New York Knickerbockers

[Guiness]

Steve is very lucky he didnt take the knicks job

 

Kerr was offered 13.2M for 3 years while Golden State later went with an offer of 22M for 5 years. The one mistake the Knicks did was they initially offered him the 13.2M, they were doing a see and wait approach if Steve was going to bite. Golden State then entered after a 1 week with the 22M offer so that made up Kerr's mind. The warriors actually were interested in Stan Van Gundy but when Stan signed with Detroit. The Warriors decided to go with Steve. If the Knicks offered Steve straight up the 22M which they could afford by the way, he would have ended up coaching the Knicks. It is what it is, James Dolan putting his damn hands on the cookie jar.

http://nypost.com/2014/05/16/whyd-the-knicks-miss-out-on-steve-kerr-jax-was-cheap/

[Guiness]

Carmelo made the top 100 of

 

ESPN NBA All Time Ranking

 

59: Carmelo Anthony

Position
Small forward

Teams
Denver Nuggets (2003-2011), New York Knicks (2011-present)

Honors
Nine-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection, NBA scoring champion (2012-13)

Championships
None

Career stats
25.0 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.1 APG, .454 FG%

Nickname
Melo

Did you know?
Of the 13 players in NBA history to average at least 25 points for their career, Anthony's three playoff series wins are tied with George Gervin for the fewest. -- ESPN Stats & Info

 

 

- If he gets to win a championship his ranking might go up

[meloA7]

ako

[*kalel*]

i am not a fan of the triangle....obviously me binabagayan to... volume shooter si melo, kailangan nya ng buwelo na hawaak ang bola... kaya di baggy sa kanya triangle

[Guiness]

Knicks giving Jimmer Fredette an NBA shot

The Knicks will finally give Jimmer Fredette a chance.

After going silent at the trade deadline, the Knicks will fill their open roster spot by signing the upstate Glens Falls sharpshooter to a 10-day contract.

 

Fredette is likely to sign Monday and be ready for that night’s home game against the Raptors.

Fredette, who has been playing for the D-League Westchester Knicks since November, would make two more appearances for that club, rather than being available for the Knicks’ games Friday in Brooklyn and Saturday in Minnesota.

ESPN.com first reported the agreement.

 

A former lottery pick, Fredette has played on five NBA teams, including a brief November stay with the Pelicans. The Knicks need a boost offensively from the backcourt, but league scouts are forever concerned with his defense and leadership capabilities.

 

“I feel I’ve definitely proven I can still play and provide something for a team out there,’’ Fredette told The Post in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “I’ve shown that. And I’m definitely confident if I do get an opportunity, I’ll be able to produce. The D-League has helped me to get better and develop as a basketball player. I hope there’ll be a team that takes notice and gives me a chance.’’

Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis said Thursday they would probably take a look at a D-League player and see how he fits in at practice — even if he didn’t play.

 

“There’s players we‘ve kept our eye on we might bring in,” Rambis said. “We’re looking at guys who can possibly come in and help us out or take a better look at in practice and see how they fit in with everybody else — whether they play or not.’’

Fredette won the MVP of last weekend’s D-League All-Star Game with 35 points, eight assists and six rebounds. In 28 games for Westchester, he’s averaging 22.6 points and 4.8 assists and shooting 48 percent (42 percent from 3-point range). He’s seen a lot of friends and family descend on the Westchester County Center for games.

[Guiness]

New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony Searching for Answers

 

Carmelo Anthony acknowledged that he’s stuck in a rough patch. He’s looking to his peers, including NBA superstars LeBron James and Chris Paul, for answers on how to get out of it.

When the New York Knicks traded to acquire perennial All-Star and revered scorer Carmelo Anthony, the general population believed that the sky was the limit. He and Amar’e Stoudemire were expected to save the organization, and the arrival of NBA champion Tyson Chandler only fueled the hype.

 

Five years later, Anthony is closing in on a third consecutive season without a postseason appearance.

Anthony is averaging a career-best 4.2 assists per game, and has committed to playing at a high level defensively. Unfortunately, his selfless and team-oriented approach hasn’t translated to many wins, as New York trails the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference by 6.5 games.

 

According to Frank Isola of The New York Daily News, Anthony acknowledged that he’s not necessarily envious of friends LeBron James and Chris Paul, but is seeking answer for how he can reach their level of success.

The question is, will Anthony find answers soon enough that he can save the Knicks in 2015-16?

 

“I don’t think envy is kind of the right word,” Anthony said Friday morning. “I do look at my peers and say, ‘Damn, what am I doing wrong? I should be there.’ There was one point in time where they were looking at me like that. Made (the playoffs) 10, 11 years straight.

“Right now it’s kind of a rough patch for me. I’m trying to figure out a way to get out of it.”

 

New York is 25-37 with 20 games remaining on the schedule and 6.5 games separating it from the No. 8 seed. Since Anthony led the team to an improbable record of 22-22, it’s lost 15 of its past 18 games and fallen further and further out of the postseason picture.

One simply can’t help but wonder when Anthony and the Knicks will find the answers they’re searching for.

[Guiness]

Detroit Pistons tap out early in 103-89 submission to New York Knicks

 

NEW YORK -- Marcus Morris sat at his locker with a towel covering his head. Stan Van Gundy blasted the Detroit Pistons for a lethargic effort with words like "ridiculous," "embarrassing" and "terrible."

On a night when two mixed martial arts submissions grabbed sports headlines, the Pistons tapped out much earlier Saturday evening.

Some losses are excusable.

Some, like the Pistons' 102-89 loss to the New York Knicks, are more the type a team reflects on ruefully when it finishes just out of the NBA playoffs.

 

That's where the Pistons (31-31) would be if the season ended today, though they have 20 games to do something about it.

A big one of those is tonight against Portland, followed by a critical four-game road trip, after the Pistons slipped percentage points behind the Chicago Bulls for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

 

Seasons ending in mid-April are the norm for the Pistons this decade and if they continue to play like they did here, they will make it seven in a row.

 

"It's a tough loss for us right now. We needed this one," said Steve Blake, one of few Pistons to play well with a season-high 13 points. "We didn't bring the energy that we needed. We needed the 100-percent focus to get this win but it didn't happen. We've got to move on to the next one. We've got a big game tomorrow. We've got to get back on track."

The Knicks (26-38) proved that even an offense perceived as archaic, like the triangle, can shred a defense when executed ideally.

That chore is a lot easier when a team defends like the Pistons, who have allowed their last two opponents to shoot better than 50 percent from the field, including a Knicks team missing rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis with a leg contusion.

No matter. The Knicks ran Arron Afflalo into the post against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a physical mismatch, then Robin Lopez against Andre Drummond, and finally their centerpiece Carmelo Anthony against whoever was available to try.

All three had 20-plus-point nights.

 

"They dominated us. Our starters on the perimeter were obviously horrendous," Van Gundy said.

The players he referred to were point guard Reggie Jackson, shooting guard Caldwell-Pope and small forward Morris, who were a combined 8 of 37 from the field and 1 of 13 on 3-pointers.

 

It started with ex-Piston Afflalo cooking Caldwell-Pope on early post moves.

"I was shooting a lot of shots close to the basket," Afflalo said. "That is my bread and butter. Whenever I can get good looks and have a good rhythm I will be good."

Morris, the one player who might have done something about the defensive malaise, particularly against Anthony, got two quick fouls early in both halves and was ineffective and limited.

New York's 20-point scorers were a combined 29 of 43 on field goals.

"I think they were trying to get the ball in the sweet spot of the triangle," Jackson said. "So I think they did a good job of that. But we talked about all the concepts they had this morning, we just didn't execute them at all. And then even when we started to do it later in the second half, they were already hot, so it was difficult to slow them down."

 

Tobias Harris credited the Knicks for their post and isolation moves, which was appropriate. The Knicks passed efficiently but not particularly creatively. They only assisted 19 of 42 field goals, though that was a better percentage than Detroit's 13 assists on 36 field goals in a ball-movement regression for the visitors.

Morris' foul trouble left Anthony to target Harris, which he did with efficient execution.

"In the triangle offense, they get into the post and they've got good iso players so they went to their stuff," Harris said. "Obviously, in the beginning, Afflalo had it going a little bit and they kept feeding him, and 'Melo got it going a little bit and they got it to him. So yeah, they did a pretty good job of that."

The Pistons shot 39.1 percent to New York's 53.2.

That offensive deficiency could have been a contributing factor to the poor defense, Harris acknowledged.

"It shouldn't be but the nature of the game now, yeah," Harris said. "But as a team that can't be our mindset that we're going to miss some shots and now we're going to give a half-effort on defense. We still have to come back on defense and play as hard as we can."

Shot selection also was a problem.

The Pistons were 6 of 26 on 3-pointers, several of them ill-advised either because of location or shot-clock situation.

Asked about that, a wry smile creased the corner of Jackson's mouth.

"We had some quick ones, some tough ones, that didn't go in," he said. "Some poor shots -- we felt like we took quite a few on our attempts. We really just felt like there was a lid on the basket tonight and things like that. But you definitely have to defend to give yourself a chance."

 

For all their offensive woes, there is little question the Pistons' bigger problem was defense.

The triangle may be outdated and the New York media may run a daily slash-and-burn attack on Knicks president Phil Jackson for still adhering to it and building a team around it, but with the right offensive threats and execution, it can work.

 

"It's a lot of just reads, a read-and-react kind of offense to an extent," Blake said. "But there's ways to manipulate it to get the ball to the guys you want to have it. Obviously Kobe (Bryant) was the master at that. You could see the Knicks are starting to figure that out and they did that well tonight and they took advantage of it."

 

Reggie Bullock only recently has become part of the Pistons' rotation after spending most of the season buried in the bench.

Bullock easily grasped the problems on a night the bench outplayed the starters at three of five positions. Only Andre Drummond (21 points, 16 rebounds) and Harris (18 points, eight rebounds) were productive among the starters, though they had plenty of defensive problems.

 

"It's pretty much everybody on their team was trying to post on our smaller guards," Bullock said. "The matchups that they saw, they just kept milking them. They just kept making shots. We weren't tough enough defensively and they kept knocking shots down over us."

 

The closest the Pistons got in the second half was 81-77 after a Bullock 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.

Kyle O'Quinn made a 20-foot jumper, then Caldwell-Pope lost the ball on a driving layup attempt and it sailed over the rim, then five consecutive points by Afflalo pushed the lead back to 88-77.

"We got it to six and then Pope lost the ball going for the layup," Van Gundy said. "We got a few stops and got out in transition but that was it. We made one run in the entire game. I'm not impressed."

[Guiness]

What's Phil Jackson's free agent strategy and can Melo help?

 

Will Carmelo Anthony's presence help the Knicks in free agency?

It should. Having a star player on hand to push a franchise's selling points can only enhance the pitch.

But the most important guy in the room for the Knicks this summer will be Phil Jackson. It will ultimately be on Jackson to convince an elite free agent to come to New York. And it won't be an easy sell.

 

The Knicks will likely miss the playoffs this season, which would mark the third straight year without a playoff game for the franchise. Entering Tuesday's game against the Denver Nuggets, the Knicks are 12 games under .500. That makes them a combined 60 games under .500 since the beginning of the 2014-15 season.

So Jackson will be asking 2016 free agents to take a leap of faith -- and a pay cut -- to join him in New York.

How will the Zen Master make his pitch?

 

 

If last summer is any indication, Jackson will try to accomplish the following:

1. Get to know the player a bit by discussing some off-court topics

2. Reveal some details about his vision for the Knicks

3. Get into a conversation on the club's triangle offense.

That's how it went for Greg Monroe, DeAndre Jordan and Robin Lopez in July.

"For the longest time, nothing really basketball-related was discussed," Lopez said of his 2015 dinner meeting with Jackson and the Knicks in Los Angeles. "We talked a little bit about culture. He discussed some books he'd been reading, I talked about some movies I'd watched. ... It was nice and it was a little intimidating, because it was Phil Jackson."

The conversation with Lopez then turned to the triangle offense. Jackson, GM Steve Mills and then-head coach Derek Fisher showed Lopez about 10-15 slides of the offense.

"He knew I had an idea of what to expect because I played against the Lakers when I was in Phoenix," Lopez said. "I think this was just to kind of give me a refresher."

 

"Phil was great, it was one of my best meetings. He's such a smart man, such a deep thinker, that you want to be a part of that. He's won, he proven it.... He made it tough to say no."

DeAndre Jordan on Phil Jackson

 

Jordan received a similar pitch during his meeting with the Knicks.

"They showed me some things, how I'd fit in in that offense and what I would do to excel as a player and what we'd do to excel as a team," he said. "The message [from Jackson] was just for me to be an all-around player and improve my game as much as I could."

Jordan came away impressed with the presentation.

"Phil was great; it was one of my best meetings," he said. "He's such a smart man, such a deep thinker, that you want to be a part of that. He's won, he proven it. ... He made it tough to say no."

But he did. So did Monroe and Aldridge and any other big names in the free agent class of 2015.

Jackson landed Lopez, Arron Afflalo, Derrick Williams, Kyle O'Quinn and Kevin Seraphin in free agency last summer. At the time, it was considered a solid but unspectacular haul.

Jackson's biggest addition came in late June, of course, when he selected Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick of the draft.

The Knicks president will have no such luxury in his second true foray into free agency. The club is sending its first-round pick to Toronto to complete the 2013 Andrea Bargnani trade.

So this summer's free agency is a pivotal one for Jackson.

 

 

The Knicks will have at least $18 million to spend this offseason on a class that includes Kevin Durant and Al Horford. They will have to spend wisely, because other teams will have more space to use thanks to the rising salary cap.

The big question is whether the Knicks, under Jackson, have a chance at landing one of the elite players on the market.

Along those lines, one name to keep in mind this summer is Dwight Howard.

Some of Howard's friends have let it be known recently that the center would be interested in coming to New York as a free agent if he opts out of his current contract, league sources say.

Whether Jackson and the Knicks would be interested in a player like Howard is another question entirely.

Whoever the Knicks decide to meet with this summer shouldn't expect any theatrics from Jackson.

"He was real laid back," Monroe said of Jackson during his Washington, D.C., meeting with the Knicks. "He was just talking to me as a person, mostly. It was pretty normal. He was just trying to get to know me a little bit. He told me some stuff about him, how he got to this point."

Jackson arrived at this point, of course, by winning 11 titles as an NBA head coach. If he wants to guide the Knicks in that direction, he'll have to make an impact this summer in free agency.

As nice as it is to have Carmelo Anthony at the table, it will ultimately be up to Jackson to attract some talent to New York.

[Guiness]

Phil Jackson may suggest only coaching Knicks home games next season, per report

 

There has reportedly been "talk" of a radical scenario where Jackson is on the bench at home and someone else (likely Kurt Rambis) coaches the team on the road.

 

The New York Knicks are expected to be in the market for a new head coach in the offseason, although the possibility remains that Knicks president Phil Jackson tabs current interim Kurt Rambis to be the long-term coach. However, a more radical option may be on the table. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reports that there's "talk" of a scenario that involves Jackson coaching home games and Rambis coaching road games next season.

Jackson reportedly suggested this same setup when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers, but late owner Jerry Buss "flatly rejected" the idea. Would Knicks owner James Dolan be willing to accept something like this as a compromise to get one of the best coaches ever on the sidelines, even if it's for only half the games? Jackson and Rambis share many of the same philosophies, but having two coaches would be a bit of a circus for this rebuilding team.

Going the traditional route would be better and remains the more likely choice, and Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton will be one of the hottest names on the coaching market. Walton, who played for Jackson in Los Angeles, "will get a long look" this summer, but there will be competition for his services and there are still no guarantees he leaves his cushy gig by the Bay right away.

And while Walton seems like a much safer bet than Derek Fisher was, Jackson could have some apprehension when it comes to hiring another one of his recent former players given how Fisher's tenure played out. Jackson wanted to give Fisher more autonomy to make his own decisions, but that led to a communication breakdown between the two men:

 

Jackson's first Knicks head coach, Derek Fisher, was supposed to be the vessel who articulated Jackson's vision to the Knicks' players.

Instead, Fisher was more like a glass wall. Jackson could see the team, but nothing was getting through.

Jackson would text Fisher observations and suggestions, and Fisher would respond in one-word answers. When the Knicks held a coaches' retreat at The Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey at the end of summer, a meeting that sources said was meant for bonding and philosophical discussion about the team, Fisher was unable to attend.

That freedom Jackson gave Fisher may also have played a role in the secret getaway to Los Angeles in early October that turned disastrous due to the Matt Barnes incident. Jackson has admitted fault in not having enough communication with Fisher, and he's made it a point to be more involved with Rambis, a longtime confidant and associate head coach.

It's that trusting relationship that could lead to Rambis staying on for the long-term despite a horrible head coaching record, but if Jackson prefers to take matters into his own hands, perhaps he does indeed try to convince Dolan to go along with the dual head coaching scenario.

And if that failed miserably? There's always that opt-out clause in Jackson's contract after next season that could give him an escape to either Los Angeles with fiancée Jeanie Buss or even retirement. While returning to the sidelines or the Lakers seems unlikely at this point, nothing can ever be ruled out.

[Guiness]

Knicks introduce Jeff Hornacek as head coach

 

The NBA's New York Knicks announced Thursday that Jeff Hornacek would take over as head coach.

The former Cyclone stand out had previous assistant coaching and head coaching experience. He was an assistant for the Utah Jazz from 2011-2013.

Hornacek played for the Jazz from 1994-2000. His numbered was later retired by the team.

 

After his assistant coaching stint, the Phoenix Suns hired him as their head coach in 2013. He was the runner-up in the Coach of the Year voting in his first year, losing to longtime Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Hornacek was fired as the Suns coach February 1, 2016.

On Friday, the Knicks franchise officially introduced the former Iowa State guard as its coach.

 

 

Hornacek played for the Cyclones from 1981-1986. He redshirted his first season at Iowa State, but eventually he became an All Big 8 player.

He was drafted with the 46 overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 1986 NBA Draft.

[Guiness]

Can Jeff Hornacek help the Knicks in free agency?

 

 

There’s an Eastern Conference guard out there who was linked to the New York Knicks this season. When the idea of coming to New York was discussed with this guard, he made it clear that he wasn’t interested in playing in the club’s triangle offense, according to sources.

 

"He didn’t think it would work for him," one source said.

That could be dismissed as one player’s opinion, of course. But he’s probably not the only one who feels this way about the triangle.

Some in the Knicks' organization feared that the negative perception of their offense hurt them in free agency.

Does that perception change now that Jeff Hornacek is here?

"He’s got a creative offensive mind," one Eastern Conference executive said. "And he’s a good communicator. He should help them."

Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect Hornacek to cure all the perception issues surrounding the Knicks. He can’t change the fact that the club is coming off of a 32-win season.

But Hornacek did say a few things during his introductory interviews that might alter the way players think about the Knicks’ offense:

• He plans to use the triangle offense as a way to space his team in half-court sets, just as other coaches have. But he will blend elements of the offense he ran with the Suns into his approach with the Knicks.

• He might tweak the offense by implementing more pick-and-roll and 3-point shooting.

• Ideally, he’d like to increase the Knicks’ overall pace.

• He has also received assurances from team president Phil Jackson that he can use any of the plays he ran in Phoenix out of the triangle alignment.

One of the most important things Hornacek said Friday, though, wasn’t about the intricacies of the triangle or how he might tweak it.

It was about how he plans to talk to his players about the offense. He discussed his approach in an interview on ESPN 98.7 FM’s "The Michael Kay Show":

 

"I think it’s just maybe a different way to explain [it] to them and maybe show them a little bit more how it isn’t very different than other setups," Hornacek said. "That’s part of the plan I have to come here; when I meet with the players, I’m going to show [them] all this stuff and explain it the way I look at it and how [the triangle] isn’t a lot different, and that we can do a lot of different things.

"There are still a lot of aspects of the triangle that you’re going to use. It’s great to use actually. It’s really not that complicated, I don’t believe. And I think the way we explain to the players, they’ll understand that and -- mixed in with a lot of the stuff [we] did with Phoenix -- I think they’ll enjoy it."

 

'Enjoy' probably isn’t a word that some of the Knicks would use to describe their experience on offense over the past two seasons. The club ranked in the bottom five in points per possession during that span and won a total of 49 games. According to sources with knowledge of the dynamic, several Knicks aren’t enamored with the triangle and are excited about the prospect of Hornacek tweaking the offense.

 

Both Carmelo Anthony and Jose Calderon echoed those thoughts in recent interviews. (It's worth noting that the triangle remains a focus for the Knicks during their workouts with college players.)

 

None of this is to suggest that the triangle offense can’t work in today’s NBA. The biggest issue for the Knicks over the past two years has been a talent gap, not a faulty offensive approach.

 

But there was a negative perception of the triangle around the NBA last season -- both inside the Knicks’ locker room and in the minds of other players. That’s a problem, and it’s one Jeff Hornacek might be able to fix.

[Mad Damian]

Jeff made a decision he's going to regret taking the Knicks job.

[Guiness]

A Rose in the Garden? Knicks reportedly talking Derrick Rose trade

By Dan Devine June 17, 2016 5:29 PM Ball Don't Lie

 

The point guard position was a bit of a weak spot for the New York Knicks last season. Well, that'd be a charitable way to put it, anyway. Another would be: the Knicks' point guards got totally and completely outproduced on a nightly basis last season, with starter Jose Calderon unable to break down opponents off the dribble or stay in front of them on defense, and young backups Langston Galloway and Jerian Grant unable to consistently hit jumpers or facilitate in the Knicks' triangle half-court offense. The Knicks added former Memphis and Philadelphia live wire Tony Wroten last year, but he'll be coming off a torn ACL and has yet to establish himself as a consistent top-flight answer.

 

 

Despite Chauncey Billups' insistence that no top triggerman will want to work in the triangle, and president of basketball operations Phil Jackson's insistence that he won't chase one, with new head coach Jeff Hornacek looking at add some punch to an attack that ranked 26th among 30 NBA teams in points scored per possession last season, New York finds itself in need of a point guard.

"If we can find a middle guy to bridge [Calderon and Grant], it would be good," Hornacek said earlier this month, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. "There’s a lot of guys out there. I’m sure Phil and Steve [Mills, general manager] are looking at everything.’’

It appears some in the organization would like to start with perhaps the most famous name that might be available, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York:

Begley's report comes on the heels of a note from Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that claimed the Bulls are "actively open to moving Rose" this summer:The Bulls' interest in trading Rose, 27, is unknown at this point. The Knicks do not have many strong trade chips outside of Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis and future first-round draft picks.The Knicks have had internal discussions recently about trading for Rose, league sources tell ESPN.The New York Knicks are looking to upgrade their backcourt, and one player on their radar is Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose.

Rose is entering the final year of his deal and has commented numerous times on the ballooning salary cap and his next contract, much to the dismay of the Bulls front office and a large number of Bulls fans. Add that to an on-again, off-again intensity and there is a sense that both sides would welcome a change, especially with Rose entering a free agent year.

At this point, it’s unclear which teams (if anyone) has made a real offer for Rose, especially given his $21.3 million salary. But it was said a few times that the name being talked about most among teams and scouts in Italy was not [All-Star Jimmy] Butler, but rather Rose and there is a sense that a team that misses on a starting-caliber point guard in free agency may turn to the Bulls.

It also comes after the Bulls on Friday made a trade with the Detroit Pistons, adding to their backcourt mix by picking up young guard Spencer Dinwiddie in exchange for young big man Cameron Bairstow.

On one hand, giving up anything of value for to pay $21.3 million for a player who has missed 196 games over the last four years due to various injuries, who averaged a relatively pedestrian 16.4 points and 4.7 assists in 31.8 minutes per game, who shot under 43 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3-point range, who didn't exactly cover himself in glory on the defensive end, and in whose minutes Chicago generally performed worse than when he was on the bench, doesn't seem to make very much sense. On the other, "relatively pedestrian" probably still would've made Rose the Knicks' best on-ball option last season, and likely by leaps and bounds.

With only one year left on his deal, you can see the argument for taking a flyer on the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player as a means of bridging the gap to the summer of 2017, when a Knicks club flush with cap space — especially in an environment where the cap just seems set to keep going up and up over the next couple of seasons — might be able to go big-game hunting for the long-hoped-for point guard of the future to pair with rising star Kristaps Porzingis. With the Memphis Grizzlies' Mike Conley standing as the pick of the free-agent litter and relatively few appealing options beneath him — it seems extraordinarily unlikely that Jeremy Lin's coming back for Round 2 in the Garden; I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Deron Williams wants no part of a return to Gotham; a Rajon Rondo marriage doesn't seem like a "good look" for either party — the Knicks' best chance at landing a better present-day option without sacrificing future flexibility might be to pursue a high-priced veteran on an expiring contract. Rose is just that.

From the Bulls' perspective, moving on from Rose would mean closing the book on an era that produced some of the best regular-season basketball in the franchise's post-Michael Jordan age, but that always ended short of a return to the promised land, thanks in large part to the injuries that derailed Rose's rise to the ranks of the league's most unguardable thunderbolts, and turned him, even at just 27 years old, into a never-quite-right whisper of a rumor of what once was and might have been. Luol Deng's long gone. Tom Thibodeau is, too. Joakim Noah will likely be next. Whatever the next competitive iteration of the Bulls is, it likely won't feature Derrick Rose ... so if you can move him while there's still some value to be derived from his status and contract, and maybe pick up a future pick for your trouble, there's some sense to that. Then again, as Seth Rosenthal of Knicks blog Posting and Toasting notes, the Knicks might be the ones demanding draft consideration if they're doing Chicago the solid of taking $21.3 million in salary off their hands.

It is worth noting, as Bulls radio play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky does, that "internal discussions" don't necessarily amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world:

I'd like to report I've had internal discussions over what to have for dinner tonight .Whatever .

— chuck swirsky (@ctsbulls) June 17, 2016

... but rumblings about the Bulls' summertime plans starting to grow louder, the Knicks likely searching for an upgrade at the point, and New York forever so, so thirsty for the next big name who just might fix everything!, it's at the very least a situation that bears watching as we move through next Thursday's NBA draft to the beginning of free agency in July.

[*badass*]

a triumvirate of carmelo, porzingis and rose? pwede but honestly, i don't think the trio would make the knicks instant contenders.

[bughaw1]

Wow...ang lakas bigla. Nice addition si rose.