The Knicks Future Is… Inevitable.

The Knicks Future Is… Inevitable.

a lot of you guys have been asking me for the Nicks offseason video for a couple of weeks now ever since their season ended and I just haven’t gotten to it but today is the day and this is an incredibly intriguing off season to me because I feel like if the Knicks were fully healthy I mean like fully fully healthy Julius R all these guys they had a legit chance to make the finals this year over even this really good Boston Celtics team of course and that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to run it back next year with the same group which makes this all the more interesting first let’s talk about the free agents the first big one of course is OG anobi Who currently has a player option that he is going to decline and there’s a lot of rumors and a lot of conflicting reports out there about whether or not OG is going to return to the Knicks because one of the reasons that he was maybe a little bit unhappy in Toronto and ultimately left Toronto via trade is because he kind of has that that Jeremy Grant mindset a little bit right now where he wants to be more of an offensive option he wants more offensive responsibility he doesn’t want to just be a three and D guy that’s going to hit shots and is going to guard the problem for the Knicks is that when they got OG and and Obi and he was just the 3 and D guy that they needed they were awesome when he played and when he played like that and they’re not really going to have more offensive responsibility to offer ogn and Obi than Toronto did with Jaylen Brunson and with whether it be Randall or someone else next year he’s going to be in that role so the question for the Knicks is are they willing to pay OG and and Obi 30 plus million dollar a year to be the 3 and D guy is ogan anobi happy being the three and guy and is there going to be another team like potentially Philadelphia with a ton of cap space that just comes over the top with this crazy huge offer above what the Knicks want to pay and is it worth it to the Knicks to then go ahead and match that offer anyway and bring back OG and and Obi it is a a difficult situation for the Knicks one that I don’t think they anticipated when they traded for OG I think they were very confident that they were going to be able to resign him and that is step one of the offseason for the Knicks we’re going to talk about all this other stuff but the first priority for them is going to be bring back OG and and Obi because they were so good with him there when he was healthy and I think even if they don’t make any other adjustments to the roster I think they’re going to make adjustments but even if they didn’t if they just brought back OG and they were healthy they’re a Conference Finals to finals level team next year without OG and an Obi things get very interesting very quickly he’s one of the more intriguing free agents of the entire off season couple of other free agents for the Knicks here Alec Burks unrestricted precious aoua is a free agent as well and then Isaiah hartenstein who I don’t think at the beginning of the year was someone that people saw as a big time free but definitely is one now and another kind of decision point for the Knicks here because not only do they have to potentially pay OG at T but Isaiah hardstein might get like a pretty significant contract here and considering they’re already paying Mitchell Robinson not a ton of money given that the salary cap continues to go up but like a decent amount they could be investing 30 to 35 Plus million dollars a year in the center position between those two guys and whether they actually want to do that remains to be seen heart and sign was awesome for them awesome for them it’s a really cool one-two punch between him and Robinson they’re just going to have to decide if that is a level of investment that is worth it to them I wouldn’t be surprised at all if hartstein signs a significant deal elsewhere and is not on the Knicks next season the only other uh point to make here in terms of if they wanted to try and save some money is that uh bogdanovich who they got in the middle of the year last year uh does have a non-guaranteed contract this upcoming season so he’s on the team but they could buy out his contract and save themselves um some money and and not create cap space but lower their their luxury tax penalty uh if they chose to do so in terms of other guys contracts the rest of the way for them uh Randall and Brunson both have 2025 player options thus they are both extension eligible this offseason presumably Jaylen Brunson is going to get a a new Max extension this offseason as as this all NBA C player now one of the better guards in Eastern Conference um Randall on the other hand some of that we’re going to talk about throughout the videos you can probably tell by the thumbnail um very interesting situation there for New York I do not expect an extension to be coming his way anytime soon but of course for Brunson you would assume that he would and then outside of that Mitchell Robinson Dante D vento Josh Hart all these guys are good through the 2026 off season before they have to make any contract decisions on those guys whether or not they want to trade any of them uh is a different question entirely as it relates to Mitchell Robinson which I talked about earlier with um Isaiah hartenstein in terms of the overall level of investment they’d be willing to give up uh in order to maintain their Center rotation but that’s all the free agency stuff in terms of draft picks the Knicks have all of their own picks and they also have a handful of other teams future first round picks as well now not all of them are fantastic they have Dallas’s first this year in 2024 they have a Detroit 2025 pick next year but it’s top 13 protected it’s unlikely that one is going to be conveyed they have a 2025 Milwaukee pick the first round protections on that are really weird it they split between them and New Orleans um but again not a fantastic pick because it’s Milwaukee and then they have a 2025 Wizards pick that could be pretty good that is top 10 protected depending on where Washington ends up next season although presumably they will be inside of the top 10 so they have some future picks that they could possibly use in trades but the most valuable picks that they have are arguably still their own depending on how some of these teams finish up so now that we understand all of the assets the free agency situation with the Knicks what’s the plan here where do they go from here to me there’s a couple of things that you have to consider if you’re trying to really make a finals push next year for the Knicks outside of just the level of investment you’re willing to put into OG and and Obi hard Mitch Robinson let’s just assume that they are able to resign OG and anobi and hardenstein is gone they still have Mitchell Robinson they find some more value at the Five Spot in free agency with that collection of talent I think the upgrade is very clear that Julius Randle is the guy that they would look to move use his contract use some of these picks and upgrade that spot in the starting lineup and there’s two different directions you can go in you can add someone that is another offensive weapon alongside Jaylen Brunson because you can save say whatever you want to about Julius Randle but he is the second best offensive player on the team and so if you are to move him out you’re putting even more pressure on Brunson if you don’t bring in at least an offensive player on the level of someone like Julius Randle so that would be option one you upgrade that starting lineup with a little bit more offensive Firepower or you continue to do what the Knicks have done basically since they realized that Brunson was the guy that he was and that has continue to surrounds him with these great role player Wings Josh Hart Dante D venzo all these other guys that they’ve been able to bring in to surround Brunson and make sure that he is obviously the primary offensive guy and the guy that’s always going to get mentioned here of course is Mel Bridges the the last piece of the Villanova Infinity Gauntlet here in New York I definitely think this is a real possibility for the Knicks this off season they can use the Julius Randle contract it wouldn’t go to the Nets I wouldn’t presume there’s probably another team out there that maybe would want Julius Randall uh in a three- Team Construction and then the Knicks can give up you know a handful of draft picks obviously the Nets in the past have not been willing to trade male Bridges even for four first round picks the deadline they got him from Memphis uh the Rockets have tried to give the net some of their own picks back in exchange for Mel Bridges and they didn’t want to do that either and so I don’t think the Knicks can necessarily get all the way up to that level of value in return but if they just realize okay we really do need to start breaking some things down they don’t get the star this offseason that they really wanted to to pair alongside Bridges the Knicks could do you know some of those extra firsts they have as well as some of their own first and the contract of Randall and then you have a lineup going into next season of literally the four Villanova guys and Mitchell Robinson then you got bonovich you got all these other guys and and although Bridges clearly isn’t a number one offensive option he’s a really intriguing option alongside of what Brunson does and arguably actually I don’t think arguably just definitely is a better fit with their roster and alongside of Brunson than Julius Randall is so that would be an interesting Team Construction for sure and I think that would be option one for them is you would have OG resigned you’d have Mel Bridges you’d have D venzo Hart Brunson Mitchell Robinson those are your top six bogdanovich as well that’s a really interesting versatile group of guys that you can move in and out of the lineups depending on if dento is you know shooting well in a particular night or you need the the size and the defense of OG anobi that would be a really intriguing combination for the Knicks and honestly I hope that’s what happens because that would be so so cool continue to double down in the Villanova thing move Randall for a guy in bridges that is just as good as him arguably and maybe even a better fit as well that I think is option one especially if they’re able to resign OG if they can’t resign OG that might even make them more aggressive in trying to go out and get male Bridges because obviously they would have a significant hole in the starting lineup uh on the wing other options for them as well if they wanted to go more so in the realm of a bit more of an offensive you know player maybe a little bit more of a of a Creator than someone like mckel Bridges deont Murray would be an option for them um you know as as this this fit alongside Jaylen Brunson that can that can guard provides them more size we’ve seen that that’s not necessarily a great fit um you know in Atlanta alongside Trey young and so you could argue it’s not a great fit alongside Jaylen Brunson either but I think that’s an option they could explore the the one that people are going to continue to mention as well um is donova Mitchell but as we continue to go through some of these guards adding another guard alongside Jaylen Brunson the question continues to be how much are you really improving the team or are you just adding redundant skill sets on top of what Jaylen Brunson or is Donovan Mitchell’s really good Jaylen brunson’s also really good I think they kind of step on each other’s toes a little bit I think you could argue the same thing for Deon Murray although theoretically he provides um certainly a level of defense that that other guys don’t that you could potentially go out and get and that to me is is a big question for the Knicks is like what is a good fit alongside jayen Brunson in the back quar if you can’t find it why wouldn’t you just go out and try and get you know that Wing option we talked about whether it be Mel Bridges or if they can’t get him maybe there’s another backup option out there like like Jeremy Grant or something despite the big contract in his age maybe that’s an option that they like out there but realistically there’s a couple of paths here for the next one they try and take a swing on one of these guards Donovan Mitchell de jontay Murray I think that’s unlikely two they run the roster back next year and they say hey if we were healthy we would have been able to make this happen and then they deal with the player option stuff with Julius Randle in 2025 they give Brunson the extension they resign OG and Obi and then they have potentially Randall just walks in 2025 and then that opens up some flexibility for them underneath the second apron or what I think is the most realistic option in terms of trying to compete for a title next season for the Knicks is that male Bridge’s option it’s something I’m going to continue to keep an eye on and it really does depend on whether the Nets are willing to move on and finally give in on this and trade away Mel Bridges and it depends on the level of value the Knicks are one willing to give up for Bridges and two that they actually have available in comparison to some of these other teams that also might want Bridges should the Nets decide to move on from him but regardless this is the best spot that the New York Knicks have been to possibly contend for a title than than they arguably have been in 20 plus years like this is as good of a job as they’ve done putting together a team in two decades and they have a real chance a real opportunity to make a finals push next season and a lot of it is going to depend on what they do this offseason

The New York Knicks have big decisions to make this offseason surrounding Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, Mikal Bridges, and more.

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