Active Phil Jackson, New York Knicks Have Plenty of Options
Phil Jackson is set on assembling a New York Knicks team from scratch. Ten months into his reign, the canvas is just about wiped clean.
After disposing of nine of the 15 roster players since being hired on March 17 of last year—including moving high-profile pieces Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert—New York's president can finally begin to zero in on roster construction, instead of destruction.
Now it sounds like Jose Calderon and/or Andrea Bargnani could be the next out the door, per Marc Stein and Ian Begley at ESPN.
"The New York Knicks are actively trying to trade veterans Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani as part of their ongoing roster clearout, according to league sources.
But sources stressed to ESPN.com that trying to trade away Amar'e Stoudemire is not part of the club's current plans.
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Of course, the heavy lifting of this roster upheaval will likely wait until this summer, when Bargnani and Stoudemire's nearly $35 million come off the books and Jackson will have his chance to court the NBA's most attractive free agents. But now that this season's hopes have long been killed off—the Knicks are the league's worst team at 5-35 entering Monday—the rest of the 2015 campaign serves as a prime chance for the team to preview potential pieces for next season.
Low Risk, High Reward
Following the trade of Shumpert and Smith, we've already seen the type of team New York will be for the remainder of the year.
They're suiting up an astounding six members from their 2014 Las Vegas Summer League squad, and excluding Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas—who have yet to appear for New York—and injured players, the rotation's average age amounts to just 26.4 years old. That's including 37-year-old Pablo Prigioni and 33-year-old Jose Calderon.
The team has already implanted 23-year-old Langston Galloway into a significant role, averaging 22.7 minutes over three games, recently scoring 19 on 6-of-10 shooting against the Houston Rockets.
The team's roster is currently at the maximum of 15 players, though Galloway, Amundson and Thomas are all on 10-day contracts, meaning a space or two could open up later this month.
In terms of these types of additions, Jackson could turn to a few sources, including recently waived point guard Nate Wolters, whom the Bucks discarded to make roster space for Kenyon Martin.
Milwaukee had a logjam at point guard, and their patience with Wolters had quickly run out as the team finds itself in the middle of the East's playoff hunt. The 23-year-old was a 2013 second-round selection who was a role player on last year's lowly Bucks team, but enjoyed moderate success for a rookie hailing from South Dakota State. He shot 44 percent and averaged 7.2 points, 3.2 assists and 2.6 boards over 22.6 minutes.
During a 24-game stretch as a starter last year, Wolters shot 47.6 percent on 7.8 attempts, equating to 8.7 points to go along with 3.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. With Calderon and Prigioni both presumably on their way out in the coming year or two, exploring options at the point would be wise.
Scouring the NBA Developmental League market, the Knicks would also be wise to consider looking into James Michael McAdoo, currently logging 33 minutes a night for the Santa Cruz Warriors.
A year removed from playing at North Carolina, the 6'9" forward is shooting 57.5 percent, putting up 17.5 points per contest. His 8.9 rebounds are actually better than the 5.9 he grabbed nightly in college.
The 22-year-old moves well, which could only help in the triangle. He's knocked down 63 percent of his shots at the rim, according to NBA.com, and though he hasn't attempted many shots from longer range, he's 7-of-12 from the right side within eight to 12 feet and has knocked down a three from the right corner.
With the roster essentially bare this summer, the team will need a reserve behind Carmelo Anthony at the 4 moving forward (assuming they plan on playing him there).
What Not to Expect
A portion of Knicks fans have been patiently awaiting the call-up of D-Leaguer Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who was drafted in the second round last season. Antetokounmpo has contributed a handful of highlight-reel performances in Westchester for the Knicks' affiliate, and he has an exciting, raw skill set that would likely benefit from NBA time on this Knicks team.
But unlike Galloway, because he was a draft pick, the Knicks can't "call up" Antetokounmpo, and would need to ink him to a standard second-round deal, comparable to Cleanthony Early's. This would effectively start his and Early's NBA service time clock simultaneously, making them both free agents in the same summer down the road.
The Knicks would probably prefer to avoid this by staggering the starts of their contracts and wait until this summer to sign Thanasis—waiting until after major free-agency moves to sign him would also keep open a sliver of cap room that wouldn't be there otherwise. But if Thanasis keeps impressing in Westchester, the Knicks could possibly bend on this desire.
Larger-profile deals, like moving Amar'e Stoudemire or Andrea Bargnani, are less likely considering the assets the Knicks would need to surrender as sweeteners—which they had to do with Shumpert last week—or the less desirable deals they'd need to take back in return.
CBS Sports' Ken Berger has reported that Calderon could be on his way out as well, as his deal is the only significant one that eats into this summer's cap space. There's value in clearing extra space, but Calderon's contract, which is effectively two years and $15 million entering next season, is fair given his skill set—even despite a down year.
What Lies Ahead
There's been plenty of talk about Jackson making a run at the Marc Gasols and Rajon Rondos of the league with the team's ample cap space this summer, but the reality of the situation is that those players are unlikely to leave their current homes to join a Knicks team fresh off of a franchise-worst campaign.
A more positive outlook for the summer is that New York will almost certainly end up with a top-three draft pick, as long as the ping pong balls bounce in their favor, likely leaving Jackson with one of Jahlil Okafor, Karl Towns or Emmanuel Mudiay as a building block for the future at a cap-friendly price.
When it comes time to purchase assets on the free-agent market, Jackson may be more likely to make a different kind of move, resisting the infatuation with less realistic max-contract names. Instead of opting for say, one $24 million player, Jackson could choose to ink one $8 million player and one $16 million player—or any combination of that allocation.
So instead of swinging and missing on a Gasol or Kevin Love type, Jackson's front office could shift its focus toward a summer of DeAndre Jordan and Paul Millsap, or Draymond Green, Reggie Jackson and Wesley Matthews. Recent championship rosters have predominantly employed multiple stars, but surrounding Anthony with multiple established talents—including a top-three pick in the draft—would be a sensible way to start off the new era.
So while Jackson will certainly have plenty of avenues to travel down this summer, the rest of the painful 2015 campaign must be weathered first. But now that most of the roster destruction is completed, all that's left is to sit back, count the ping pong balls and hope there's a handful of keepers from this year's bunch to build with.
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