2020 OFFSEASONOpening ThoughtsOh, the Knicks. How are they doing, here in the Summer of 2020? Well, Melo leaving the team to sign with the freaking Kings of all teams might give you a hint. The team went 31-51 in the 2019-20 season, with Derrick Rose being the leading scorer. Porzingis remains the franchise player, and has steadily improved in his five seasons in the league, despite still never having made an all-star team. David Blatt is the coach, but he might be on the chopping block. It might be time to clean house!
There are only four players signed on for next season: Porzingis, Kenneth Faried, Brandon McCoy and E.C. Matthews. I have no idea why they got Faried... McCoy is a center who was a lottery pick in 2018. While currently in that passable starter/great backup tier, he's got some legit potential. Matthews was taken in that same draft, and is a solid shooter. Coming off the books are the corpse of Joakim Noah, Moe Harkless, Kay Felder, Dion Waiters, Wesley Johnson, Festus Ezeli, Ian Mahinmi and, of course, D-Rose. I might bring a couple of those guys back on minimum contracts. Rose... has actually been pretty decent, but is plan D or E, as I want to use the $50M or so of cap space on a star or two...
After the Blazers' brief run of dominance, the Golden State Warriors are once again the team to beat, and to beat them, we'll need
STARS.
The DraftWe had the fifth pick in the draft. Outside of Nikita Kasparov, who is supposed to be a generational talent and a lock to go #1 to the Clippers, the talent pool didn't look too deep. Shopping the pick, I aggressively pursued Andrew Wiggins, because he seems like a Rudy Gay-type of player who would be great in 2K. The Wolves wouldn't bite, despite me offering basically everything except for Porzingis for him. Probably for the best, as I didn't want to become the new Billy King, and because of what happened next.
Denver, apparently looking to rebuild yet again, offered up Nikola Jokic for the 5th pick. Though it felt like cheese to do so, I had to take this offer. However, I also wanted to clear some cap, so I made it a three-team deal, sending Faried to Dallas, and Dwight (on the Mavs for some reason) back to the Nuggets. I think we might have the Gobert trade beat, folks.
Free AgencyWith about 50 mil in cap space, the first thing I did was offer Chris Paul a two year, $70M contract. A bit more than his market value at this point, given his age and injury history. But for two years, it's a fairly low-risk move, which gives us a legit big three. While he mulled that over, I went to work, adding Harrison Barnes (2 years, $16M) and Malcolm Brogdon (4 years, $25M) to unrealistic discount deals. CP3 accepted, and we had our starting five: Paul, Brogdon, Barnes, Porzingis and Jokic. Not bad!
Felder, Wes Johnson and Mahinmi re-signed for the vet minimum. To round out the roster, I added some pretty solid ring chasers in Allen Crabbe (wonder if I can trade him for Gobert again...), DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Patterson and Blazers legend Shabazz Napier.
Going into next season, analysts predict that the Warriors, 76ers, Trail Blazers, Lakers and Knicks will emerge as the top title contenders.
2020-21 NEW YORK KNICKS PG - Chris Paul - Overall 89 (+4)
SG - Malcolm Brogdon - Overall 79 (+2)
SF - Harrison Barnes - Overall 79 (+2)
PF - Kristaps Porzingis - Overall 89 (+1)
C - Nikola Jokic - Overall 88 (+1)
C Brandon McCoy - Overall 78 (+1)
G E.C. Matthews - Overall 77 (+3)
F DeMarre Carroll - Overall 76 (+3)
G/F Allen Crabbe - Overall 76 (+3)
G Kay Felder - Overall 75 (+3)
F/C Patrick Patterson - Overall 75 (+2)
F Wesley Johnson - Overall 73 (+2)
C Ian Mahinmi - Overall 72 (+2)
G Shabazz Napier - Overall 70 (+3)