Current:Home > MyKnicks see window to play for NBA title and take a swing. Risk is worth it.-LoTradeCoin
Knicks see window to play for NBA title and take a swing. Risk is worth it.
View Date:2024-12-24 10:05:04
NEW YORK – The day before the first round of Wednesday’s NBA draft and just hours before the draft began, the New York Knicks dominated the league’s headlines.
On Tuesday, the Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets, and the following day, they reached a five-year, $212 million deal with OG Anunoby, their own free agent, to remain with New York.
The opening of NBA free agency is Sunday, and the Knicks’ front office, led by former player-agent Leon Rose, sent a message: the Knicks are going for it. They see a window to play for an NBA championship, and they’re taking a big-league swing. That should be commended.
How will it work out? No one knows. That’s the beauty of it, the risk of it. Let’s see what happens. But look around at Adam Silver’s NBA. When Boston defeated Dallas for the title on June 17, it marked the sixth consecutive season with a different champion.
Championship windows open and shut quickly. The Knicks looked at their roster with Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Donte DiVincenzo and decided that acquiring Bridges and retaining Anunoby at a high price, both financially and in assets given up, was worth trying to win the franchise’s first championship since 1973.
The Knicks haven’t played in the conference finals since 2000. What do they have to lose?
Without question, the Knicks gave up plenty (four unprotected first-round draft picks plus more). But NBA teams are learning it’s possible to get those draft picks back. It won’t happen overnight, and the rebuild may be painful and eat up seasons with losses.
And it’s fair to question whether the Knicks traded too much, whether too much money is invested in defenders who don’t create enough offense and whether a better deal existed. And we know from history that the best player on a championship team is usually not a 6-2 guard. That’s not a knock on Brunson, and it’s not ignoring Steph Curry either.
But giving your team and fans a realistic chance at a championship is worth it. The draft, one way or another, provides that hope.
Dallas made moves at the trade deadline, acquiring P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, and the Mavericks reached the Finals. Look at Boston. After losing to Golden State in the 2022 Finals and falling to Miami in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals, Celtics team president Brad Stevens knew what he had wasn’t good enough. He traded for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.
With a title in their pocket, Boston is favored to win it all again next season. But too many variables, including injuries, exist. Nothing is guaranteed. The field is 6-0 against the defending champions since Golden State won back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. If the field is 7-0 a year from now, no one will be surprised.
The Celtics are outstanding, likely would have beaten a healthy Knicks team in the conference finals and are set up roster-wise to contend for the next several seasons. Regardless, the Knicks realized they need more to beat the Celtics. They made changes.
Don’t sit around and wait. You have to get tomorrow or tomorrow gets you.
veryGood! (416)
Related
- College Football Fix podcast addresses curious CFP rankings and previews Week 12
- At a Global South summit, Modi urges leaders to unite against challenges from the Israel-Hamas war
- New York lawmakers demand Rep. George Santos resign immediately
- Rory McIlroy has shot land hilariously on woman's lap at World Tour Championship
- Demure? Brain rot? Oxford announces shortlist for 2024 Word of the Year: Cast your vote
- Northwestern president says Braun’s support for players prompted school to lift ‘interim’ label
- California authorities arrest man in death of Jewish demonstrator
- Hungary qualifies for Euro 2024 with own-goal in stoppage time in match marred by violence
- Engines on 1.4 million Honda vehicles might fail, so US regulators open an investigation
- U.N. Security Council approves resolution calling for urgent humanitarian pauses in Gaza and release of hostages
Ranking
- Brian Kelly asks question we're all wondering after Alabama whips LSU, but how to answer?
- Out of control wildfires are ravaging Brazil's wildlife-rich Pantanal wetlands
- Wisconsin wildlife officials won’t seek charges against bow hunter who killed cougar
- Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Daughter Zahara Joins Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at Spelman College
- Black women notch historic Senate wins in an election year defined by potential firsts
- Were Latin musicians snubbed by the Grammys? Maybe. But they're winning in other ways
- New Subaru Forester, Lucid SUV and Toyota Camry are among vehicles on display at L.A. Auto Show
- Review: Death, duty and Diana rule ‘The Crown’ in a bleak Part 1 of its final season
Recommendation
-
Veterans Day restaurant deals 2024: More than 80 discounts, including free meals
-
81 arrested as APEC summit protest shuts down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco
-
Alex Murdaugh murder trial judge steps aside after Murdaugh asks for new trial
-
DNA testing, genetic investigations lead to identity of teen found dead near Detroit in 1996
-
Artem Chigvintsev Returns to Dancing With the Stars Ballroom Amid Nikki Garcia Divorce
-
Week 12 college football predictions: Picks for Oregon State-Washington, every Top 25 game
-
'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' is two movies in one
-
Belarus human rights activist goes on hunger strike in latest protest against Lukashenko government