Player development and salary-cap space became buzz words from the coaches and front office during last season’s 17-65 Knicks’ tankfest.

Though the Knicks may not be ready to jump from the league’s worst team to a playoff berth, president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry are looking to win a lot more games despite an offseason that fell well short of spectacular expectations.

With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant having just reported to Brooklyn, the Knicks open training camp in Tarrytown on Monday short on stars after their free-agent flop.

The Knicks will rely on depth, frontcourt grit, chemistry, coaching and hope for a breakout star to emerge as a late-game closer in an attempt to play meaningful games in March. During the six-year playoff drought, the Knicks have been out of the race by March 1 the past five seasons.

Coach David Fizdale, who hardly overwhelmed in his first year in late-game situations, has a mammoth task of integrating nine new faces on the 15-man roster — including marquee rookie lottery pick RJ Barrett, selected No. 3 overall.

“You’ve got people always [comparing] the Knicks and the Nets,’’ 2018 lottery pick Kevin Knox said this month. “Of course they got two superstars. That’s just fuel to the fire for us. Like Fiz told us all in a group message: Put your head down, just go out and play hard for one another.’’

Though team bonding moments have occurred in scrimmages in Los Angeles, Miami and Columbia University, six of the seven free-agent signees are largely on one-year deals, and that usually doesn’t bode well for unity.

“The worry is chemistry issues and clashing as well as a rotation that will be tough to keep all happy,’’ said one NBA personnel man. “It could turn into every-man-for-himself – self preservation on full display.’’

The Knicks allowed all nine of their free agents to flee in July — a sign the club wasn’t running a crisp player-development factory in 2018-19.

One rival GM liked the amassing of respectable, dirty-work players — led by frontcourt men Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis and Marcus Morris. But the GM doesn’t know what it amounts to. Las Vegas sportsbooks made its statement, putting the Knicks Over/Under for wins at 28.5.

“They’ve aggregated some talent but I‘m not sure of the fit,” the GM said. “Knox is still a mystery. Teams liked Randle, but the [contract] number was scary [three years, $63 million].’’

Indeed, James Dolan’s Knicks needed to overpay to get players to a 17-win outfit. And they had plenty of cap-space cash to throw around.

After Irving and Durant chose the Nets without even meeting with Knicks brass, Mills-Perry were already off to Los Angeles for free-agent pow-wows and locked up six signees in 24 hours. Their Plan C concluded by adding a seventh body days later when Morris reneged on a Spurs’ commitment.

Plenty of depth exists at all positions, but no star. The hope is one gem lies on the current roster — whether it’s 24-year-old Randle, Knox, Barrett, shotblocking second-year center Mitchell Robinson or 21-year-old mega athlete Dennis Smith Jr., the main asset from the Kristaps Porzingis deal.

Smith must first beat out new signee Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntiliikina for the starting point guard job.

If nobody emerges as potential All-Stars, Porzingis flourishes with his new powerful body in Dallas and the Knicks get stuck on 20 wins, Mills, Perry and Fizdale may need to update their résumés.

The Knicks have financial flexibility, but 2020 free agency is not full of treasures — unless Anthony Davis has a Hollywood feud with LeBron James.

In 2021, Giannis Antetokounmpo is free agent, but Knicks brass prefers to tamp down those speculative stories. Maybe someone such as Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal hits the trade market.

Leave it to one presidential voice, Democratic candidate Andrew Yang, a lifelong Knicks fan from Westchester, to sum up what some league insiders see as a sea of Knicks uncertainty.

On Twitter, Yang wrote in August: “For a Knicks fan, these are the darkest times I can remember. Neither competing nor rebuilding. Punting for free agents when there are none of note in 2020. Signing mercenary vets to 1 year deals who will want playing time over overmatched young players. Going to be a long season.”