Okay. I am far from done being disappointed about New York's Jeremy Lin decision, but I'm ready to quit dwelling on it and turn my attention to the zany committee of troubled stars, re-signed shooters, former Knicks, and Iman Shumpert that now constitutes our team.
By my count, the Knicks have eleven players currently signed up to do basketball for them next season. The trade for Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas is official, but those two still haven't been formally introduced yet (I first laughed at the theory floated in the comments that Felton isn't, ya know...presentable enough for a press conference at the moment, but...). Either way, I obviously included those two in my count of eleven. Meanwhile, the Pablo Prigioni signing was reportedly agreed upon a week or two ago, but that doesn't seem to be totally done yet either. Chris Copeland's signing has been widely reported as a non-guaranteed training camp invite thing, but some outlets are kinda making it sound like a real deal. I guess we'll see, but if you pencil in Copeland and, like, erasable pen (hated these so much) in Prigioni, then the count's up to thirteen.
Typically, having thirteen of fifteen roster spots filled means you can just add a couple emergency end-of-the-bench bros and call it an offseason, but I think you'd agree that New York still has at least one major hole in the depth chart. I see two tasks, one more crucial than the other:
1. Sign another wing for the veteran's minimum unless you want J.R. Smith to play 40 minutes a night or James White/one of the point guards to play significant minutes at the two while Iman Shumpert is sidelined.
2. Sign another big man for the veteran's minimum unless you feel confident in the persisting health of two members of the '98-'99 Knicks. (As is, if Kurt Thomas or Marcus Camby had to miss time, I guess Steve Novak or Chris Copeland would have to masquerade as a big?).
Yeah.. I'd love to see those two roster spots filled with positional depth in mind. This is a decent list of remaining shooting guards and you've got power forwards and centers here and here (in each list, some of the bros have been claimed already). Especially near the top of the list, you'll see a lot of guys who'd turn their noses up at vet's minimum offers today. Give it a few weeks, though. As Alan Hahn mentioned, toward the end of the summer, free agents will get a bit more desperate and field smaller offers (this phenomenon often draws the "last call" analogy), and as our friend Jon noted, there's a relatively deep pool of free agent wings who'd probably favor the Knicks over other minimum opportunities because there's actually a shot at playing time.
(Meanwhile, Jerome Jordan just re-joined New York's Summer League team but can't legally be signed to the real team for a year. I guess they're just doing him a favor?)
So, that's pretty much where things stand. Mostly, this is a "hey, does anybody want to talk about the people who are actually on the Knicks now?" thread. Go for it. Summer League game/thread comin' up around 4 PM EST.
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