The beginning of the 2017–18 season has been a great surprise for many in the New York metropolitan area. Our beloved Knicks finally look to have the makings of a bright future. Kristaps Porzingis looks to have a chance to deliver everything we were promised from Melo and possibly even more.

Photo: Getty Images

After trading away Carmelo Anthony just before the end of the offseason, it’s now time to usher in the Porzingis era for the Knicks. In the deal, New York received Enes Kanter(1 year, 18 mil w/ player option for 18–19) and Doug McDermott(1 year, 3 mil, RFA for 2018). Both of them at the age of 25, the Knicks will have to decide if they fit into the long term picture for their franchise, however, this really wasn’t the reason this is the deal Scott Perry and the organization decided to go with. It gave us the most flexibility for the future compared with the questionable swap for Ryan Anderson(3 years, 60mil) that the Rockets were offering. The patience displayed in these negotiations should give Knicks fans some hope that we finally have some competency upstairs running this team.

The Young Core

The Knicks have shown this year that they have some potentially great long term pieces that have a chance to bring about a lot of success for the city of New York.

Kristaps Porzingis has been an absolute stud as the number one option thus far into the season. On both ends of the court he looks like one of the top players in the league. He’s a sure-fire contender for Most Improved player this year and looks to be everything Knicks fans hoped he would be as the leader of the team.

Frank Ntilikina hasn’t gotten much time this year but in his limited minutes he looks like he will be one of the elite defensive point guards and a floor general for the offense. He’ll need to show me a little more shot creation of the offensive side to really sell me on him being able to orchestrate an offense, but as one of the youngest players in the NBA, his level of comfort this early in his career looks to be very promising.

Damyean Dotson is a name Knicks fans should start getting used to. Starting out as a fairly unknown 2nd round pick, he has impressed me in his very limited gametime. He comes off the bench with a lot of energy and has shown good potential on the defensive side as well as an ability to hit shots. I hope he can be a great addition to our future squads as the first guy off the bench.

Willy Hernangomez hasn’t been able to get into much of a groove so far, but I still believe that he can be a good bench center for us in the future in the same kind of role that Enes Kanter filled for the Thunder.

It’s still too early to tell if Kanter and McDermott will be a part of the Knicks future long-term. I think Kanter will demand too much money for us to compete with after his contract, but McDermott has a chance to be a great bench piece for us going forward.

2017–18 Season

I certainly didn’t expect the beginning of this season to be so encouraging. Just looking at the roster before the year I would have told you we were in the bottom 3 of the league and looking at a chance at the number 1 pick. I’m still skeptical that we will be in the playoffs when this season is done even though we have looked to be a team competing for a spot in the postseason thus far.

While you never want to lose, I think it would be in the best interest of this franchise to let go of some of our “win-now” type pieces in a trade to give us a better shot at a useful player in the upcoming draft, which contains a bunch of potential future all-star type players. Finding deals to acquire some assets for players like Kyle O’Quinn, Courtney Lee, and maybe even Joakim Noah(I can dream) should be a top priority before this season’s trade deadline. These kind of deals would be best if done sooner rather than later to give us a better shot at securing a good draft pick.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll say we trade O’Quinn and Lee for some expiring deals and maybe a 2nd round pick.

Enes Kanter is another asset I can see the front office moving, but it depends on how the franchise views him as a long term piece.

Our priorities as a franchise for the next few years should be cap space, drafting talent, and acquiring young players with potential to fill a role for us as a future contender. On top of that we need to make sure we aren’t harming the development of Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina. There are many that seem to think they need to be competing in the playoffs as soon as this year to learn how to play in big moments, however, being bad this season is in the best interest for this franchise in the long term. This would be the last or possibly second to last season where this is the case since we are going to start to have some cap space to play with in free agency.

2018 NBA Draft

It’s tough to give a prediction this early in the season, but I’m going to say the Knicks will end up with the number 8 selection in the 2018 NBA Draft. I think it would be reasonable to think the Hawks, Mavs, Bulls, Suns, Kings, 76ers/Celtics(Lakers Pick), and Cavs(Nets Pick) would be picking before us. At this pick, I can see us being in position to take Miles Bridges from Michigan St who I think would fit well into our young core.

Bridges is a bit raw but has all-star potential. Had he declared for the NBA draft last year, I would’ve liked to have seen the Knicks take him then too. He is one of the most athletically gifted prospects in this class and he’s combined that with great strength. On top of his athleticism, he looks to have a jump shot and some defensive potential. I’ve seen some compare his game to Knick great Larry Johnson and if that’s the case then he will fit right in to our young core.

2018 Offseason

Having cleared about $16 million in cap space with trading Lee and O’Quinn, it’s not going to be enough to secure one of the premiere guys that are going to be available so I think it will be important to conserve as much of this as possible for future years unless we can acquire a piece that will be around for a potential contending team. We could potentially have around $23 million more cleared if Kanter and Baker decline their player options but I just don’t see that happening. We’re also going to have an opportunity to extend KP in this offseason and the rate will depend on how he does with regular season awards in the 17–18 season. I’m not going to assume anything and give him the same deal that Wiggins got from the Wolves this past offseason(5 years, $146 mil). This deal would start in 2019–20 so we would have KP locked up until the 2024 offseason.

Kanter will now be a pretty valuable asset for us since his contract will now have just one year left and he will be able to clear cap space for a team looking to be trade partners with us. The problem is we may have to take contracts back with 2–3 years left, but we would get some picks as compensation. I think we would be in the market for something like this since I don’t see us being big free agent players until we can get rid of Joakim Noah’s contract, which isn’t until the 2020 offseason. However, I’m not going to do a deal like this because I think Kanter’s space(almost 20 mil) would be more valuable than a probable late 1st round draft pick.

For this offseason, I don’t see us having a shot on big time free agents but I think we can start to try and pick up guys to fill out a future bench. Our team right now doesn’t have too much depth so I think this could be the perfect time to get that sured up before we really start making a push. Right now, I see Dotson and Hernangomez as solid future bench pieces so we’re going to need to look for a PG and some forwards.

We don’t need to do this all in one offseason and I don’t like too many of the PG options so I’m going to pass there and just sign a minimum level guy like we did for this season.

At SF, I’d look to re-sign Doug McDermott because we don’t have much in terms of a spot up shooter and he of course can fill that role well. Another guy I’d take a look at is Robert Covington from the 76ers but I don’t think we’ll have much of a chance at him with our cap situation. Sp in this case, I’ll pay McDermott for 3 years at $8 mil a year.

At PF, there isn’t much talent so I’d look to sign a veteran to give this team some leadership. A guy I’d look at on a one year deal is Mo Speights because of his experience winning a championship with the Warriors. Along with this I’d add another minimum level guy just to fill out the roster since we would only have 2 PFs.

Something to consider is what we are going to want to do with the center position for the future. The picture as of now for this team as a contender pretty much has the starters set minus center for how I’d want the team to look with Ntilikina, Hardaway, Bridges and Porizingis. If the Knicks think this is more important to sure up now they could end up signing Nerlens Noel instead of the bench pieces I suggested.

I’d actually like a move like this because his skills complement Porzingis very well. He looks to have potential on the defensive end and as a rebounder. I don’t think we would be able to get a deal for Noel done along with the bench pieces though so I’m going to pass on him.

Now for the 2019 offseason we will have 7 contracts on the books at about $77 mil and I’m projecting the cap to get bumped up after 2 offseasons to about $104 or $105 mil, which give us room to go after a top free agent. Even if my projection is a bit off by a couple million we have some pieces to move if we want to secure a max deal caliber player. Lance Thomas will have 1 year left at about $7.5 mil and a team may want to clear some cap space and take on Noah with one year left at over $19 mil(thanks Phil).

Roster for 2018–19 season:

PG: Frank Ntilikina, Min level backups(Jack, Felton, etc.)

SG: Tim Hardaway Jr., Damyean Dotson, Ron Baker

SF: Doug McDermott, Miles Bridges, Lance Thomas

PF: Kristaps Porzingis, Veteran(Mo Speights), Min level backup

C: Enes Kanter, Willy Hernangomez, Joakim Noah

2018–19 Season

This roster will have some minor changes from the previous year but overall the core is very similar. With a year of building chemistry under their belt and a east that should still be very weak, this team has the chance to sneak into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed. We will probably get knocked out in the 1st round by the Celtics or Cavs.

This season should be a fun one and one that puts the league on notice that KP and the Knicks are coming. Maybe not the next year or the year after but eventually we will be up there with the best of them. In this year, KP will be at least top 10 and maybe top 5 in MVP voting and be widely considered a top 10 player in the league. He should find himself somewhere in the all-nba tier(somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd team).

Frank will take a big step forward after a full year as a starter and find himself somewhere in the top 20 rankings of point guards in the NBA and probably closer to 10 than 20.

For Bridges I’m not going to have amazingly high expectations for him for the season, but I would want to see him show flashes of his potential as a solid starter and maybe even a future all-star. I could see him breaking into the starting lineup by the end of the season, but I think McDermott will fill the role as a starter well.

Hardaway will be the most interesting guy to watch. The Knicks are going to want him to grow into a secondary scoring option, which I think he is capable of filling. However, we don’t really have a guy that has proven to be able to create their own shot other than KP and I think that’s what leads Hardaway to take questionable shots right now so this is something he will either need to get much better at or find a way to avoid doing. In the next offseason, I think we’re going to need to find another big time scoring threat to help this.

Dotson is another guy that I’ll have my eye on for this season. If he can show he’s capable of filling a big time 3 and D role for us, it might force THJ to the bench to help out that unit’s scoring ability, which I think is lacking. This could be a great role for THJ and the role I think is what he is best suited for.

On the trade front, I can see a team being interested in Lance Thomas for a late 1st round or 2nd round pick since he has shown to be capable on the defensive side in the 2017–18 season so far and in the past has shown he can knock down some open shots. He will have 1 year left on his deal after the 2018–19 season so it wouldn’t be a huge commitment. This deal would free up another $7.5 mil for the 2019 offseason and put us over $30 mil under the cap.

2019 NBA Draft

I project that we will be somewhere in the 15–19 range of this draft. I’m not too familiar with this draft class but historically speaking, it’s not likely we are going to find a franchise altering player in this position. In this position I’d be looking for either a wing who can knock down 3s like a Luke Kennard who was picked in this area in the 2017 NBA Draft or a center who can protect the rim and grab rebounds like Nick Richards from Kentucky, who I project to be picked in this area of the draft for the 2018 class. If we can’t find something like that then I’d suggest packaging the pick with Noah to rid ourselves of that contract and send him to a team near the bottom of the league looking to acquire draft picks with a lot of cap room. A move like this would make us huge players in potentially loaded free agency. Since this post is kind of idealistic, I’ll go with that route for the 2019 offseason section.

2019 Offseason

This is the part where we really start moving toward the title. As I projected, KP is now a top 10 player in the NBA and New York has become a very enticing option for potential free agents because of it. Not only do we have the biggest sports market in the country (if not the world), we have a guy that can pair up in this new super-team era with another great and takeover the league. We don’t have any player exactly set at a position in our lineup because of the versatility of Frank and KP. This means we can sign a max guy at any position. We still haven’t decided if KP is a 4 or 5 and Frank is a guy more focused on the defensive side of the ball so I don’t see a problem sliding him over to the 2 or maybe even the 3. Having cleared approximately $26–27 mil with the Noah and Lance Thomas trades on top of all the cap space we are bringing in, we can now sign 2 high talent players.

PG:

This is probably the position I see as the least likely for us to sign but there are going to potentially be some big names here.

Kemba Walker will be an UFA and since he’s from the Bronx, I can easily see him wanting to come home and play on a great team. I don’t see him wanting to stay in Charlotte as they don’t look to have the brightest future, but I don’t know enough about his relationship with the team to speak on that. However, I can definitely see cardiac Kemba coming back to play in the arena where he made a name for himself. I’m not sure he’s worth max money especially considering he’ll be 29 and at the tail-end of his prime by the time he hits the market.

Kyrie Irving could potentially be a UFA in this offseason as well if he opts out of his deal, which he should do since he’ll be getting underpaid. I’m not sure of the likely hood of him coming to the Knicks but I don’t think it means nothing that we were on his list of 4 teams that he brought to the Cavs with his trade request. I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure that the Celtics will be able to offer him the most money and that may be a situation too hard to pass up. Of course I hope Gordon Hayward comes back to full strength, but with an injury like that it’s not so easy to come back as the same player and if he’s not, we may look like the better option for Kyrie. On top of that, I think he understands that bringing a championship to NYC would cement his legacy as an all-time great and I think that’s something that he really cares about. Kyrie would be 27 and probably at his peak for this free agency so this would definitely be the most ideal option.

Other guys that are free agents will be Ricky Rubio and also Goran Dragic and Jeff Teague if they decide to decline their player options. I don’t think any of these guys will be better PGs than Frank at this point so I wouldn’t look past Kyrie and Kemba for this offseason.

SG:

We would really need to be getting a lot out of a player to offer him max money at this position since we are already paying a lot for THJ but there are some interesting options for us here that would be tough to pass up.

Klay Thompson is set to be a UFA in 2019. While this might seem like a stretch, it looks like one of the Warriors big 4 is either going to have to take a massive pay cut or else they’re going to have to leave. If I was them the odd man out would have to be Klay. Curry and Durant are just too good to let go off and Draymond is there defensive anchor and brings a certain toughness to the team that might be too hard to pass up. I don’t know too much else about their cap situation but if Klay is available then the Knicks need to take a look. He fits the new defensive mentality that guys like Frank and KP are bringing and he is an absolute sharpshooter, which is a skill that rarely diminishes with age. At the time of this free agency, Klay will be 29 and probably at the tail-end of his athletic prime but his game isn’t centered around athleticism so I would have no problem throwing max money at him.

Jimmy Butler can opt out of his deal and becoming a free agent in this offseason. He will be 30 by the time the 2019–20 season starts so I wouldn’t want to sign him on a long term deal but I think he can be effective for us on a 2–3 year signing. I think he’ll end up staying in Minnesota, however having developed chemistry with their young core and this should be around the time they really start to look like a team that can win a ring so it will be hard for him to leave that.

There aren’t too many other options I would take a look at even as bench pieces because we already have THJ and I think Dotson will have developed into something by this point. I’d only go after an SG that I think can have a real impact in putting us over the top.

SF:

There are a lot of variables for the SFs but I’m just going to list the top guys that even have a slight chance of being available. Even though we selected Bridges, I think he’ll be a few years away from really making an impact and I don’t see Doug McDermott as a guy who can be starting for a championship caliber team so this is a position where we really should be looking to make a splash.

If Lebron opts into his deal in the 2018 offseason with the Cavs, he will be a UFA in the 2019 offseason. It seems like he has shown interest in leaving the Cavs for a new opportunity in a bigger market with rumors of his interest in joining the Lakers. It’s not outrageous to think that if he’s looking to leave the Cavs that we would be in the running for the decision pt.2(or 3?). Lebron will be 34 going on 35 so it would be tough to give him a long-term deal, but he seems disinterested in taking a long-term deal anyway since his last few deals have been for a year with a player option. It’s hard to tell how good he will be at that point but seeing how healthy he’s been in his career and how well he maintains his body, I can’t see him falling out of the top 10 of NBA players for the 2019–20 season and even a few seasons after. I’d definitely sign up for a 1+1 or even a 2+1 of max money for Lebron to get us to where we want to be. Even if he ends up falling off in the later year of this deal, it would be worth it to have him to mentor Bridges and turn him into something special.

Kevin Durant will also be a free agent during this offseason, but this one seems like too big of a reach. Unless something crazy happens, he’s going to end up in Golden State again. Of course if he somehow becomes available, we need to be knocking down his door trying to get him here. The scoring potential putting him next to KP would just be devastating for opposing defenses.

Kawhi Leonard will have a player option for the 2019–20 season, which he should opt out of since he would be getting underpaid. This one also seems pretty unlikely because of how long the Spurs have been good for. However, if Gregg Popovich decides to call it a career by that point, don’t be surprised to see the Klaw hit the open market, and if he does he’s definitely a guy we need to offer a huge deal to. Kawhi will be 28 by this point so he might start to decline at the back of this deal but he’s just too good not to want to try and get to come play here.

Paul George is set to be a free agent in 2019 as well if he opts into his deal in the 2018 offseason, but that’s not going to happen and he will most likely sign a long term deal somewhere that’s not New York. If he does go the Lebron route however, and sign a 1+1 then he of course is another guy the Knicks need to throw big money at to try and get him here but this is highly unlikely.

PF:

At PF there isn’t going to be a guy that I would throw max money at but there are some options that could be solid starters in this lineup that we may take a look at if we can’t acquire 2 big time guys.

Both Morris twins will be available in 2019 and they have both become solid NBA players. They both can grab boards and play solid defense, which is all we will really need out of them.

Beyond that, Paul Millsap and Al Horford can potentially be available since Horford has a player option and the Nuggets have a club option for Millsap. Horford will probably opt in as no team will pay him nearly as much as his option will, but I think the Nuggets will probably decline Millsap’s option as he will be 34 at that point and probably not worth the max money that they would have to pay him. Like I said though, Millsap will be 34 and unless we can get him on a 1 year deal, it’s probably not worth it.

C:

Like I said previously, from the center position I’d be looking for a guy who can block shots. There’s 2 guys in this free agent class that are elite at both of those things in DeAndre Jordan and Hassan Whiteside and also a bit of a wild card that will be available in Nikola Jokic.

The guy I’m most interested in signing out of these guys would be Whiteside. Although he will be 30 by this offseason, he came into the league later than most so he doesn’t have the kind of mileage most guys have at 30 in the NBA. Whiteside is an elite rim protector and can battle for board with the best of them. He can also easily put up 10–15 ppg for us. The main problem with him is that he has a player option for the 2019–20 season so it’s still unclear if he will actually be available.

DeAndre Jordan brings pretty much everything that Whiteside does except that he will be a bit older and has much more mileage on him as an NBA player. He has a player option in the 2018 offseason, which I think he will opt into so I believe he will be available.

Jokic is definitely the odd man out in this group but is definitely the most interesting guy to potentially add here. He is by far the youngest out of the 3 and plays nothing like the other 2. Jokic can rebound at a very high level and is an incredible passer at the center position. He also has the ability to step out and hit jump shots at a much higher rate than the other 2 guys. His defending however is questionable at best so we may move him over to the 4 and slide KP to the 5 for our starters. He also fits well into the international culture that we’ve built here so that could also be a factor. Jokic would be the guy I’d be most comfortable giving a long term deal to as well. It’ll be tough to take him away from the Nuggets since he’s there main piece but if I were him I’d rather take my chances with the Knicks than stay in Denver.

So now looking at it in full and taking into account our roster situation, I’d want to add a SF and C. There are too many variables for me to make a prediction in the SF category however and I think it would be much more realistic to add a PG and C out of these options. If we added a PG I’d expect Frank to slide to the 2 and THJ to potentially bulk up a bit and start at the 3. A lot of this depends on how quickly Bridges develops, but I don’t think he will be an impact player by this point.

Since this is about potentially winning the title I’ll say that we can add Kyrie because out of the other top players in this offseason he’d probably be the most likely to wind up in NYC.

Now the next signing is tough to decide on. I think Thompson would be able to play at the 3 and we’re going to need a guy who can compete at that position to have a chance at the title but that leaves a hole at center. However, I think the kind of center I’m looking for can be available at a lower than max cost so I’ll go with Klay.

At center we will have a couple options. I think we may be able to get Kanter to come back for us on a cheaper deal because he seems to really like being in New York and he may want to be a part of the final product of what he saw develop in his short time here. However, he doesn’t quite fit the mold of what I’d be looking for. Dwight Howard will be 33 going on 34 at this point and it’s questionable that teams will be looking to offer him big time money. He may want to start taking lower money deals in a hunt for a ring the same way David West has the last few years to try and help his legacy. While he might be ring chasing, I think Dwight would also want to be in a situation where he can actually contribute and with us he’d certainly be a needed asset. There’s always potential that we trade someone for a center but I wouldn’t want to lose a contributing piece in return for another unless it was something worthwhile. In this case, I’ll go with Dwight Howard.

Roster for 2019–20 Season

PG: Kyrie Irving, Vet on MLE(Jeremy Lin, Darren Collison, Patrick Beverley, etc.)

SG: Frank Ntilikina, Tim Hardaway Jr., Damyean Dotson

SF: Klay Thompson, Miles Bridges, Tim Hardaway Jr.

PF: Kristaps Porzingis, Mo Speights

C: Dwight Howard, Willy Hernangomez

2019–20 Season

Now I don’t know if this team is a lock to win the NBA finals, but you have to think with a roster like this we certainly have a shot to come out and represent the east in the championship series.

Even without Klay, the Warriors will still most likely represent the West in the series so I’ll evaluate the matchups in that series.

PG: Kyrie Irving vs Steph Curry

The matchup that we’ve already seen twice in full. Kyrie has been guarded by Klay Thompson in these series who is an elite on-ball defender and still gotten his, so now in a series where the Warriors no longer have him it will give Kyrie the opportunity to really do some damage. Steph probably won’t see Kyrie on the Knicks defensive end with us having Frank and Klay so he will probably have a much tougher time on that end than Kyrie who will probably see Andre Iguadola or whoever the Warriors manage to grab to fill the SG spot.

Advantage: Knicks

SG: Frank Ntilikina vs Warriors SG

I’d expect this to be Andre Iguadola, but he’s done some real damage off the bench for them so I can see them playing a lesser player here to keep Iggy in that 6th man role. Iggy would probably see more minutes than this replacement though so this will be the matchup I evaluate. Frank will still only be 21 at this point and Iggy will have played in 4 or 5 finals at this point so I think Iguadola will end up outplaying him due to this experience.

Advantage: Warriors

SF: Klay Thompson vs Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is one of the top 2 players on the planet so Klay will of course have trouble defending him and getting open shots against him. I could see the Warriors also putting Draymond on Klay and KD on Porzingis to create some better matchups on the defensive side, which still won’t help Klay of offense. While this isn’t a great matchup for the Knicks and might make the signing of Klay look bad, we wouldn’t even have a resemblance of a chance had we let Klay go back to Golden State.

Advantage: Warriors

PF: Kristaps Porzingis vs Draymond Green

KP’s play in a series like this will be the deciding factor. If he can find a way to get himself going against tough matchups from Green and Durant then I think the Knicks will have a great shot at getting a ring. KP should be able to lock down Green on the defensive end as I don’t see him as a huge offensive threat and we may potentially ask KP to guard Durant and Klay to guard Green instead because of it. Either way I think KP is better in the specific matchup of KP vs Green.

Advantage: Knicks

C: Dwight Howard vs Warriors C(Zaza)

It’s hard to tell exactly who is going to fill this spot for the Warriors at this point since Zaza and Javale aren’t on long term deals, but I’m just going to assume it’s Zaza. In this matchup I think it’s clear that Howard is much more physical and brings more to the table for the Knicks so he wins this matchup because of it.

Advantage: Knicks

Bench: Knicks vs Warriors

Assuming the Warriors keep the same quality of bench, they will probably get the better of the Knick bench here. There aren’t too many good matchups here for the Knicks depending on what kind of players THJ, Bridges, and Dotson become up to this point for them. Javale is much more athletic than Hernangomez so that would be a tough matchup for him as well. If Dotson turns into the player I project him to be then this could be a bit closer than I’m letting on but I think the Warriors still have the edge in this category.

Advatage: Warriors

So out of these categories, I have it at 3–3. I’m sure there were better ways I could have evaluated the matchup, but in any case I think with the rosters I’m projecting here I think it would be a close series. For the Knicks to win, Kyrie and KP are going to have to pick up much of the scoring load and cement themselves as some of the all time greats of the game.

Outlook to the future

Even if the Knicks come up short in this potential 2020 finals matchup, they will become a force to be reckoned with for years to come. KP and Kyrie will be 2 of the top 10 players in the NBA by this point and Klay has already shown that he is one of the best 3rd options of all time. Bridges might become moveable for another piece(maybe a center) to really push us over the top and make us the favorite to win a championship for the coming years. Really the takeaway from this post should be that the Knicks actually have hope. The future hasn’t looked this bright in my lifetime of being a Knicks fan and now we finally have a chance to be excited about the future of this franchise.