Knicks fans are mostly apoplectic about the Knicks choosing Pingis last night with their 4th pick of the draft.
? http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/06/phil-jackson-is-becoming-chip-kelly-of.html
Stephen A Smith argues that this is a slap in the face of Melo who now has to feel like he's never going to get a shot at a championship in his career.
However, you can make the case that the whole problem with the Knicks during the losing Dolan regime has been an unwillingness to really rebuild. So even if Smith and the rest of the Pingis knockers are right that he isn''t ready to contribute much this year, it's not really about this year anyway.
This is Serby's point:
"You either trust Phil Jackson or you don’t, and right now Knicks fans don’t. The natives are understandably restless."
"He better be right about this kid, and he better be right in free agency.
? http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/06/phil-jackson-is-becoming-chip-kelly-of.html
Stephen A Smith argues that this is a slap in the face of Melo who now has to feel like he's never going to get a shot at a championship in his career.
However, you can make the case that the whole problem with the Knicks during the losing Dolan regime has been an unwillingness to really rebuild. So even if Smith and the rest of the Pingis knockers are right that he isn''t ready to contribute much this year, it's not really about this year anyway.
This is Serby's point:
"You either trust Phil Jackson or you don’t, and right now Knicks fans don’t. The natives are understandably restless."
"He better be right about this kid, and he better be right in free agency.
"He has no more margin for error."
http://nypost.com/2015/06/26/how-porzingis-call-puts-pressure-squarely-on-phil-jackson/
Impossible to argue with that.
However, Serby makes the point that this isn't going to be the year for the Knicks no matter what anyway. I don't have any expectations except that they're better than last year and show clear improvement.
"Jackson swings for the fences here and hopes and prays Porzingis can be more Pau Gasol than Darko Milicic, more Dirk Nowitzki than a Latvian Andrea Bargnani."
"Jackson — who also dealt Tim Hardaway Jr. for Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant — decided it is not necessarily better to be safe than sorry, and no one can possibly say with certainty today whether he is right or wrong, mostly because no one aside from Fran Fraschilla and NBA scouts have seen Porzingis play live."
"Knicks fans would have been happy with a single or a double, but Jackson is looking for the home run. It is called daring to be great, in the twilight of a lifetime of greatness."
"How ’bout we give him, and Poor Zingis a chance?"
"No one should have been under any illusions the Knicks were going to be much more than a 35-win team in 2015 anyway, which means this is about 2016, and always has been about 2016, when Melo turns 33."
The question might be why pay Melo if you're rebuilding? However, it's 2016 when the Knicks will have a shot at the primo free agents.
Then again, there is Grant who no one is talking about but may be the best point guard in the draft.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2014/12/4/7333437/notre-dame-jerian-grant-stats-best-guard?_ga=1.233456407.80090434.1435327193
Well, I guess I can give Phil another chance-after all there's no choice anyway. However, if this is a bust again like last year then the chances are over. Then you have the specter of $100 million dollars-on Melo and Jackson-with no return whatsoever.
P.S. I guess the plan is that 2016 will be Melo's year if they can get a great free agent a la Kevin Durant to play with him.
For this year I don't expect 50 wins or 41 wins-though the Bucks were able to break even after losing 67 games the year before-or to make the playoffs. Though I'll take the playoffs if they got it-but that's unlikely at this point. There's no magic number of wins, they just have to improve. If we see real improvement happens this year then Jackson will get back some trust.
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