Larry Rooney
In mid-March of 2014, the New York Knicks announced that they had hired the highly respected and coveted Phil Jackson. Jackson took control of the team’s basketball operations immediately, including everything from free agents to coaching staff to draft picks. From the onset of his front office career with the New York Knicks, Jackson’s moves have been widely criticized by fans, major sports outlets, and players themselves.
Keeping up with this theme, Phil Jackson made a huge splash in last Thursday’s NBA Draft, in which he and his Knicks held the fourth overall pick. Many thought that the Knicks could lure big name free agents back to New York with the promise of a young stud from this year’s draft class. This, however, has seemed less and less likely since Jackson made his first draft choice as Head of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks. “And with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks select Kristaps Porzingis.” Boos emerged and rang through the Barclays Center as reality began to set in for Knicks’ fans.
Who was still on the board you might ask? With the fourth overall pick, the Knicks had an opportunity to select players like Emmanuel Mudiay, Willie Cauley Stein, Justise Winslow, Frank Kaminsky, and several other highly touted prospects. But somehow Phil Jackson took a pass on all of them, and selected the 7’3” Latvian star forward. So this begs the question as to why he would take an international prospect who only recently shot up on the draft boards. Why would Phil Jackson select a player who so closely resembles previous international draftees who just haven’t panned out? There is no real answer. If history has shown team executivess anything, it’s that these last minute international draft “gems” almost never pan out.
With this being said, the pick was still made. So what did Jackson see in Kristaps Porzingis? The 7’3” young forward possesses tremendous size, while also maintaining the ability to run the floor as an average power forward or center. While his athleticism will not blow anybody away, his shooting ability will. The Latvian power forward owns a very solid jump shooting ability. With his height and length, Porzingis has the ability to rise over almost any defender and get his shot up cleanly. In addition to his shooting ability on offense, Porzingis possesses the potential to have the ability to challenge shots and turn shots away on defense. His length and wingspan should allow him to become an elite shot blocker in the NBA. Where Kristaps fails to impress comes in regards to his weight and strength. He is 7’3” weighing in at just 220 pounds. To give you a comparison, Andrea Bargnani, a fellow teammate of Kristaps’s, measures in at 7’0” and 250 pounds. Bargnani struggles dramatically on the boards for a seven footer due to a lack of strength and weight. He lacks the ability to bang with the big men of the NBA. While Porzingis has great potential, it is still just that. Potential. He is and will be a project for the Knicks’ development staff for years to come.
The Knicks needed a lot of things last year, which ultimately lead to their poor record and lottery pick. The team, however, has needed a defensive big man for quite some time now. But for whatever reason, the team proceeded to draft an offensive big man out of Latvia. Phil Jackson’s team possessed the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft and did not address their biggest need. His team didn’t even pick the best player available according to the thoughts of many.. While Kristaps Porzingis possesses great potential, he was not the right pick for the New York Knicks. Phil Jackson should have addressed his team’s biggest need by drafting or trading back to draft Willie Cauley-Stein. Cauley-Stein is an elite defensive center out of Kentucky, who possesses the ability to defend against any position player on the court. I, however, would not continuously leave him on an island with exceptionally quick guards and players like Lebron James and Kevin Durant. Cauley-Stein brings the type of defensive presence that the New York Knicks have lacked since Tyson Chandler’s first year with the team.
If the team had decided to not address their primary need, then they should have addressed their secondary need, which believe it or not isn’t seven footers who can only shoot mid-range jumpers. While Porzingis isn’t only limited to jumpers and possesses some skill defensively and as a rebounder, the team already consists of Jason Smith and Andrea Bargnani, two seven footers who struggle as defenders and as rebounders. The team’s secondary need is definitely a starting point guard, which to some regard Phil Jackson covered by trading for Notre Dame point guard Jerian Grant. With the fourth pick, however, the Knicks could have drafted Emmanuel Mudiay, a point guard out of the Chinese league. He possesses skill as an attacking point guard who could benefit from some extra time in the gym working on his jump shot. Mudiay also possesses some significant ability to defend the ball and compete at a high level defensively.
Despite all of the “what could have beens” for the New York Knicks, fans can only look towards free agency to sort out all of the other problems that the team left unsolved. If Phil Jackson looks to develop a winning team for the 2016-17 season, he must do some serious work this free agency period. Jackson can start building a winning team by bringing back key role players like Shane Larkin and Lou Amundson. Next, Jackson should meet and reel in Robin Lopez. Lopez provides the defensive awareness and presence that the Knicks have lacked for so long. After meeting with Lopez, Jackson should see what it will take to bring Wesley Matthews to New York, Considering he’s coming off a serious injury, his $15 million price tag should fall significantly. Wesley Matthews would fit right in as the starting shooting guard, and would be expected to be the team’s go to guy after Carmelo. Then, he should look to sign a guy like Danny Green. Green can provide instant offense with his shooting ability and still handle his own and more defensively unlike guys like Mike Miller, James Jones, Steve Novak, and many others. The Knicks have already been closely linked with David West, so I think it would be worthwhile to sign him taking Porzingis out of the starter’s role, which takes the pressure off him and allows him to develop. I would imagine that Porzingis and West would split the playing time evenly, however. In order to solidify the bench, Jackson should pursue Kosta Koufos who would garner a significant chunk of minutes off the bench. Finally, I would implore Jackson to sign a veteran guard to help Jerian Grant develop. I would suggest a backup guard like JJ Barea.
These moves, along with other supplemental moves, would really push the Knicks over the top in the East. The starting five would be made up like this:
PG Jerian Grant
SG Wesley Matthews
SF Carmelo Anthony
PF David West
C Robin Lopez
Some key reserve players would include: Langston Galloway, JJ Barea, Danny Green, Shane Larkin, and Kosta Koufos. This is just one way Jackson could go about fixing his New York Knicks team. Jackson, however, could just wait entirely for the next year’s free agency, which includes players like Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis. Regardless, the rest of this offseason will show New York fans which way this team is heading. Phil Jackson has to produce a winning team at some point during his tenure with the New York Knicks if he wishes to not taint his dominant coaching legacy.
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