If the Knick cannot sign two max players this offseason, either because of lack of cap room or nobody wants to come here, they are in more trouble than they have been. The strategy of opeing up cap space is not working because they drafted poorly last year and have no number one pick this year. The team's effort is terribly inconsistent and they are hard to watch. They often don't play any defense at all and as a group do not shoot well enough to run D'Antoni's system. D'Antoni looks like he wants to shoot himself on the bench. I suppose if it gets really bad, he can cry on a bag of money.
For some reason, the team plays 2v5 most of the time with a huge emphasis on David Lee, a player that likely will not be here next year. His numbers are inflated because he gets the ball a lot with a bad team. He is a complimentary player on a good team. If he were better defensively, he would have more value. Meanwhile Galinari and Chandler, both controlled by Knicks for next year at the least, are not getting enough touches. Nate Robinson is a 7th man on a good team.
Hopefully, Walsh and D'Antoni will be able to recruit 2 max level players, get them in under the cap and have a few pieces around them to have a good team again. It doesn't seem like anyone is all that interested in coming to New York though.
The plan this year was to make the playoffs. Since they do not have a number one and it is believed that progress would help entice free agents, it was a sound plan. Unfortunately, the roster is not very good. They need to scrap that plan right now and see if they have anyone on the roster that they want to keep. Their only real hope, if they cannot sign 2 top free agents, is to be bad enough to have a year like the Nets are having and get a number 1-3 pick in next year's draft.
