Grading New York Knicks' Trade Deadline Performance

The New York Knicks' front office may have failed to change their roster before the NBA trade deadline, but they were extremely successful at creating distractions and discontent for the existing one.

The Knicks have stumbled through a miserable 7-17 stretch since the new year, with regular gut kicks from management: the shameful treatment of Charles Oakley; Phil Jackson's repeated digs at Carmelo Anthony; rumors from The Vertical that Jackson was "determined" to trade Anthony and the Knicks "would give Derrick Rose away." 

After all that drama, everyone stayed exactly where they are so they can stew in those bad feelings. No improvements for the roster or otherwise.

The best that Knicks fans can hope for is the team ends its season on a 24-0 run, just to spite management.

The only saving grace is that some of the rumored deals were better left undone. 

Anthony to Clippers Non-Trade: C

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The Daily News' Frank Isola reported Jan. 26 that the Knicks were open to trading Carmelo Anthony to the LA Clippers, even if they didn't get Blake Griffin, Chris Paul or DeAndre Jordan in return. Further, they were explicitly not interested in 36-year-old Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, according to Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News. 

The Clippers don't have many draft picks that aren't already spoken for. So the Knicks must have been open to swapping their perennial All-Star for something like J.J. Reddick, Austin Rivers and a 2019 second-round draft pick. That would be a poor trade for New York and would not necessarily make sense for the Clippers either.

"Melo for Blake" rumors stirred up less ruckus this trade season because a rule in the collective bargaining agreement prohibits teams from having two designated rookie max extensions on their roster via trade—which would have barred the Knicks from obtaining Blake Griffin without first dropping Derrick Rose.

Even if New York had done so, swapping Melo for Griffin would have been a strange fit for the Knicks and Kristaps Porzingis. It would have compounded the existing problem of having too many bigs who can't shoot the long ball and even raised the question of whether to move a certain 7'3" triple-raining shot-blocker to small forward. 

Yet, despite it all, the Clippers had still not given up hope on trades for Melo Thursday, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley, and they might revive them in the summer.

I would give the Knicks an A for making sure none of these ideas ever came to fruition, but I'm also tempted to fail them for ever entertaining such notions to begin with.

Love-Anthony Non-Trade: B+

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File under: "luck." 

Earlier this month, the Knicks reportedly approached the Cleveland Cavaliers, offering a swap for Kevin Love in exchange for Anthony, per Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Cavs weren't interested. 

Perhaps they should have been. Feb. 14, the team announced that Love had undergone knee surgery and would be sidelined for "approximately six weeks." 

Although the laser-accurate Love pass would be a boon to the Knicks' transition offense, he can't make those lobs from the bench. Had the Knicks made that trade, Love would not have been able to help the team make any miracle run at the playoffs this year.

It wasn't an idea entirely without merit, though.

Melo has Love beaten in most categories, but Love would be a significant boost in defensive rebounds (8.6 to Melo's 5.2) and that's one area where the Knicks desperately need help. Love also stretches the floor, averages 20.0 points per game and did have a fantastic clutch defensive play against Steph Curry in last season's NBA Finals.

So the Knicks score both for having a decent idea and being lucky it didn't work out. 

Rubio-Rose Non-Trade: C-

At best, trading Derrick Rose for Ricky Rubio was only a B or B-minus idea, so missing out is not a major loss.

The manner in which the deal was reportedly fumbled, though, is rather pitiful.

The Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves were in discussions to reunite Rose with Tom Thibodeau and bring Rubio to New York, but the deal was getting hung up because New York was determined to get more than just the point guard. However, ESPN.com reported shortly after the 3 p.m. trade deadline Thursday:

"At the finish line, the Knicks were prepared to drop their demand for an additional piece and trade Derrick Rose straight up for Ricky Rubio, but the Wolves balked, ESPN's Marc Stein reports."

So after fighting over the same toy all night and all day, when the Knicks finally relented and said "Okay, you can have it," the Wolves decided against it.

Barring a miraculous finish to the season, the chances of the Knicks and Rose wanting to continue their relationship after his contract ends are slim. This trade would have given the Knicks something before they lose him entirely, but it would have also tied them to Rubio's contract through 2018-19. 

The Knicks front office does win points for recognizing that a floor general who dishes more than he scores might be a better fit for this squad. Rubio is not much of a jump shooter, but he averages 8.4 assists to Rose's 4.5. The Spaniard just logged 16 during a tightly contested 116-108 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Feb. 14, including a sweet on-the-break dish from the hip to Andrew Wiggins for a Q3-ending buzzer-beater. 

Improving Defense: F

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New York's woes are mostly at the defensive end, but not a single Knicks trade rumor mentioned a defensive specialist.  

The Knicks have the worst defensive rebounding percentage in the league. Only the Brooklyn Nets have allowed more second-chance points. Yet, New York made no move to pick up a defensive rebounder.

This team switches too easily. Defensive help always comes too late or goes to the wrong place. Star perimeter shooters are left open behind the arc, and powerful finishers are given a clear lane to the bucket.

It's clear to anyone who's watched a Knicks game where the trouble is, and it's easy to look at the stats and see that New York is an embarrassing 25th in opponents' points per game.

And yet not a single nudge midseason to improve the defense.

What an inexcusable omission. 

Having Priorities Straight: F

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Once again, Phil Jackson & Co.'s top priority during trade season was not "what can we get" but "what can we get rid of." Rather than improve the defense or pick up more three-point shooters, the focus was primarily on trashing whatever Jackson doesn't like, regardless of what the team could get in return.

The fact that the Knicks were unable to trade Carmelo Anthony this year is another of Jackson's many failures related to the star forward. 

If Jackson really didn't want Melo on his team, he shouldn't have re-signed him at max and given him a no-trade clause.

If Jackson thought a little passive-aggressive tweeting could convince Melo to waive that clause, he vastly underestimated the latter's ability to ignore haters.

If Jackson wanted his team to play well, he wouldn't repeatedly inject disharmony into that squad by undermining its leader and its coaches.

Although this season has thus far not gone as planned, New York was able to attract many of the free agents it wanted last summer. However, the Knicks front office's recent mistreatment of players, current and retired, may have damaged whatever goodwill they were banking on last July.

At some point, the priority of the Knicks management must shift from ending relationships to maintaining them. If not, they'll lose their most important relationship of all: the one with the fans.

All stats are from NBA.com/stats and up-to-date entering games on Feb. 23.