Going into the next NBA off season, there is a team that features the following 5 players: 1) the NBA leading scorer, 2) the winner of the 6thman of the year award, 3) a member of the NBA All Defensive team, 4) one of the best young players in the league who should be fully healed from an ACL injury, 5) a player who has averaged over 20 points per game in his career but had to miss most of the season due to injury. You would assume that team was primed for great success next season right? The NY Knicks do have these 5 players, but also enough questions to answer that it’s hard to see them challenging the Miami Heat for the Eastern Conference title in 2014.
While Carmelo Anthony failed once again to make a deep playoff run, he did lead the NBA in scoring in the regular season and played very well in the final two Knicks playoff games against Indiana when the team needed him the most. Anthony played the final 12 playoff games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, so odds are he could be better next season in the playoffs should he be fully healthy.
NBA 6thman of the year JR Smith may have cost himself a small fortune in the recent NBA playoffs. Prior to Game 3 of the Knicks first round series against the Boston Celtics, JR Smith was considered to be one of the best costless agents available in a rather weak field this summer. Considering there aren’t’ many good shooting guards in the NBA, it wasn’t unreasonable to see JR Smith receiving an offer in the $10 million per season range (Orlando Magic’s SG Affalo signed a 4 year deal for $7.75 million per year last summer). However, since almost costing the Knicks the series against the Celtics with a suspension for elbowing Jason Terry, shooting very poorly through the playoffs and starting a feud between Rihanna and Knick fans on Instagram, JR Smith may almost be better off exercising his $2.9 million player option with Knicks. JR Smith does love playing for coach Woodson and has stated he enjoys living in New York City.
Tyson Chandler has overall been a great signing for the NY Knicks since arriving from the Dallas Mavericks. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the year award in 2012 and this season was on the first All NBA Defensive team. However, in the recent playoffs he looked like a shell of his former self (hopefully for Knick fans) due to a late season neck injury. Chandler will turn 31 in October, and while it was concerning to see him get dominated by Roy Hibbert, he should still be amongst the best NBA (few) legitimate centers in the last 2 years of his deal with Knicks. I don’t see them getting equal value back in a trade for him anyway, but the track record of NBA big man with health issues after 10+ seasons in the league is as dismal as Jim Carrey's recent movies.
After Carmerlo Anthony, Iman Shumpert was the best player for the Knicks in the series against the Pacers. He hit some clutch 3 pointers, and didn’t hurt his reputation as a very good perimeter defender in the series. Shumpert should be even better next season, since it has only been a full calendar year since he tore his ACL (an injury that can take up to 18 months to fully recover from). By the time his rookie contract expires with the Knicks in 2015, Shumpert could be an All Star and his skill set makes him a good compliment to Carmelo Anthony.
Since the Carmelo Anthony trade, Amare Stoudemire career with Knicks has been on a downward spiral like Lindsay Lohan’s acting prospects. This season Stoudemire accepted to come off the bench, and actually produced in the role (averaged over 14 points a game) but was a non factor in the playoffs due to another knee injury. Stoudemire will spend the second summer in a row working with Hakeem Olajuwon on his post moves, but he maybe better off working out with Charles Oakley on defense. Now that Stoudemire has only 2 years left on his contract, the Knicks may actually be able to move him but they would have to take another team's awful contract in return. As much as I like Stoudemire (the most humble/friendly sport superstar I met in person) I just don't see him ever playing well with Anthony, and his knees are in slightly better shape than Walt White's marriage to Skylar in "Breaking Bad".
So how can the Knicks improve beyond hoping the 5 players I listed above have strong seasons? They are paying Jason Kidd, Steve Novak and Marcus Camby over $10 million combined next season, and they got next to nothing from all 3 in the playoffs. It will be very tough to move them in trades unless the Knicks take back some other team's bad contracts. On the bright side, the Knicks will always be able to attract veterans willing to be paid the veteran's minimum (see Kenyon Martin in 2013) or younger players willing to take less money to play in New York and/or for coach Woodson (see Raymond Felton and JR Smith). Knicks GM Grunwald has had a knack for finding great bargains overseas (see Prigioni and Copeland last fall) and will have to continue doing so this summer. But will that be enough considering the Knicks could not make the Eastern Conference finals in a season in which Rondo, Derrick Rose and Granger were injured? than Theytbeing bettebeiBut wil