There’s no easy fix to the mounting Knicks depth issues

A perfect storm of injuries, cap constraints, and a lack of NBA-ready depth has resulted in a speed bump for the Knicks.

I don’t need to preface this with much of a background. A few articles with similar topics have already been published on this very website.

Both Russ and Sam have posted articles proposing potential fixes, and they’re both good reads that propose tangible solutions. However, I’m gonna take a different approach to this issue and it isn’t the most positive one.

I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this.

There is no easy fix to the depth issues of this team. Any solution floated around has drawbacks that could prove to be painful.

Now, let me be clear. I am not as concerned as some people long term. I don’t spend the postgames ranting on Twitter about the minutes or about Tom Thibodeau or fawning over the guys who aren’t in the rotation. What we’re seeing right now, in my eyes, is a view into what could happen in a nightmare scenario. Deuce McBride and (at least for now) Karl-Anthony Towns being on the shelf with Mitchell Robinson creates a vacuum on a very shallow team. Add that in with the extreme shooting slump and you’ve got a losing streak. If the Knicks didn’t shoot a horrific 4-for-22 on Monday from 3, they probably beat the Magic. Call it fatigue or whatever, but Jalen Brunson and his teammates are not using it as an excuse for poor performance.

But sure, you don’t want something as minor as a shooting slump and a few injuries derailing an entire season. If possible, the Knicks have to shore this up. The problem is… how? Let’s go through some proposed fixes and why they’re not as simple as they sound.

Expand the rotation (AKA: play the kids)

What is this, 2022?

There are three (healthy) rookies on the roster and all three have, at some point this season, played in meaningful minutes. However, if you look closer, you can see these guys are only trusted in certain situations.

Tyler Kolek’s meaningful action has come with point guard injuries to Cameron Payne, Deuce McBride, and Jalen Brunson. Since mid-November, his meaningful action has only come in games against bottom feeders, such as Brooklyn, Washington, and Utah.

Pacome Dadiet had a brief cameo amidst the Opening Night Massacre in Boston, but his meaningful appearances since have come only in similar games against teams playing Capture the Flagg.

Ariel Hukporti has had only a couple of games in meaningful action, all before the return of Precious Achiuwa and solely because of KAT missing time or being in foul trouble.

So, the obvious has been shown. Against teams with a pulse, Thibs doesn’t want to play the rookies. But, what if he gave one or two of them a shot in these games?

The issue is, are they guaranteed to be positive contributors?

Kolek is a great playmaker and can provide value on offense, but is an undersized and extremely negative defender at this stage in his career.

Dadiet has shown some positives defensively, but his shot has been inconsistent. Just look at his time in Westchester so far. He’s shooting 40% from the field and 24% from 3 in four regular season games and his time in the Winter Showcase wasn’t much better. Let’s remember that this kid is over a year away from legally being able to buy a beer. He’s not a guy who was molded in the AAU circuit and who played and excelled for a blue-blood college program. If not for taking a near-unprecedented pay cut, he would be in France right now instead of being a tweener.

Hukporti is the guy who provides the most value in my eyes, as he is a very similar player to Sims and Achiuwa. The problem is that he cannot play with Sims or Achiuwa consistently, as the spacing would be horrendous. Achiuwa and Sims played six minutes together on Monday and had a -45 net rating, which seems impossible.

Some would say the growing pains are worth it for them to gain experience, but this isn’t the Knicks of old. We don’t have the room to develop rookies while trying to win. Think about this: how many contenders have a rookie in their rotation?

OKC does, but it’s Ajay Mitchell who is a 22-year-old 3&D bench player.

Memphis does, but Jaylen Wells is 21 and Zach Edey is 22. Both played Power Five college basketball for several years.

Only Kolek fits the description of those two, but he’s stuck behind a crowded guard rotation and is much worse defensively, making it harder to fit into a 10-15-minute role.

Call up TJ Warren

In a vacuum, I really like this idea. Warren brings size (6’8, 220), scoring prowess (averaging 26 PPG in the G-League), and is familiar with the organization from the preseason. He’s also an established NBA veteran. What is there not to like?

Normally, it would appear out of pocket to blame a Western Conference guard for our troubles, but that is exactly what I do with CJ McCollum, the NBPA president.

He negotiated this CBA which is extremely restrictive and thus makes it near-impossible to sign TJ Warren.

Don’t get me wrong. It is technically possible to sign Warren whenever they want. There’s an open roster spot and the 10-day window opened on Sunday.

However, this wouldn’t be the smartest idea. The Knicks are as cash-strapped as humanly possible, sitting under $400,000 below the hard cap. This means they cannot sign a person to their final roster spot until early March when the prorated amount for a rest-of-season deal falls beneath the remaining space.

Here’s why signing Warren to a 10-day isn’t wise. A 10-day for a guy like Warren would cost $189,000. You can sign him for two ten-days, sure, but after that, you are done with moves for the rest of the season. No space to sign anybody at any point in the season, and no replacements are possible if an end-of-roster guy gets hurt because of the recently passed guarantee deadline. 20 days of TJ Warren end any possible flexibility.

Now, this could change with a trade where the Knicks buy themselves more room from the second apron, but that comes with it’s own problems.

Enter the Trade Market

We’ve all heard the phrase, “you’ve got to give to get”.

For the Knicks, that’s their only path forward.

You want a Keon Ellis? A Cam Whitmore? A Jonas Valanciunas or Isaiah Stewart?

It’ll cost you. For the latter two, it’ll cost you the best rebounder in the sport and your best rim protector.

For the former two? It may cost you a guy who is already contributing like Cameron Payne or Deuce McBride. Maybe even the current backup center and recurring Mitch-insurance Precious Achiuwa.

No matter who you want, the Knicks have to trade a rotation player to get it. This isn’t like last year, where the Knicks could send Evan Fournier’s effectively dead salary. Because of their first apron status, the Knicks have to trade more money than they receive, meaning that they can’t just flip Jericho Sims, who makes less than basically every minimum player on the trade market.

What about the buyout market? Knicks can’t participate in that either.

Candidates like D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons make too much, as first-apron teams are prohibited from signing buyout guys who made more than the mid-level exception. This is redundant anyway, as the Knicks would not have space to add until a month after the deadline.

So, what is the solution?

For now, it just appears to be patience. If the Knicks get healthy, they’ll have a bench of McBride, Payne, Shamet, and Robinson with Achiuwa in a situational role.

If you’re really patient, the Knicks can sign Warren to a rest-of-season deal in March. This may not be enough time to fully integrate him, but he might be the best option without shaking things up too badly.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the Knicks are stuck for now. Teams in their situation have been able to add depth with draft picks and Taxpayer MLE’s slowly but it takes time. The Knicks built this team to have a four-year window, and it isn’t the worst thing in the world for this to be the growing pains year.

More flawed teams have won it all though. Lotta season left.