It’s a very different time in the NBA and it you don’t believe that just consider that the Knicks lost their prime free-agent target to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Yes, the Bucks, whose championship drought extends back even further than the Knicks’ last title in 1973.
But here is what Greg Monroe saw when he picked the Bucks and all those snowy Wisconsin winters over the Knicks and the bright lights of the Garden:
A winning team on the rise in the Eastern Conference.
A talented, young roster.
A proven head coach.
The Knicks couldn’t match the Bucks in any of those categories. While Phil Jackson’s “failed experiment’’ this past season was winning a franchise-record low 17 games, the Bucks were exceeding expectations by winning 41 games and making the playoffs.
While the Knicks have Carmelo Anthony, they have little else around him to get any free-agent candidate excited. On the contrary, the Bucks have several young promising players, including Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Michael Carter-Williams, all of whom helped them finish sixth in the East last season. They also have Jabari Parker, the No. 2 overall pick last June, who had a good rookie season cut short in December when he suffered a major knee injury.
The Bucks haven’t won a thing since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was manning the middle, back in their lone championship year of 1971. But make no mistake, the Bucks are a team going places, with a coach, Jason Kidd, who stopped being a sideline novelty a long time ago.
In his first two seasons on the sidelines, Kidd has coached the Nets and Bucks to the post-season in each and has an 85-79 record. He's also 7-11 playoff mark with one playoff series win under his belt.
Just as he was great floor leader as a Hall of Fame playmaker during his NBA career, he’s also shown tremendous leadership qualities working the sidelines.
You know what Jackson had to sell Monroe? Derek Fisher, who struggled mightily in his first season and starts his second campaign 48 games under .500. Jackson also tried to sell his beloved triangle offense, which many players know to be antiquated and not at all what’s winning these days in the up-tempo, three-point driven NBA.
The Knicks used to be able to blow small-market teams out of the water when it came to money. But not anymore. In this day and age where the money is equal, Monroe opted for going to a franchise with a brighter future, accepting a three-year, $50 million “max deal’’ from the Bucks, according to league sources.
The Knicks didn’t lose out on Kevin Durant here, so let’s not make it to be the end of the world. It’s not a fatal hit because Monroe certainly hasn’t shown himself to be a difference-maker in his first five NBA seasons. If he was, then the Detroit Pistons would have had some winning seasons during his time in Auburn Hills, and team president and coach Stan Van Gundy, who knows something about winning basketball, certainly would have done everything in his power to keep him.
With Monroe, an offensive-minded player who doesn't do much when the other team has the ball, the Pistons never won more than 32 games and never once made the playoffs.
But it’s a loss and a big one, as far as Jackson is concerned. The Zen Master saw the 6-11 Monroe as a major piece for his triangle offense, with his ability to score and pass.
As far as big men go, Monroe also was Jackson’s most realistic “get’’ for free agency 2015. They’re a long, long shot to bring home LeMarcus Aldridge, who turned down the Lakers and is expected to go to the Spurs. The Lakers might be the NBA’s marquee franchise, but they're finding themselves in the same boat as the Knicks, in so many ways. Coming off a 21-win season, the Lakers are also trying to sell winning on spec, and are having an impossible time doing it.
The Knicks also are not given much of a chance of getting DeAndre Jordan, the Clippers’ center who likely will return to L.A. The Clips give him his best chance of winning and, as Jordan’s “home’’ team, can out-bid New York and all other teams with a full “max’’ contract.
So what do the Knicks do now? They can make a run at two other free agent bigs, Robin Lopez, a defensive specialist and Brook Lopez’s twin brother; or Enes Kanter, who split time last season with Utah and Oklahoma City. They can also try to make a deal for a big entering the last season of his deal, including Indiana’s Roy Hibbert and maybe even former Knick David Lee, who wants out of Golden State.
Then, they can use one of those expiring contracts to help carve out cap space for next summer.
The options aren’t great, not even close. But this is what happens when you come off a 17-win season and you’re trying to convince free agents that New York is the place to be. As a basketball town, it doesn’t even stack up to Milwaukee.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter
