The Knicks rank 28th in ESPN's Future Power Rankings

Heeeeey there, you jive suckas. ESPN brought back its annual NBA franchise future power rankings (Insider only), which means it's once again time to put on our raging caps and vent.

And how does the Worldwide reader view the future of our beloved Knickerbockers? In a word: poop. New York ranks 28th in the league:

Carmelo Anthony, meet Kristaps Porzingis. As the face of the Knicks moves past his prime, a 19-year-old from Latvia represents the future for a franchise with very little to get excited at the moment.

The Knicks' roster, while marginally improved, remains among the bottom five in the league. The management team rates likewise, with a neophyte coach, a buffoonish owner and an unproven team president, Phil Jackson, who just celebrated his 70th birthday.

Thanks to the big 2011 Melo trade, the Knicks won't control its own first-round draft pick next year. They also won't have the salary cap flexibility to make a big splash in free agency until 2017. The positives? Besides the potential of Porzingis, there is also the perpetual appeal of New York as a destination. And the team makes oodles of money and is willing to spend. But we don't believe that's enough to turn it around anytime soon.

They somehow rated the Knicks worse in terms of management and the draft than they did last summer, despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary. I suppose the draft rating could be in relation to next year, when they don't have a pick, though that isn't really a reflection on current management. Also, the Knicks will likely pick up a first-round talent next summer, depending on how well Willy Hernangomez plays for Real Madrid.

This seems like a good time to debut a little theory I've been kicking around for the past few months. The Knicks have always gone about the offseason with a certain philosophy -- pursue big-name guys at all cost, especially scorers. They have lived and (mostly) died by that mindset for so long that it's difficult to view this summer's moves outside of the prism of traditional Knicksthought. It's the reason we hear so many questions like "Who will be Melo's wingman?" and "Who will be their secondary scorer?"

Having watched the Carmelo Anthony Knicks over the past few years I can definitively tell you that these are the least important questions to ask of a Carmelo Anthony Knicks team. You know what's important to the Knicks? Everything other than that. This team needed everything, and they got a little bit of that this summer through free agency, trades and the draft. That sounds like an organization on the rise to me.