BY MARK HALPERN
For the first time in a long time the New York Knicks were the toast of the town in New York and in the NBA. The Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, before losing to the Pacers. But one thing is for sure the Knicks are back and Madison Square Garden will be a tough place to play again.
Injuries played a huge role in the Knicks getting eliminated. Mitchell Robinson went down, and with Julius Randle already out, the Knicks were thin in the front court. Making Josh Hart guard some bigs. One of the goals of the offseason was to get more size. The Question became what could the Knicks do to improve without really gutting the team?
Lacking size in the NBA is a big problem and the Knicks made a move to bring in a player who can do it all in Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists to go along with and almost 1 block a game. This is exactly the type of player that this young fast New York team needed. However, when you acquire such a talent you have to give something in return and the Timberwolves received Julius Randle (missed most of last year to injury) and Donte DiVincenzo (Who I am sad to see go) in return. Donte had become a huge fan favorite of the Garden and I am sure it is going to sour the stomach of many a Knick fan for some time.
The question on people minds is how does Towns fit in with revamped knicks front five. Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges will be at the guard positions, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart at the forwards and then Towns at Center. With the addition of Bridges the Knicks had to make a decision on whether to extend Randle or find a way to replace him and Towns can fill Randles shoes at Center and the size of Anunoby and the electric play from Hart, Towns finds himself in a position to have one of his best offensive and defensive years in his career. Towns, like Randle can also stretch the floor and shoot from three.
I reached out to my good friend Rudy Campos of Sweep the League and this was his response “The Wolves won the trade but the Knicks also came out good. Wolves got out of that contract and will be able to max out Edwards. The first round pick they got in return is big as well. Donte gives the Wolves a shooter and scorer. Randle is the factor. He makes so much sense for the Wolves. More sense than KAT.” I think Rudy hit the nail on the head the Wolves get out of the contract and now can focus of maxing Edwards and the Knicks get the big inside man they have been missing. The big combo of KAT and Rudy Gobert was always interesting to me, but it never seemed like it would work.
I am truly excited for this season and now with the addition of Towns the Knicks’ starting five is as good as it has been in years.
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