The NY Knicks have big free agent targets next summer for Carmelo Anthony in Marc Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rajon Rondo and Phil Jackson may look at trades with Amar'e Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert, Andrea Bargnani, Pablo Prigioni or Shane Larkin this season, as that would help clear space for free agency in 2015.
Jackson has already made multiple moves this summer for the Knicks and they are arguably a more talented team now than they were last season. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the team may look at trading Stoudemire this season since he has an expiring contract, while names like JR Smith, Shumpert and Prigioni have all been shopped at various times. The Knicks have a logjam at guard and that is another reason why they have looked at deals and while nothing is close to happening with those names now, they likely will come up at the trading deadline.
The Knicks won just 37 games last season, but Jackson has already put together a better roster than what the team had in 2013-14. James Dolan has said that he is staying out of the way and that is good news for Knicks fans, as Jackson should be allowed to build the team as he sees it. Jackson was signed to a five year deal and brought in his own head coach in Derek Fisher and now the team will be using the triangle offense, which Carmelo Anthony said he is excited about.
Anthony has been called out for many things in his career, but so far with Jackson he has been nothing but complimentary and the pairing of the legend and the star could be big for the Knicks. Jackson made a great deal with the Mavericks for Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler, moving two players that had not been playing up to their contracts for solid pieces. The team got a massive upgrade at point guard with Jose Calderon after the way Felton played last season, while Samuel Dalembert can help replace Chandler and Shane Larkin was another nice piece in that deal.
Jackson also added depth to the roster by bringing in some free agents for the bench and also trading Wayne Ellington and Jeremy Tyler to the Kings. Jackson got back Quincy Acy and Travis Outlaw and now Outlaw can be a backup option for Anthony to help limit his minutes and the team also drafted Cleanthony Early to help Melo as well. The Knicks have a ways to go to get back to where they were a couple years ago, but they should be considerably better than last season.
The Knicks were solid on defense, but their scoring was down overall and Smith had a terrible season and now Shumpert and Bargnani will be asked to step up and play better. The team has a tough conference with LeBron James back in Cleveland along with the Chicago Bulls and Pacers in the Central. The division should be tough too with the Raptors coming back strong, but the Knicks right now look better than the Nets and should finish ahead of them in the standings.
