1. A fear that, in the short term, a team that fancies itself a contender cannot build a good enough defense to sniff that conversation.
2. A fear that, in the long term, the Knicks have no coherent plan beyond "re-sign Carmelo Anthony to a potentially damaging max contract and pray we lure a second star in free agency after the 2015 season." It's unclear whether the Knicks have the assets to execute an alternative plan, or whether James Dolan, the team's preposterous owner, would even permit the sort of creativity required to pursue an alternate plan.
The Future
And that gets us back to the murky long-term picture. The Knicks have tethered themselves to a one-way star in Anthony. He was fantastic last season, a legitimate candidate for the no. 3 spot on any MVP ballot, but he doesn't bring the two-way impact a team really should get from a max-level player who could be earning (gulp) $29 million when he's 34. The Knicks hired Mills in part because he believes they should keep the cap picture clear for the summer of 2015, invest in player development, and move away from Grunwald's tendency to sign aging players, he says. "We believe there needs to be a heavier focus on making the players we have better, making sure they improve, and making decisions about whether we want to invest in older players — or if there are opportunities to find younger ones we can turn into impact players," Mills says. There were surely other reasons — Mills's reputation among star players (i.e., free agents), his place in the prestige circles Dolan loves (Mills is close with Magic Johnson and lots of other heavy-hitters), and perhaps even the notion that he'd be a better mentor for alleged GM-in-waiting Allan Houston. "I have a lot of respect for Allen," Mills says. "I'm not sure exactly where he's going to end up in the organization, but clearly he's going to have a big role in what we are doing here."
The Defense
A larger question mars that rosy scenario: Can Woodson build a championship-level defense with this roster? The Knicks last season ranked 17th in points allowed per possession, and outside of a stingy first dozen games or so — when the Knicks were fully healthy, Woodson points out — they were largely mediocre or worse on that end. Merely average defense is a contention disqualifier. Since 1990, only two teams have won the title while ranking outside the top 10 in points per possession, and both are anomalies: the 2000-01 Lakers and the 1994-95 Rockets. The latter required a midseason trade resuscitation (via Clyde Drexler), and the former battled through a bunch of regular-season ugliness before coalescing in the playoffs — Shaq showing up to camp fat, the first truly poisonous stage of the Shaq-Kobe feud, some roster turnover, and even a Shaq trade request.
A smart GM once told me this: What happens if you get the third-best "big three" in the league via free agency? Congratulations: You have the third-best "big three" in the league. Enjoy the first- or second-round eliminations. Look at all the free agency max-level consolation prizes that morphed into unwanted albatrosses within two years of signing their deals: Stoudemire, David Lee, Carlos Boozer, etc. The Knicks didn't have to sign Stoudemire, but Dolan won't tolerate a rebuild, and they needed something to show for two seasons of stripping everything down for LeBron. He couldn't resist trading for Anthony, even though the Knicks would have had a decent shot to sign him as a free agent after the lockout.
A more creative and free front office might have passed on Stoudemire and swallowed some tough times in order to maintain flexibility for better players — Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, James Harden, and others. A more creative and free front office might think outside the box now, at least gauging the trade market on Anthony, seeing if there might be a way to accumulate some assets or construct a different road map to contention. Anthony is effectively on an expiring contract, so finding a godfather offer wouldn't be easy. But could they open dialogue with, say, the Lakers, about an Anthony–Pau Gasol swap? The Lakers would gain control over a soon-to-be free agent in whom they reportedly have interest, and the Knicks would gain a valuable two-way big man on an expiring deal — and in line for a pay cut, instead of a pay raise, this summer. How many games would the Knicks really drop if they re-centered their offense around Chandler pick-and-rolls, 3-point shooting, and got even 50 cents on the dollar for Anthony from some mid-rung team desperate to win now?
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...nicks-potential-problems-this-year-and-beyond
2. A fear that, in the long term, the Knicks have no coherent plan beyond "re-sign Carmelo Anthony to a potentially damaging max contract and pray we lure a second star in free agency after the 2015 season." It's unclear whether the Knicks have the assets to execute an alternative plan, or whether James Dolan, the team's preposterous owner, would even permit the sort of creativity required to pursue an alternate plan.
The Future
And that gets us back to the murky long-term picture. The Knicks have tethered themselves to a one-way star in Anthony. He was fantastic last season, a legitimate candidate for the no. 3 spot on any MVP ballot, but he doesn't bring the two-way impact a team really should get from a max-level player who could be earning (gulp) $29 million when he's 34. The Knicks hired Mills in part because he believes they should keep the cap picture clear for the summer of 2015, invest in player development, and move away from Grunwald's tendency to sign aging players, he says. "We believe there needs to be a heavier focus on making the players we have better, making sure they improve, and making decisions about whether we want to invest in older players — or if there are opportunities to find younger ones we can turn into impact players," Mills says. There were surely other reasons — Mills's reputation among star players (i.e., free agents), his place in the prestige circles Dolan loves (Mills is close with Magic Johnson and lots of other heavy-hitters), and perhaps even the notion that he'd be a better mentor for alleged GM-in-waiting Allan Houston. "I have a lot of respect for Allen," Mills says. "I'm not sure exactly where he's going to end up in the organization, but clearly he's going to have a big role in what we are doing here."
The Defense
A larger question mars that rosy scenario: Can Woodson build a championship-level defense with this roster? The Knicks last season ranked 17th in points allowed per possession, and outside of a stingy first dozen games or so — when the Knicks were fully healthy, Woodson points out — they were largely mediocre or worse on that end. Merely average defense is a contention disqualifier. Since 1990, only two teams have won the title while ranking outside the top 10 in points per possession, and both are anomalies: the 2000-01 Lakers and the 1994-95 Rockets. The latter required a midseason trade resuscitation (via Clyde Drexler), and the former battled through a bunch of regular-season ugliness before coalescing in the playoffs — Shaq showing up to camp fat, the first truly poisonous stage of the Shaq-Kobe feud, some roster turnover, and even a Shaq trade request.
A smart GM once told me this: What happens if you get the third-best "big three" in the league via free agency? Congratulations: You have the third-best "big three" in the league. Enjoy the first- or second-round eliminations. Look at all the free agency max-level consolation prizes that morphed into unwanted albatrosses within two years of signing their deals: Stoudemire, David Lee, Carlos Boozer, etc. The Knicks didn't have to sign Stoudemire, but Dolan won't tolerate a rebuild, and they needed something to show for two seasons of stripping everything down for LeBron. He couldn't resist trading for Anthony, even though the Knicks would have had a decent shot to sign him as a free agent after the lockout.
A more creative and free front office might have passed on Stoudemire and swallowed some tough times in order to maintain flexibility for better players — Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, James Harden, and others. A more creative and free front office might think outside the box now, at least gauging the trade market on Anthony, seeing if there might be a way to accumulate some assets or construct a different road map to contention. Anthony is effectively on an expiring contract, so finding a godfather offer wouldn't be easy. But could they open dialogue with, say, the Lakers, about an Anthony–Pau Gasol swap? The Lakers would gain control over a soon-to-be free agent in whom they reportedly have interest, and the Knicks would gain a valuable two-way big man on an expiring deal — and in line for a pay cut, instead of a pay raise, this summer. How many games would the Knicks really drop if they re-centered their offense around Chandler pick-and-rolls, 3-point shooting, and got even 50 cents on the dollar for Anthony from some mid-rung team desperate to win now?
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...nicks-potential-problems-this-year-and-beyond
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we got younger pieces , alittle more size and a full season to utilize defensive players like shump mwp and kmart that weren't there for most of or all of last season . The lakers can offers nothing but old injured players to complement Melo 
people are really acting like the Knicks are in worse shape than the lakers ?!?!? The (old) nets already have their superstar injured and might miss games but niccas really trying to kill the Knicks ?
