The first year of the Phil Jackson era for the New York Knicks mostly consisted of minor roster moves and losing. So much losing. Now entering the 2015-16 season with a healthy Carmelo Anthony, intriguing first-round pick Kristaps Porzingis and some useful veteran reinforcements, we’ll see if Jackson can make progress in his quest to turn the Knicks into a championship team like the ones he coached in the past.
New York Knicks 2015 roster: Improving group still a work in progress
The Knicks will be better in 2015-16, but still have a ways to go under team president Phil Jackson.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The big move of the offseason for New York was drafting 20-year-old Porzingis with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. A 7’1 Latvian big man who steadily rose up draft boards throughout the months prior to the event, Porzingis has been buzzed about since a strong showing in the Las Vegas Summer League in July. Fans initially booed the selection at the Barclays Center -- bringing back memories of fans’ distaste for another past European pick, Frederic Weis, who never played for New York after being taken in the first round in 1999 -- but Porzingis vowed to change their minds. So far, it seems like he might pull it off.
The rest of the offseason consisted of making smaller moves to build out the roster around Anthony. The Knicks aren’t tanking anymore after winning just 17 games last season, which is apparent after they signed veterans Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo to deals. The big question is whether they did enough, or just added the pieces to give them worse lottery odds.
The Knicks are in a tough spot, but there’s more hope now than a year ago. Unfortunately, that won’t be enough to do damage in the Eastern Conference.
LAST YEAR
RECORD: 17-65 (15th in Eastern Conference)
PLAYOFFS: DID NOT QUALIFY
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 97.1 (29th)
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 107.2 (28th)
ROSTER
No. | PLAYER | POS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | AGE | COLLEGE |
| 1 | Kevin Seraphin | C | 6'10 | 278 | 25 | France |
| 2 | Langston Galloway | PG | 6'2 | 200 | 23 | Saint Joseph's |
| 3 | Jose Calderon | PG | 6'3 | 200 | 34 | Spain |
| 4 | Arron Afflalo | SG | 6'5 | 215 | 29 | UCLA |
| 6 | Kristaps Porzingis | PF | 7'1 | 220 | 20 | Latvia |
| 7 | Carmelo Anthony | SF | 6'8 | 240 | 31 | Syracuse |
| 9 | Kyle O'Quinn | C | 6'10 | 250 | 25 | Norfolk State |
| 11 | Cleanthony Early | SF | 6'8 | 220 | 24 | Wichita State |
| 13 | Jerian Grant | PG | 6'5 | 205 | 22 | Notre Dame |
| 13 | Derrick Williams | PF | 6'8 | 240 | 24 | Arizona |
| 18 | Sasha Vujacic | SG | 6'7 | 193 | 31 | Slovenia |
| 21 | Lou Amundson | PF | 6'9 | 225 | 32 | UNLV |
| 42 | Robin Lopez | C | 7'0 | 255 | 27 | Stanford |
| 42 | Lance Thomas | SF | 6'8 | 225 | 27 | Duke |
Coach: Derek Fisher
Assistant coaches: Kurt Rambis, James Cleamons, Brian Keefe, Rasheed Hazzard
OFFSEASON CHANGES
IN: Robin Lopez, Kristaps Porzingis, Jerian Grant, Arron Afflalo, Derrick Williams, Kyle O'Quinn, Kevin Seraphin, Sasha Vujacic
OUT: Andrea Bargnani, Shane Larkin, Jason Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr., Quincy Acy, Alexey Shved, Cole Aldrich
Lopez, Porzingis, Williams, O'Quinn and Seraphin will help New York remake its frontcourt around Anthony on the fly. The team presumably will use 'Melo at power forward in smaller lineups often, but now they actually have some big men options that intrigue. Grant, meanwhile, could play a big role after being drafted in the first round out of Notre Dame.
DEPTH CHART
POINT GUARD | SHOOTING GUARD | SMALL FORWARD | POWER FORWARD | CENTER | |
STARTER | Jose Calderon | Arron Afflalo | Carmelo Anthony | Kristaps Porzingis | Robin Lopez |
RESERVE | Langston Galloway | Sasha Vujacic | Cleanthony Early | Derrick Williams | Kyle O'Quinn |
RESERVE | Jerian Grant | Lance Thomas | Lou Amundson | Kevin Seraphin | |
RESERVE |
THE KEY QUESTION
Do the Knicks really run the Triangle Offense?
We’ll see. Derek Fisher seemed to foist it upon his charges more as a teaching/tanking tool than as an instrument of basket-scoring last season, and he had them stray far away from it for whole portions of his games, especially later in the year.
Based on that and what we saw in the Summer League (and Fish constantly having to remind reporters that *he* is the coach) I suspect the Triangle elements will be more of a crutch or default setting than a regular look. I bet the elements will be there, but I also bet (or hope?) we won’t see the methodical churn we did last season.
-Seth Rosenthal, Posting and Toasting. Read the full Knicks preview here.
PREDICTIONS
BEST CASE: Anthony stays healthy, Porzingis makes a run at Rookie of the Year and the Knicks surprise in the East. A playoff run shows veterans that the team is making progress behind its new core and helps the team lure high-quality free agents to New York in subsequent years.
WORST CASE: Anthony's knee issues persist, Porzingis struggles to adapt to the NBA and the Knicks watch as another team (either the Nuggets or Raptors) uses their first-round pick to win the 2016 draft lottery.
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