Thursday night,
June 22nd, is the 2017 NBA Draft. There is a lot of action and
speculation leading up to draft night. Boston and Philadelphia swapped picks,
with Boston getting a future 1st round pick. The Lakers traded
D’Angello Russell and Timofy Mozgov to the Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27th
pick. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Jimmy Butler and Paul George playing
anywhere but their homecourt rumors are still flying. Up until today, there was
talk of the Knicks potentially moving up from the 8th pick to to try
and take Kansas star Josh Jackson. Something else happened today involving the
Knicks that really bothers me. If you are saying to yourself, “Kristaps Porzingas
trade rumors,” you are correct.
This infuriates me
on so many different levels. On Draft Day 2 years ago, the Knicks had the 4th
overall pick. They chose Kristaps. As everyone remembers, we had that 12 year
old boy crying in the stands because he didn’t want him on the team. A 19 year
old lanky kid from Latvia that no one knew anything about. That whole thought
process then went away when KP’s rookie season was much better than
anticipated. He was even runner up in the ROY voting behind Karl-Anthony Towns.
My first thought was “Phil Jackson got something right for once.” Last season
arrived and even though there was a small dip in production, there was still
those flashes of brilliance that he showed the previous season.
After this past
season is where the real dysfunction came with KP and the team. Every single
member of the team, even Melo, showed up for the exit meeting, except for
Porzingas. When I first heard this news, I was thinking maybe he thought “Exit
Meeting” means you exit after meeting the season's end. Then he says
he missed it intentionally due to the dysfunction of the Knicks. That’s when I
really started scratching my head here. I said to myself, “Does he know what
Phil Jackson did to Melo and he still showed up??” Who the hell is he to miss
his exit meeting? He is no Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Kobe Bryant. He
has played decently for 2 years on a horrible Knicks team. Phil Jackson was
trying to build around you! He was trying to trade Melo to put the proper
pieces around you!
Granted that Phil
Jackson has not been anything close to Executive of the Year, but he had made it
clear that you were untouchable. . . until today. As I was getting on the train
to go to work this morning, I heard the rumor that teams have inquired about
Kristaps Porzingas. I said to myself “Ok that’s normal, but there is no way
Phil screws this one up.” They already have Porzingas and Willy Hernangomez to
build around. As the day moved along, I heard more about the rumors and if the
right deal presented itself to the Knicks for a trade they would consider it.
Honestly, Kristaps
Porzingas is the one wrong here. He should have showed up to the exit meeting
regardless of what he thought of the Knicks structure and dysfunction. This is
what erked me. He put himself on the map by pulling this stunt. His brother,
who works for his agent's company, came out and said that he wants to win and in
New York. I have not heard from KP since the season ended. If he wants to play
in New York and win here, he has understand that unless you have LeBron James
on your team, things do not turn around overnight. If this attitude continues,
no one will want to play with him. He
had another building block in Hernangomez, but he has all but flushed that
away. Intially, the Knicks were looking at French point guard Frank Ntilikina, but
are now looking at Arizona power forward, Lauri Markkanen(obvious replacement
for KP).
If the Knicks are
wise enough, they gauge the offers from teams but they do not actually pull off a trade. If anything, they use this a punishment for Kristaps for blowing the
exit meeting and saying what he said. What they should do attempt to do is pull
a trade with the Celtics for the number 3 pick. Maybe Melo, Hernangomez and the
Number 8 pick for the Jae Crowder and the Number 3 pick? If there is a trade
involving the Knicks, it will involve the other star forward on the team.
Phil, I really hope you are doing this as a scare tactic. Kris, I hope you have
learned your lesson and should apologize and make up with the team, ASAP!
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