Time to Blow Up the Knicks

Courtesy: Bleacher Report

Things could not have gone any worse this season for the New York Knicks. They began the season by losing defensive stopper, Tyson Chandler with a fractured leg, forcing them to move Andrea Bargnani to the starting center position. This would not have been such a bad thing if the Knicks had another rim protector, but they do not.

Neither Carmelo Anthony nor Amar’e Stoudemire approach the league’s average defensive status. Basically, the only average to above average defenders that the Knicks have on the team currently are Iman Shumpert, Tyson Chandler, and Metta World Peace. Besides those three, this team is atrocious on defense. They don’t rotate when they should, they don’t guard the perimeter, they don’t do anything. Not to mention how awful their offense has been this season, without a decent point guard running the team.

I’m sorry but Ray Felton, Beno Udrih and Pablo Prigioni just can’t get the job done. Felton was great last season; he was able to penetrate the defense and kick it out to create open shot for Melo, JR Smith, and at the time Steve Novak. For some reason, he hasn’t looked the same this year. He has battled injury and can’t seem to get his feet back under him.

Players like Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith need a point guard to help them get easier shots. Both players can create their own shot but working so hard for one basket takes a toll on them. We have seen Melo struggle late in games not because he can’t close out games but because he has to work so hard all game. Also its appears that Iman Shumpert has forgotten how to shoot the basketball because he has had more 0 field goal games this season than I have ever seen from a player that is regarded as a rising star. I don’t know if the trade rumors have gotten to him or he just doesn’t care anymore, his value is going down the tubes quickly. This team is absolutely terrible and they are not going to turn it around this season with this current roster. I expected more from this group, but they proved me wrong.

Now you may ask how could they blow up this team with so many bad contracts on the books. The answer to that is they can’t; unless they give up some of their young assets or their few remaining first round draft picks. We have to assume Amar’e’s contract is pretty much untradeable, so we’ll have to leave him out of this. That leaves Bargnani, Chandler, Felton, and JR Smith as the bad contracts that need to be traded.

In order to get rid of Bargnani’s contract the Knicks would have to package the deal with either Iman Shumpert, Tim Hardaway Jr., or a first rounder. Out of those three, I would keep the first rounder and Hardaway Jr. if at all possible. I am not sold on Shumpert moving forward and it is better to get rid of him now before the rest of the league realizes that this guy has a ceiling (and that being a very low ceiling).

A trade of possibly Chandler and Shumpert to Boston for Kris Humphries expiring contract and one of their picks this year may be a possibility to clear up some cap space for next summer. Chandler is not worth the $14.5 million a year he is owed for the remainder of this and next year. He gives the Knicks no production on offense, which is desperately needed.

Also, I think if you are New York you have to trade JR Smith as soon as he is eligible in January. He is still a good role player with a pretty reasonable contract (about $6 mil per), but the Knicks are better off using that money elsewhere. They don’t need JR Smith moving forward. Plus with his brother Chris Smith recently released, JR will most likely not be a happy camper. JR’s contract will be much easier to move than Bargnani’s and a team like OKC can use his scoring off the bench. A deal involving Thabo Sefolosha’s expiring and a pick for JR Smith may be a possibility. The downside to that trade for OKC is that they would be losing Thabo’s defense.

Courtesy: ESPN NBA Trade Machine

Finally Felton’s contract needs to be sent packing. Again not a huge cap hit, but a team like Indiana, who has an expiring contract to unload in Danny Granger. This contract should be of interest to the New York Knicks. A trade that the two sides may be interested in is a Bargnani and Felton swap for Granger’s expiring. New York can get another big cap relief, while Indiana attains some much needed depth.

Bottom line is, is that there are possibilities out there for New York to alleviate some of the contracts that they current hold. I don’t understand why James Dolan has decided to stand pat at this time, but in order to succeed he needs to change that. They’re going to need to do something if they want to retain their star Carmelo Anthony. Such moves will completely kill New York’s extremely slim chances to bounce back and contend this season but it will open up what they can do in the future. If all of these moves were to go through New York would be able to clear up about $35 million in cap going into the summer of 2014.