Utah is a defensive-minded team that has an elite center, a skilled passer at the point, a dynamic young wing, a strong cast of role players and a top-10 coach. The Jazz finished the season with the second-best defensive rating in the NBA, 0.1 points away from tying the Boston Celtics for first in the statistic, despite Gobert missing 26 games. The team’s two best players in Gobert and Mitchell were drafted 27th and 13th overall, respectively, while Rubio, Favors and Dante Exum were all drafted in the top-five yet play supporting roles.

Utah won 38 games in Quin Snyder’s first season as coach during the 2014–15 season, one year after the team won 25 games under Tyrone Corbin. Snyder’s coaching increased the team’s offensive rating by 1.6 (25th to 17th) and decreased the team’s defensive rating by 6.4 (29th to 14th).

This is the perfect blueprint for the New York Knicks and what they should look to emulate. It will take some time as New York’s young players develop and the team sheds its bigger contracts, but the Jazz have done a beautiful job of drafting and developing players. With an elite big in Porzingis, a defensive-minded player who loves to pass in Frank Ntilikina and drafting a wing in the first round of at least one of the next two drafts, New York should be in a similar position in a few seasons that Utah is in now.

You may be thinking, “Why would the Knicks want to be the Jazz? This Jazz core isn’t going to win a title.” You’re probably right, but consider that playing over 95 games a season for four years takes it toll on an elite player like Stephen Curry, and both the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets will be capped out with aging rosters in a couple years. Now take into account that several Jazz players will be in their prime in 2020, with Donovan Mitchell entering his own prime, and perhaps there’s a chance. A slight chance but a chance nonetheless.

New York and Utah differ in a few categories. Utah is in a somewhat precarious spot with its salary cap. The Jazz essentially have no cap space this summer when you consider they need to re-sign Favors and Exum. They’ll have Jonas Jerebko’s contracts off the books next summer and possibly Thabo Sefolosha’s depending on if his deal is guaranteed, but any major upgrades will need to come from trades.

The Western Conference was an absolute bloodbath this season, with three games separating the third seed from the ninth seed. While the Jazz were without Gobert for a chunk of the season, the San Antonio Spurs lost Kawhi Leonard, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost Jimmy Butler, the Denver Nuggets lost Paul Millsap and the New Orleans Pelicans lost DeMarcus Cousins for lengthy periods of time. Even the Los Angeles Clippers, a 10th seed, had their season torpedoed by injuries to Patrick Beverley, Danilo Gallinari and Blake Griffin. So while the Jazz missed their best player, other teams missed some of their best players too.

The Jazz are also at a disadvantage geographically. Here’s what Marc J. Spears wrote about Utah’s success on the free agent market for The Undefeated:

Utah has had some respected past free agent signees in Rickey Green, Raja Bell, Jeff Wilkins, John Starks, Antoine Carr and Howard Eisley, but no grand slams. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul never considered the Jazz in free agency. The Jazz’s most notable free agent signee is arguably Carlos Boozer, an African-American who signed in July 2004 and was a 2007 NBA All-Star. Utah also got a surprising free agent signee last summer in seven-time NBA All-Star Joe Johnson.

It’s tough for a small town in the middle of the mountains to attract top talent. So if the Jazz want to make significant upgrades, it probably won’t be as a result of free agency.

The Knicks, on the other hand, may be better off than the Jazz — in the long term. There’s a possibility that New York enters the 2020 off-season with the only big contract being Porzingis’ extension. All the players drafted in the first round from 2017–2020 would still be on their rookie scale contracts. While the present may seem bleak and cap space would be nice this summer, remember that no marquee player would come to New York anyway, especially with Porzingis injured.

Securing a playoff spot in two seasons shouldn’t be a challenge for the Knicks. Here are some teams that finished above New York this season that could be below them in two seasons:

The Cleveland Cavaliers could lose LeBron James in free agency and go into rebuild mode.

The Miami Heat could struggle with a 33-year old Goran Dragic (if he’s re-signed) and no Dwyane Wade.

The Washington Wizards could have too much money tied up in John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter and not enough depth pieces.

The Detroit Pistons could still be a team with a high floor but an incredibly low ceiling, considering that Griffin and Reggie Jackson’s injury histories are a concern.

The Charlotte Hornets could hit reset if they trade Kemba Walker or lose him in free agency next year.

Getting the young Knicks some playoff experience would be key to their development going forward. Even if they were to get swept in the first round, giving New York playoff basketball for the first time since the 2012–13 season would bring a newfound excitement to the city.

And speaking of the city, New York will always be a more appealing destination to stars than Utah. To be clear, stars go to teams that give them the opportunity to win, not because a city is big. For example, LaMarcus Aldridge reportedly picked the Spurs over the Los Angeles Lakers because he wanted the best chance at winning.

Yet Aldridge signed with a team that has an illustrious history with winning, possibly the greatest coach of all time and a superstar in Leonard. And as important as those things may have been to Aldridge, he’s also from Texas originally and there’s no state income tax there.

The Knicks must now find their own Snyder, a head coach who can develop young players and remain with this team for the long term. After that, New York will need to acquire talent through the draft. The team should look for talent over fit, yet must also consider how players can fit alongside Porzingis and Ntilikina. Drafting a wing would be ideal for a team largely devoid of that archetype, but the Knicks have no other young big man than Porzingis signed long term either.

After that, the Knicks will begin to understand the coach’s system, first in Summer League, then in preseason and finally during the regular season. They can go in to the season with the goal of improving on both ends of the floor while paying extra close attention to defense. Then, Porzingis should return, get right mentally and physically and mesh with his teammates in the coach’s system.

New York finished last season with the 20th-best offensive rating and the 23rd-best defensive rating (21st and 16th, respectively, before Porzingis went down, 23rd and 30th afterwards). While the Knicks will be without Porzingis indefinitely, if the Jazz can improve offensively and defensively under a new coach, perhaps the Knicks can as well.

It’s time the Knicks have players who understand their teammates strengths and weaknesses like the Jazz. No two teams are the same, but if the Knicks can examine the Jazz’ DNA and build an even better team in a bigger market, they’ll be in fantastic shape going forward.