NLL Insider - Team by Team: New York Knicks

by MaiLo1323, updated on Monday, October 15 2018, 02:59 pm EST

2017-18 Finish: 52-30

Season Highlight:
It was a very good regular season for the Knicks, they finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference and 5th overall. So everything went well and all looked good for a deep playoff run with home court advantage in the first round. But things went different ...

Season Lowlight:
There was bad luck for the Knicks because they meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. This team just got much stronger during the 2nd half of the season, after trading away Kawhi Leonard who wasn't available most time of the season. The 76ers seemed to be out of the playoffs this year, then they started a very big run in week 14 and fight their way back into the playoffs. So in the end the Knicks was swept in the first round by the #6 seat as the #3 seat.

Best Trade:
The Chicago Bulls send Reggie Bullock to the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets send Pau Gasol to the New York Knicks. The Minnesota Timberwolves send Zaza Pachulia to the Chicago Bulls. The New York Knicks send Zach Randolph and Lance Stephenson to the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets send a 2nd-Rounder (Orl) to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Denver Nuggets trade -5 GM points.The Minnesota Timberwolves receive 5 GM points.

This trade sent Zach Randolph and Lance Stephenson away, both didn't perform well this season for the Knicks. Pau Gasol came to the team and played a very solid role in his 20 games. Now he is already traded away for Etwaun Moore and Cameron Payne.

Worst Trade:
The Detroit Pistons send Jon Leuer, Alan Williams, Mohamed Bamba and Collin Sexton to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks send Kyrie Irving to the Detroit Pistons.

It's hard to rate this trade at the moment, because Mohamed Bamba and Collin Sexton didn't play in the NLL so far. But it's always hard to trade away a Star player and get good value in return. Maybe Mohamed Bamba and/or Collin Sexton will be as good as Irving or even better as a duo. But we don't know so far...so this is a high risk trade and is chosen in this category because of this.

Other Notable Trades:
The Boston Celtics send Darren Collison and Dakari Johnson to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves send Etwaun Moore and Cameron Payne to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks send Pau Gasol to the Boston Celtics. The Minnesota Timberwolves send a 1st-Rounder (Min) to the Boston Celtics. The Minnesota Timberwolves send a 2nd-Rounder (Min) to the New York Knicks.

Paul Gasol leaves the team after only 20 (very solid!) games.

The New York Knicks send Paul Millsap to the Dallas Mavericks. The New York Knicks send a 2nd-Rounder (NY) to the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks trade -50 GM points.The New York Knicks receive 50 GM points.

Milsap was traded away for the pick that brought Grayson Allen to the Knicks.

The Brooklyn Nets send Eric Bledsoe to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks send Grayson Allen to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send Terry Rozier to the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklyn Nets send a 1st-Rounder (Det) to the Portland Trail Blazers. The New York Knicks send a 1st-Rounder (NY) and 2nd-Rounder (Min) to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send a 2nd-Rounder (Orl) and 2nd-Rounder (Pho) to the Brooklyn Nets. The New York Knicks use their trade exception over $ 15,000,000.

Grayson Allen is already been shipped away in a deal for Eric Bledsoe.

Free Agency:
Dwight Howard, Kyle Anderson, Luc Mbah a Moute and Luke Babbitt are the actual free agents of the Knicks. One of them will be mentioned in the next parts of this article as star and one as goat. The most important free agent is Dwight Howard. He was the cornerstone of the team last season, together with James Harden. It should be the main goal to keep him. A big question should be what to do with restricted free agent Kyle Anderson. His performance was very poor last season, more was expected from him. Now that the fourth year of his rookie deal is over it's time to decide if he should be keept or let go. It should not make a huge difference if Luc Mbah a Moute and Luke Babbitt stay or leave the team.

Star:
Not an easy decision with 2 great NLL players on that New York roster. But Dwight Howard should be named here. The Co-star/runner up is James Harden. Howard is the 15th best player in the NLL, Top 10 player in 3 stats categories and Top 20 player in 7 categories. 2 time player of the week last season, plus All-Star (same as Harden). He was a main part of the successful regular season. Together with Harden this is a great star combo.

Goat:
Not that easy to find a clear goat in this roster. But Kyle Anderson is a candidate for this one ... in his fourth NLL season he could have shown more. The expectations were higher for him, he is 25 now and this was a contract year for him as it was the last year of his rookie deal. But he doesn't handle to make much out of the minutes he got.

Draft Grade:
The Knicks hasn't had a draftpick in 2018. As part of the Milsap deal the Minnesota Timberwolves picked Grayson Allen for the Knicks at #22. Allen has already been traded away in the Bledsoe deal mentioned above.

So it does not make a lot of sense to rate this.

But the New York Knicks got Mohamed Bamba and Collin Sexton after the Draft, in the Kyrie Irving trade. We should have a look at these guys. Mo Bamba was picked 5th in the Draft. Often he is compared with Rudy Gobert, but with a jump shot. He could be the long term center of the team, maybe he could play as PF besides Howard or as his backup. If Howard does't stay this summer Bamba should be the starting center.

Collin Sexton was picked 15th. He is a offensive point guard with weaknesses in his defense. Not sure where he fits in at the moment with Bledsoe, Payne and Joseph in the team. He could see very little minutes for the most time of the season, but hopefully he will get the chance to develop.

All in all its draft grade: B

The Future:
The main goals should be keeping Dwight Howard and integrating the two rookies Sexton and Bamba. With Bledsoe, Harden, Sexton, Bamba and Howard this is a solid fundament to have a successful season. And it's a step to not only win now, but to build for the future...if Sexton and Bamba live up to the expectations. The team needed to say goodbye to the legend Manu Ginobili, he retired this summer after one season in New York. His role wasn't very big, but it's always sad to see a legend walk away.

NLL Insider - Team by Team: New York Knicks

2017-18 Finish: 52-30

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