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Schmeelk: The Key Word For The Knicks In Free Agency Is Flexibility

By John Schmeelk
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Over the past couple weeks, even before the draft, I was trying to sort through free agency a million different ways to see if I could figure out how the Knicks could vault themselves back into title contention in the next couple of years.

I have bad news: They can't. I just don't see how it is possible. The only players that could do that (Marc Gasol, LeBron James, LaMarcus Aldridge, etc.) aren't coming to the Knicks. Is Carmelo Anthony, Greg Monroe and Danny Green anything better than a bottom-half playoff team? Probably not. I wish this wasn't the case, but I fear it is.

There's nothing the Knicks can do in the next two weeks to make them serious contenders next season. It just isn't possible. Kristaps Porzingis will take too long to develop into a star. Anthony is not a two-way player and is coming off knee surgery. There are far too many roster holes to fill with $27 million, which could be spent in the blink of an eye on two players that will never make an All-Star team.

Do you want the worse news? Barring Kevin Durant's arrival (not going to happen), the Knicks won't be any better than a mid seed in the Eastern Conference in 2016-17 either, and that's a best-case scenario. By then, Anthony will likely be starting to decline. Phil Jackson will likely be nearing retirement. Whomever the Knicks signed in free agency this year will be opting out of their contracts to take advantage of the sky-high salary cap. Aside from Porzingis, Jerian Grant and their 2017 first-round pick (they traded their 2016 pick), the team might once again be building a roster from scratch.

A common refrain from Knicks fans is "Melo is 31 and the future is now." The problem is that the immediate future is DOA. This season will be, at best, mediocre, a flirt with .500 and a battle for the seven or eight seed. The following year might be slightly better. How is Anthony going to react to playing his final upper-tier seasons on a mediocre team? Probably not well. He will likely ask for a trade and the Knicks will acquiesce. In the end, trading Anthony will be the best thing that could happen to him or the Knicks. They could acquire picks and assets that can help the team when Porzingis is starting to blossom.

So what does all that mean? Trying to sign pieces that fit around Anthony doesn't make a lot of sense. Signing pieces that might not be part of a meaningful future in two or three years doesn't work towards the long-term goal of winning a title. Don't worry too much about overpaying for an individual player if he is young and has upside, since the expanding cap will make that contract look reasonable in a few years.

Even if that player has an opt-out, owning his Bird rights will give the Knicks an advantage when he exercises that option in a few years. Just sign the best available players that could be good assets, and provide the team flexibility as it tries to make moves over the next couple of years to get back to relevance.

There is not going to be a magic bullet for the Knicks, like James could have been a few years ago. Anthony Davis already re-upped with the Hornets. Durant isn't coming. The Knicks need assets, good young players that can continue to improve and form a solid foundation for the franchise. These players need to be tradeable if the right situation comes around, and ideally they would not have yet reached their prime years. The Knicks might also consider not filling all their cap space. All of those things would provide FLEXIBILITY. That is the word the Knicks need to focus on in the next few years.

So who do you get?

Khris Middleton, a restricted free agent, should be the top target. He is just 22, is already improving and can probably be pried from Milwaukee if he is offered an average of $13-$14 million per year. With his upward trajectory, he has a chance to live up to that money. As a two-way player he would fit next to anyone the Knicks might want to add in the future. It's the perfect player. Unfortunately, word is out that he is very close to re-signing with the Bucks on a five-year, $70 million dollar.

Greg Monroe, despite his poor fit with Anthony defensively, is another player who makes sense. He is only 25 years old, he can post up, he passes fairly well and he rebounds the ball. He is not a good rim protector, but in two or three years he might be a very good fit next to Porzingis, who could be able to fill that role.

DeAndre Jordan is a young player right in the middle of his prime, and he would be a great asset now and in the immediate future. The $19 million he would cost might make you blink, but that number won't make him unmovable in future seasons.

Robin Lopez or Kosta Koufos are both young big men that provide a defensive presence. They make sense as a present-day fit, and for the future. Bismack Biyombo would be a really low-cost option who could grow into something.

Danny Green is young enough to be effective for a while. DeMarre Carroll falls into that category. So does Tobias Harris. Al-Farouq Aminu would have been in this group if he hadn't already agreed to a deal with Portland. Patrick Beverley would work too, as long as the team has a way to move Jose Calderon.

Guys like Wes Matthews and Arron Afflalo are nothing but short-term Band-Aids.

Admittedly, I don't expect the Knicks to look at things this way, and as a front office it would be very hard for them to simply accept losing for two years with so much cap space available. I get it.

But in the end, getting to .500 isn't the goal. Getting to a championship-level team is the goal. I think the above plan is the best way to do it, even if it takes three or four years. This isn't the ideal plan. It isn't the perfect plan. But it might be the best one that the Knicks have in front of them. We'll see what the Knicks do in the coming days and hours.

You can follow me on Twitter @Schmeelk for everything Knicks, the NBA, the Giants and the world of sports.  

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