The Knicks didn’t sign every role player on the planet. It only seems that way, creating a roster that may be the league’s deepest but without one proven standout.
In a historic signing flurry following Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving marching to Brooklyn, the Knicks attempted to save face with quantity over quality. They added six free agents for nearly all of their $70 million cap space in the first 20 hours of free agency.
The second wave of signings came Monday, when they inked sharpshooter Reggie Bullock at 2 a.m., then added another 3-point guy in Wayne Ellington hours later. The frenzy was capped by locking up potential starting point guard Elfrid Payton, a draft pick of Scott Perry when he was with Orlando.
If depth wins championships and not stars, the Knicks, who posted a league-worst 17-65 record last season, will dethrone the Raptors. But that’s not the way the NBA works.
“The Knicks did an excellent job of becoming a little better than mediocre,’’ one NBA scout told The Post. “They’ll be more competitive. They added some nice players, but of course you need stars.”
Stars still don’t want to play for the Knicks despite all the Steve Mills/David Fizdale rhetoric that they do and that the culture had changed. Durant, Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and Kemba Walker proved otherwise, ultimately never even meeting with Knicks brass, which needs to come up with a new narrative.
“It’s a very rude awakening for anyone who still thinks the Garden is the mecca,’’ said one NBA executive.
After barely hiding the notion of tanking last season, the new feeling is the Knicks will attempt to win this season, maybe even snap the six-year playoff drought. It’s tough for Leonard to seriously consider a 17-65 club after hoisting the Larry O’Brien championship trophy a couple of weeks ago.However, the six players the club signed have done a lot of losing in their careers. All, except Ellington, who is leaving the Pistons, played for losing teams last season. That said, most of them are considered high-character guys and the Knicks love the fact they are now deep at all positions.
Excluding Julius Randle’s three-year deal, the five others signed two-year contracts with a team option after one year. That would set them up for free agency in both 2020 and 2021.
The 2020 free-agent class is weak other than Draymond Green and the slim possibility of Anthony Davis being miserable as a Laker. Davis had wanted to be traded to the Knicks as much as the Lakers, according to a source. More likely, the Knicks would be in line for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 2021 free agency.
Making sense of this new roster is dizzying — now 14 deep not including two-way contract guys, Kadeem Allen and rookie Kris Wilkes. If the Knicks are throwing paint against the wall and see what sticks, well, they needed to quickly use the $70 million.
One of the Knicks’ offseason goals was to improve their 3-point shooting and they did so with Bullock and Ellington, who was so little thought of that when former team president Phil Jackson and Mills traded for him in the 2014 Tyson Chandler deal, he never played a game. Ellington was dealt to Sacramento one month later.
Ellington is a career 38 percent 3-point shooter. Bullock, a good defender who was part of the Lakers’ misery last season, has shot 39.2 percent in his career from 3. Last season, Fizdale’s club shot 33.9 percent from deep, third-worst in the league.
Entering free agency, the Knicks didn’t have a single power forward under contract nor a backup center to Mitchell Robinson. They signed three power forwards in Bobby Portis, who split time last season between the Bulls and Wizards, Taj Gibson, who played for Minnesota, and Randle, who played for the Pelicans.The club views all three as versatile. Each can play both power forward and center. Team brass likes their toughness, rebounding and each can score, too.
The final addition may result in the most intrigue in training camp. According to a source, Payton, Dennis Smith Jr. and Frank Ntilikina will fight for the starting point-guard position.
RJ Barrett, the new lottery pick who figured to start at shooting guard, will get a run for his money with Bullock in the mix.
The roster is deep, especially at the guard positions.
Whether it’s a 20-win lottery dreg or a 40-win eighth-seed contender may depend on the development of second-year men Kevin Knox and Robinson.
“I think they may win more toward 40 games than 20,’’ one NBA scout said.
https://nypost.com/2019/07/02/the-piece-of-hope-knicks-starless-roster-overhaul-still-provides/
2019-07-02 05:55:00Z
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