Last year was the worst season in franchise history and Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com examines the Knicks’ options to improve their roster. Doolittle suggests the Knicks should target a top level free agent, such as Marc Gasol, Paul Millsap or Greg Monroe. If they are unable to land a top free agent, Doolittle suggests the team should attempt to re-sign Andrea Bargnani to a short-term contract or trade for David Lee, who is a systematic fit and has feel out of the rotation in Golden State. The Warriors already have slightly more than $77.6MM in guaranteed salary on the books for the 2015/16 season and the team will have to account for a possible maximum salary contract for Draymond Green if they want to keep the Michigan State product from leaving in free agency. Bringing Lee back to New York could be the kind of low risk-high reward transaction that could help the team quickly improve on their 17 win campaign.
Here’s more from New York:
- The Knicks’ brass are big fans of Justise Winslow, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Ford ranks Winslow as the sixth best prospect, while Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranks him as the seventh best prospect.
- Ian Begley of ESPN.com believes the Knicks should consider Winslow because of his potential to make an impact on defense. New York ranked 28th in defensive efficiency last season. Begley also notes that drafting Winslow would force Carmelo Anthony to play more minutes at the four spot, which has benefited the team in the past.
- Emmanuel Mudiay is another possibility for the Knicks and Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal profiles the 19-year-old point guard. Herring notes that teams led by Phil Jackson have never invested heavily at the point guard position, but in today’s NBA, the position is more critical than in the past.