The best-laid plans were plotted months ahead, pairing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to fill the massive amount of salary cap space cleared and save the day in New York. The Knicks just didn't plan on the Brooklyn Nets being the recipients of the star power infusion.
As free agency officially kicked off Sunday night, the Knicks saw the stars they had coveted months ago _ and planned on pursuing still with fingers crossed but fading faith _ ticking off the board. Durant and Irving going to Brooklyn, Kemba Walker to Boston and even Kristaps Porzingis signing on to a max deal worth $158 million over five years with Dallas.
The Knicks came to terms instead with Julius Randle, signing the 24-year-old power forward to a three-year, $63 million deal.
Randle spent four years with the Lakers (the first year playing just one game and breaking his right tibia in the opener) before signing with the Pelicans last season and having the best season of his career. He averaged 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, expanding his game beyond the below the rim interior game he'd shown to that point. He had a two-year, $18 million deal with the Pelicans, but opted out of the second year at $9.1 million and struck pay dirt with the Knicks.
With the dreams of Durant extinguished, the Knicks front office executives, team president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry, flew to Los Angeles Sunday to meet with Randle and Reggie Bullock, hardly the sort of players the team was selling when they dealt away the franchise's centerpiece, Kristaps Porzingis, to clear the cap space for the star chase. Mills and Perry took a more cautious approach than Dolan, but certainly had something more than this in mind.
So the Knicks were left as they so often are watching and wondering why with the allure of Madison Square Garden and the marketing power of New York were not enough to convince any of the top tier free agents to take their money or even take a meeting with them.
The bold statement from Garden Chairman James Dolan months ago will resonate in the ether throughout what now appears to be another rebuilding season. "New York is the mecca of basketball," Dolan said on ESPN radio earlier this year. "We hear from people all the time, from players, representatives. It's about who wants to come. We can't respond because of the NBA rules, but that doesn't stop them from telling us, and they do. I can tell you from what we've heard, I think we're going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents."
If those words aren't the ones that resonate it will instead be Dolan emailing a fan who implored him to sell the team four years ago, "In the mean while start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks don't want you." What once sounded like a challenge now might be decent plan.
The 17-65 team had hoped to turn their fortunes in free agency, figuring that they would be willing to go to a max contract on one of the top tier players _ Leonard, Durant and Irving. After Durant announced his deal with the Nets a report surfaced on ESPN that Dolan and the Knicks were unwilling to go with a four-year, $164 million max contract for him because of uncertainty of how he would recover from his ruptured Achilles. That did not match up to the plan before free agency began.
The Knicks now have what they hope is a star in place in No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett, along with second-year players Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier. Dennis Smith Jr. came over in the Porzingis trade and Frank Ntilikina, the lottery pick from 2017 remains on the roster and just 20 years old. But the lesson the Knicks could learn from the Nets is that it wasn't about lottery picks. The Nets drafted wisely and accomplished what the Knicks have preached _ player development.
Now the Knicks will enter the second year of the David Fizdale era, the third year of the Scott Perry era and an almost countless number of years of frustration _ 20 years already since the last Finals appearance and dating all the way back to 1973 for the last time they won a title.
Perry and Mills have maintained that the $70 million of cap space wasn't just about this summer's free agent class, but maintaining financial flexibility, whether it meant carrying it over into another free agent class (although the 2020 class looks as if it will pale in comparison to this year's group) or for a trade. Until then, they wait, preaching patience once again.
