“To tank or not to tank?

” – The Knicks Management

When your team only gets attention because of the possible return of Carmelo Anthony, you
must realize that you are doing something wrong. Well, at least that is what almost everyone else
would think, but that is not the case with the Knicks management.

Okay, they have a better roster than last year, and with good draft picks, they should be better
this season, but isn’t that what we hear every year?

At first glance, this New York Knicks team has good attacking potential, but you can’t expect
from this team with these players to be good defensively. And we all know that it is not just a
saying that defense wins games, defense wins championships, and when you look at this team,
you don’t know what to expect.

Too many guards in the Knicks team - that is something that you don’t need to be an expert to
see. The acquisition of Wayne Ellington, Elfrid Payton, and drafting RJ Barrett, another guard as
the 3rd draft pick this year, when your roster already has Dennis Smith Jr. and former number 8th
pick Frank Ntilikina, is something I don’t know how to describe and stay polite. I’ll not even
mention Reggie Bullock, who can also play both as a guard and as a forward. It is too much.
How can you expect RJ Barrett to have minutes, and to adapt to the NBA? To make rookie
mistakes until he learns?

RJ Barrett is a player of high potential, and that's nothing new, but even he knows that he will
have to be very lucky to have an important role this season. During the training camp, he said
that his focus is on the D, and we can admire him for that, but the reason is a little bit silly. To
prove himself on the court, he needs to have minutes first, and this is how he will get them. He is
going to be a solid defensive player, which will grant him a role in the team, which will then,
maybe, allow him to showcase his skills. The only positive thing is that he can play as a small
forward, which will allow him some more minutes on the court.

As for the other players in their squad, they have the 9th pick from last year Draft, Kevin Knox,
who had a good rookie season, and everyone expects him to be even better this year. He plays as
a small forward and will share minutes with others, which may cause less minutes than last
season.

Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Marcus Morris, and a veteran - Taj Gibson are good players, and
they will add experience to this young team, but will they be enough defensively? I’m not sure.

The main problem for this Knicks team, apart from having way too many guards, is the Center
position. The Knicks only have one natural player in that position, and that is Mitchell Robinson,
a 36th overall pick in 2018 NBA Draft. Yes, Julius Randle can play as a center, but you can not
expect him to perform playing against NBA big men like Gober, Davis, Gasol, Embiid, Jokic,
etc. It would just be a waste of Julius Randle's talent and abilities.
A score of just 17 wins last year must be in the past, and another similar season could be a
disaster for the organization and the Knicks fans. This team, even with these players, needs to be
better than the last season Knicks, and they need to have at least 25-30 wins. That should be their
goal, but hold on, the Knicks management is known for their questionable midseason trades.