The Knicks currently have the worst record in the NBA and are on their way to "earning" a top-three pick in this year's NBA Draft. However, the draft is not the primary mechanism by which Knicks President Phil Jackson plans on reversing the fortunes of a franchise that has won just one playoff series in the last 13 seasons.
Phil Jackson wants to use free agency to fix the Knicks
Jackson says the Knicks are looking to get better in the “short term” and that the plan is to “build the team with free agents.”
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Speaking to the media Thursday in Los Angeles prior to the Knicks' eventual 101-94 win over the Lakers, Jackson said that his plan for rebuilding the team centers around free agency.
“We know what the first-round pick is going to mean for us, but we also know we’re going to build our team with free agents,” he said, via ESPN. “A hundred and ninety players or so are going to be free agents. Not half the league, but like a third of the league is going to be free agents. So that’s where our priority stands.”
The Knicks are expected to have around $25 million in cap room this summer and that number could continue to grow over upcoming seasons as the league's salary cap surges in the wake of the recently-signed $24 billion TV deal. LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and Kevin Love are expected to be three of the most sought-after free agents this offseason, and other big names include Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap, Greg Monroe, Brandon Wright, Rajon Rondo and Draymond Green.
Anyone of them would immediately make the Knicks more ready to compete in a weak Eastern Conference. That, according to Jackson, seems to be the plan.
“What we’re trying to do is look at what advancement there can be in the short-term,” he said, via ESPN. “How quickly we can recover and get back in the hunt?”
Jackson added that he believes the Knicks’ style of play -- most likely he meant his beloved triangle offense -- will be a key selling point that he puts to use.
“It’s not about who is going to have to have the most money anymore,” he said. “That playing field has pretty much evened out, especially with the amount of money that’s coming into the league. It’s going to be whose attractive enough to get the people they want to play their style of play. The way they’re doing it. So establishing how you want to play basketball is important. And there’s only a few teams in this league that can say this is our definitive way that we want to play. We want to be one of those teams. So we have eyesight on who can play in our system and who wants to play.”
Jackson has been spending most of his time recently on the road scouting college players and the Knicks have reportedly attended “approximately 20 of the past 30 Kentucky practices and games.” But, as always, Jackson appears to be staking his plan on the triangle offense. Whether that bet pays off is something that only time will tell.
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