76r level draft picks, sixer level trades, sixer level perpetual tanking. If when Isaiah said you cant rebuild in NY he meant that, then I agree with him. But heres my alternative. You marry both worlds. You grab this awesome draft pick this year, which will be the case no matter what path we choose. We have our draft pick folks and not just any pick. A top 4 pick cornerstone type of player. So essentially we just rebuilt right there if. You wanna get technical.
In terms of free agency, I think the Knicks should focus on young players who have shown something now. I wanna get guys who will help Melo now yet still be here as Melo fades and our 2015 draft breaks out. To put things in perspective, people always complain that Melo is 30 with bad knees and a big contract right. That contract is for another 4yrs? Let me give you a run down of some free agents and what theyll look like in 4 yrs
Butler would be 29
Jordan would be 30
Middleton would be 28
Monroe would be 29
And our draft pick would be just 22 yrs old at that point. A young fully developed star with a team of veterans around him. Guess what folks. Melo be damned, itll be Okofor/Towns/Mudaiy/Russells team at that point. And all the while that player would've developed on a winning team for the last four years. Lets get one thing straight. Carmelos been bashed, kicked while down, everything you can imagine and before it was about him always getting to the playoffs but not advancing. Now that hes not in the playoffs fans are even doubting his ability to lead a playoff team. If we get even mediocre talent Melo will lead us to the playoffs. We just dont even have mediocre talent is all. And everybody is so focused on not being a treadmill team during Melos time here that they arent seeing the true picture.
The true picture is what you call a treadmill team around Melo, I call on the job training for our rookie, our young free agents. Playoff training that after 4 years, even if we never make the finals will set our rookie up to be a great player. And you never know, even those young players may develop into good players. I think fans take a snapshot of talent and assume that what we get on day one is what we get on day three. For ex. Even in these " trade the first for Cousins" threads people look at Cousins like a photo and assume that at 24 hes a finished product, or that Monroe is a finished product, or that even Butler is a finished product. Last year Butler was Monroes age and was putting up Shumpert level numbers essentially. This year hes a max candidate. So my point is Melo may never win in 2015 yet maybe in 2017 he does. Maybe everyones fear comes true than Melo sees a decline but at the same time thats happening a guy you thought was a complimentary piece starts emerging as a primary option. Maybe Melo himself starts to identify this and I know this is blasphemy but maybe he himself starts taking a step back similar to how Pierce did later in his career.
But none of this is imaginable in the typical Championship or Rebuild model. Even playoff teams go through a progression. Last year Atlanta was a treadmill team, this year they are legitimate contenders. They never tore it down to the bone to get to this point. The Mavs have been a treadmill team for a decade straight. Somewhere in the middle they won a title.
Stop allowing the media, crazy fans and our own fears of **** Isiah teams to make us feel like getting to the playoffs every year has a negative connotation. Should the knicks have gotten further so far in the Melo era? Of course but stop and think for a second. We made the playoffs the first three years Melo was here, in the third year we had the second best year in the nba. Next year we like idiots pick up Bargnani and watch everyone get injured and guess what? We miss the playoffs. This is year is more of a reaction to last year than yet another year with good talent and failing. We are losing this year BY DESIGN. But because its championship or bust we never actually took the time to sit back and enjoy it.
Many reference the 90's with a level of pride in hindsight. We all wish the Melo era was like that era. Guess what? We didn't win a title then either and funny thing in the moment we treated that team like bums too. Only later when we missed the playoffs for a decade did we appreciate those years. Well in this era we're doing the same thing. Melo is a bum, he's horrible blah blah blah. Melo wasn't on this team from 2000 to 2010 folks. He got here and delivered what he could. I still have faith that you put a decent team around him you can win....BUT the whole point of my post is even if it never happens we can at least say hey, we spent the last four years contending and developing young players who might end up winning us our title after both Melo and the triangle are history. Thats the type of team I wanna build.
Okafor any day all day 
