This is the third of the five off-season grades we at Nets Take Over will do this off-season. The first two were of the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors. Now we take a look at our new state rivals, the New York Knicks. Below is a quick review of the grading system for you all.
Grading System:
Key Additions
The Knicks lost one of their key players in Jeremy Lin last year, a player that brought them back to respectability. For reasons that some can not understand, the Knicks allowed Lin to play the market, who eventually signed a deal with the Rockets. The Knicks decided to not offer him more money and Linsanity died then and there. As his replacement, the Knicks chose Raymond Felton, who had played on the Knicks before. Felton could be a good fit, but he is coming off a terrible season and is definitely a downgrade from Jeremy Lin. With Felton they brought in either his potential back-up or limited minute starter Jason Kidd. Despite being near retirement, Kidd still has the basketball IQ he used to brilliantly display and can still facilitate the ball. His athleticism declined, but he did not really on it as much as other players anyway. Compared to Mike Bibby and Baron Davis, its an upgrade. Bringing back Camby does wonders defensively, as they brought in a defensive-minded center to back up the Defensive Player of the Year. He won't need to produce offensively for the second-unit, which is the job of re-signed J.R. Smith and Steve Novak, both of whom were good players off the bench. Bringing in J.R.'s brother Chris... that's a little suspect, especially since Chris Smith did not even crack the starting lineup in the Summer League. Both Fields and Brewer were coming off disappointing seasons, but Fields has the higher potential for next season, so the Knicks lost out slightly on that edge. Prigioni is another aging player, a Spanish point guard who is 35 years old. That makes two of the three point guards for the Knicks on the decline of their careers, as well as one point guard who has been made fun of for being out of shape. Lin was likely the solution to their problems at the point, but instead they released him and brought in this jumble of point guards, none of whom are likely to be the answer.
The Knicks were over the salary cap, and have been since the signing of Stoudemaire and trading for Carmelo. They did not do much to help that here. They did manage to sign J.R. for cheap, at merely $2.9 million this coming year but they overpaid three-point specialist Steve Novak, giving him $11 million over the next four years. He can not do much more than shoot the ball, and even then he only gives you 20 minutes a game. Four million next year for Novak is simply a little too much. Kidd and Camby both got decent deals in terms of money, but both were given contracts far too long for players as old as them. Kidd and Camby will both be getting guaranteed payment for the next three years, at three million a year and four million a year respectively. By the time their contracts are up, Kidd will be 42 years old and Camby will be 41 years old. Financially they are not too bad, but they are locking up two very old players for another three years on consistent payment when there productivity will drop immensely. Next year they are locked in for around $73 million in guaranteed contracts, and that's only for only seven players. Financially they are not in a good situation, which is likely also why they let Lin go. Giving Lin a contract bigger than what he was receiving would be detrimental to the team financially, despite the revenue he would bring in. The same logic probably was used for the release of Fields, whom the Raptors intentionally overpaid.
The Knicks added to their bench, bringing in an excellent back-up in Camby and a still capable floor general in Kidd. J.R. Smith and Novak still can provide sparks off the bench and having Felton means more usage of Carmelo Anthony, which may or may not be a bad thing. They needed a proper facilitator, and got that in Kidd, but only for a smaller portion of the game they would have liked. they did bring in Camby, however, and added that defensive bench presence that was missed last season. The Knicks hope that with another year in the books, Carmelo and Stoudemaire have gelled and with the addition of Kidd, can work together to make the team click. The team looks poised to once again enter the playoffs, and they hope that this year they can surpass the one-win total, which has been all they have had in the last decade. But it is unlikely that they do too much more this year than they did last season.
Overall they lost in some aspects and won in others. They brought in a little depth, but at the cost of two young guards who were replaced with two elder ones. Financially, they are still in trouble and with there additions they do not look like they will rise much in the rankings. A good portion of their wins was due to the surprise arrival of the player they let loose, so it is hard to determine how well they will do next year. They are trying to do a quick-fix to their playoff woes, and its unlikely that it works.
Grade: 59 +D -F
Grading System:
It goes on a scale of 1-100.
Above a 50 means the team is taking steps in the right direction, whether it be intentionally going towards rebuilding or powering up their team and becoming contenders. A 100 means the most epic off-season ever, so nobody gets a 100.
A 50 means the team had an average off-season. They may have improved, but they hurt their flexibility, or something similar where the result balances out.
Anything lower than a 50 means that the team took steps backwards and took the wrong moves. That's bad, so they get a bad score. Simple as that.
Here's where the semi-complex part comes in. We add three new "variables" to the grades so to speak. Potential, Flexibility, and Depth. These are three main components that a team should look at in the off-season and can affect the grade of a team. Potential meaning how well the team is expected to play during the season, depth meaning how the team did in terms of depth, and flexibility meaning how the team's future looks in terms of cap space. Depending on how the respective team did, it will get a positive or negative P, F or D, with a positive letter being a good thing and a negative letter being bad.
Example: 71 +P +D -F means they had a good off-season and increased their depth and potential, but lost flexibility along the way.
Let us begin.
Above a 50 means the team is taking steps in the right direction, whether it be intentionally going towards rebuilding or powering up their team and becoming contenders. A 100 means the most epic off-season ever, so nobody gets a 100.
A 50 means the team had an average off-season. They may have improved, but they hurt their flexibility, or something similar where the result balances out.
Anything lower than a 50 means that the team took steps backwards and took the wrong moves. That's bad, so they get a bad score. Simple as that.
Here's where the semi-complex part comes in. We add three new "variables" to the grades so to speak. Potential, Flexibility, and Depth. These are three main components that a team should look at in the off-season and can affect the grade of a team. Potential meaning how well the team is expected to play during the season, depth meaning how the team did in terms of depth, and flexibility meaning how the team's future looks in terms of cap space. Depending on how the respective team did, it will get a positive or negative P, F or D, with a positive letter being a good thing and a negative letter being bad.
Example: 71 +P +D -F means they had a good off-season and increased their depth and potential, but lost flexibility along the way.
Let us begin.
Key Additions
- Jason Kidd
- Marcus Camby
- J.R Smith
- Steve Novak
- Raymond Felton
- Kurt Thomas
- Ronnie Brewer
- Pablo Prigioni
- Chris Smith
- Kurt Thomas
- Jeremy Lin
- Mike Bibby
- Landry Fields
- Baron Davis
- Jared Jeffries
- Tony Douglas
The Knicks lost one of their key players in Jeremy Lin last year, a player that brought them back to respectability. For reasons that some can not understand, the Knicks allowed Lin to play the market, who eventually signed a deal with the Rockets. The Knicks decided to not offer him more money and Linsanity died then and there. As his replacement, the Knicks chose Raymond Felton, who had played on the Knicks before. Felton could be a good fit, but he is coming off a terrible season and is definitely a downgrade from Jeremy Lin. With Felton they brought in either his potential back-up or limited minute starter Jason Kidd. Despite being near retirement, Kidd still has the basketball IQ he used to brilliantly display and can still facilitate the ball. His athleticism declined, but he did not really on it as much as other players anyway. Compared to Mike Bibby and Baron Davis, its an upgrade. Bringing back Camby does wonders defensively, as they brought in a defensive-minded center to back up the Defensive Player of the Year. He won't need to produce offensively for the second-unit, which is the job of re-signed J.R. Smith and Steve Novak, both of whom were good players off the bench. Bringing in J.R.'s brother Chris... that's a little suspect, especially since Chris Smith did not even crack the starting lineup in the Summer League. Both Fields and Brewer were coming off disappointing seasons, but Fields has the higher potential for next season, so the Knicks lost out slightly on that edge. Prigioni is another aging player, a Spanish point guard who is 35 years old. That makes two of the three point guards for the Knicks on the decline of their careers, as well as one point guard who has been made fun of for being out of shape. Lin was likely the solution to their problems at the point, but instead they released him and brought in this jumble of point guards, none of whom are likely to be the answer.
The Knicks were over the salary cap, and have been since the signing of Stoudemaire and trading for Carmelo. They did not do much to help that here. They did manage to sign J.R. for cheap, at merely $2.9 million this coming year but they overpaid three-point specialist Steve Novak, giving him $11 million over the next four years. He can not do much more than shoot the ball, and even then he only gives you 20 minutes a game. Four million next year for Novak is simply a little too much. Kidd and Camby both got decent deals in terms of money, but both were given contracts far too long for players as old as them. Kidd and Camby will both be getting guaranteed payment for the next three years, at three million a year and four million a year respectively. By the time their contracts are up, Kidd will be 42 years old and Camby will be 41 years old. Financially they are not too bad, but they are locking up two very old players for another three years on consistent payment when there productivity will drop immensely. Next year they are locked in for around $73 million in guaranteed contracts, and that's only for only seven players. Financially they are not in a good situation, which is likely also why they let Lin go. Giving Lin a contract bigger than what he was receiving would be detrimental to the team financially, despite the revenue he would bring in. The same logic probably was used for the release of Fields, whom the Raptors intentionally overpaid.
The Knicks added to their bench, bringing in an excellent back-up in Camby and a still capable floor general in Kidd. J.R. Smith and Novak still can provide sparks off the bench and having Felton means more usage of Carmelo Anthony, which may or may not be a bad thing. They needed a proper facilitator, and got that in Kidd, but only for a smaller portion of the game they would have liked. they did bring in Camby, however, and added that defensive bench presence that was missed last season. The Knicks hope that with another year in the books, Carmelo and Stoudemaire have gelled and with the addition of Kidd, can work together to make the team click. The team looks poised to once again enter the playoffs, and they hope that this year they can surpass the one-win total, which has been all they have had in the last decade. But it is unlikely that they do too much more this year than they did last season.
Overall they lost in some aspects and won in others. They brought in a little depth, but at the cost of two young guards who were replaced with two elder ones. Financially, they are still in trouble and with there additions they do not look like they will rise much in the rankings. A good portion of their wins was due to the surprise arrival of the player they let loose, so it is hard to determine how well they will do next year. They are trying to do a quick-fix to their playoff woes, and its unlikely that it works.
Grade: 59 +D -F
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