cgmw wrote:We effectively traded Grimes and Obi for Bojan and Burks. RJ and IQ for OG and Precious.
The entire purpose of a drafted FRP to the Knicks is to maximize and continue to gauge trade value while getting use out of him as veteran support staff until the right deal comes along.
Personally I feel vindicated since I’ve been out here by myself for years telling anyone who’d listen in these ridiculous draft threads that they never wanted either draft picks or the guys they drafted.
And I’m telling you now, they don’t want any of their future picks either. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll happily draft a player to fit a rotation role but they’ll do everything they can to trade down, trade out, or trade away to get the veteran help they want whether that’s immediately or by biding their time like they did with RJ, Obi, IQ, and Grimes.
If I had a son drafted by the Knicks, my advice would be to work hard, focus on fitting the rigid support role they’re offering, and I’ll have your agent working overtime in the background to pump up your trade value while finding you a real home where you’ll get a real chance.
Conversely, if I’m a young veteran on another team who doesn’t feel like I’ve been given the proper chance, going to the Knicks via FA or trade is super attractive because you won’t have your spot threatened by anyone younger than you.
I think they likely would've kept those young players if they had panned out and become stars.
They did not, and so they reckoned it was advantageous to cash in on their value as trade chips (largely based on the uncertainty of their upside). I think it makes sense with Brunson propelling the Knicks into playoff contention. It's an important development because it provides a strong rationale for the moves (not saying that you're saying the moves weren't justified in this context). The new salary cap also plays a significant factor. It's more punitive, so the value of each young player must been seen through the lens of their contract extension.
From that group, only IQ showed real signs of progress, and his skill set was overlapping with Brunson to some extent - therefore filling less of a need. I think it's likely that the salary cap combined with the skill set overlap played a role in their calculations.
Mitch for instance stayed because he was impactful in his role as a starter. They developed him, extended him, and evidently didn't find a deal they thought would provide more value than he does. Will that change in the future? We'll see.
Unlike Mitch, both RJ and Grimes regressed as starters despite being given plenty of opportunities. That they're gone may be a consequence of that moreso than a broad intention to maximize the value of their young talent to then by default trade it away. That they highly valued Grimes in the Mitchell talks before his regression this year is an example of that. Obi never projected as a starter to begin with and appeared like a sunk cost - not really worth mentioning.
My point is I don't think you're wrong that they viewed the youth as assets. I would however say that it wasn't inevitable they got traded. I think their career trajectories played a significant role in this. Between the two who
really panned out for us (Mitch and IQ), one has stayed, and the other was traded for a massive roster upgrade due to different considerations, including a non-negligible skill overlap with the franchise player.