We have to be realistic.
We have the draft pick but we don't know where we can pick and who that player will be. Cannot assume he will impact right away. Cannot assume he will be a good player let alone franchise talent. The draft pick is always this empty void with an infinite ceiling and it just doesn't always go that way. So we gotta be realistic there.
Cap space. We have it now. You sign free agents with cap space. Yet it's a large league. Players have desires. Other teams have desires. Cap space is also this infinite ceiling void that fans assume will fill up with the top list free agents and that those players will mesh seamlessly into the perfect team. It doesn't always go that way. So we gotta be realistic here.
Then you have the environment.
Dolan who is a disaster.
Jackson rookie GM.
Fisher rookie coach.
Franchise player Melo .....
True, we don't know exactly what place or who we will draft and if that player will be a side note to the draft like whoever was drafted before Jordan. Like Sam bowie? Biggest bust considering he was drafted before Jordan. But the other player drafted before Jordan was Olajuwon. Not bad. Won two championships as opposed to 6(jordan), but was a great player. Or we could hit it big and draft the next all time great like Jordan. It's a crap shoot, we can loose, like many teams do, but we may just win big.
It all depends on if Phil does what he was brought here to do. Pull off some Zen stuff and Build us a winner.
I've heard grumblings about how horrible he's doing of building a winner. which currently there is no defense of how horrible the Knicks are.
But if his plan was to come in like a wrecking ball(not an intended miley cirus ref) and demolish a team to start over at ground level...then He's doing an excellent job.
So it depends on your perspective of his first year. Possibly the worst team in NBA history which is no easy feat! or The best stripping to the bare bones of a salary cap straddled team, with a possible high draft pick...If we finish dead last, highest we can end up is 4th overall.a matter of fact, the most any lottery team can fall is 3 spots later. 1st to 4th, 2 to 5th...3rd to 6th etc.
So you can say lets be realistic...but the fact is you either trust PJ as a GM or you don't. You trust his judgement of talent, his system and his decisions or think he's an idiot. But making a decision about what PJ will do at this point, is still unknown. He could be the most over rated arrogant decision maker on a level to rival Dolans incompetence...or he could be a the genius we paid him to be.
But as a fan and an optimist, I'm hoping for the best. I'm hoping he picks a great player in the draft. I am hoping he will use sound financial/talent judgement when signing free agents. to not cripple us for years with avg talent and big contracts. As opposed to letting Dolan push him to spend whatever it takes to get a player Dolan likes.
WE DON'T KNOW THE FUTURE...it can be real bright or real dark...I'm gonna dream about the brightness.
and that knick fans is your 2015-16 knick lineup... we will get a high draft choice, and said player will have no say in where he goes, but top FA's do, and lets see how many come here... my feeling is we will get 1-2 mid level players, and have to vastly overpay to get em to come to the mecca...
2 things, players will play anywhere for money. Only a select few actually take good teams over money.
Second the knicks can be a great team with a the right free agents. That's the beauty of it. We have potential to root for, it's not guaranteed, but it could be done.
I really like Chicago's Butler, who played great and stepped up to fill shoes when rose was out...More than Kahwi, who is in the perfect "team" system. But that may be great for the triangle. Let's hope they make great moves as opposed to being typical Knicks fans and expecting the worst...even if it's been programmed into us by James Dolan, to expect the worst.
Let's hope Jackson, changes the Culture. With the bone head moves Dolan pushes on his previous GM's, or idiots like Isiah Thomas, loading us up with salary and mediocre talent while trading draft picks, betting big on head case players like Marbury...Finally there is a guy willing to say...No F-ing way, We do it my way or I'll walk right here right now and go GM somewhere else and You can explain why I left.
I am hoping for miracle