Bobby Marks’ 2025 New York Knicks Offseason Guide | NBA on ESPN

Bobby Marks’ 2025 New York Knicks Offseason Guide | NBA on ESPN

All right, a happy Sunday morning. Hopefully everyone is doing uh great out there. Uh I am uh doing this video from parts unknown. Um no, I am not a golfer, so I’m not going out and playing 18 holes today, but uh just a quick 24hour uh getaway, especially when you have two teenagers at home, one from college. So, uh, I figured we would let the Knicks loss on Saturday night marinate a little bit here and we will do their offseason video. They are team 28. Uh, we are left with the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder just like how everyone planned. Uh, I need to look up this stat and I’m going to get into the next video in a minute. I believe that the Pacers and Thunder payroll, total payroll combined, um, is less than what Phoenix paid this year. I’m sorry for my Suns fans out there because I’m casting on a stray. I guess that’s what they say uh, with that. So, uh, I’m looking forward to it. Uh, I know America loves, um, the, you know, the LA, the New York, Golden State, it’s got to be a marquee. I think it’s two really good teams. I think uh I think there’s clear separation between Oklahoma City and Indiana, but we didn’t come here to do a finals preview. We did a uh New York Knicks preview. I um I just Oh, guy just teed off. Um you know, I open up the um the state of the roster and I said, “Listen, if you know, and I do think we have this I always say this and I I’m sorry if I drive people crazy when I say it, but we have this perception that change like wholesale change is needed.” Um, I think if you go back to last year when Indiana lost to Boston and got swept in the in the in the conference finals, people would have probably gone through my comments and said they need to blow it up. Seakum doesn’t work. Hallebertton, they need to trade Turner. They got to get younger. Carile is not the fit and they basically brought back the same group and although different than where New York is right now, now they’re four wins away from the NBA finals here. So, I do think you have to have that perception of like pump the break. As I said in the Minnesota video, it’s not always about firing the coach and trading for Giannis or trading for Kevin Durant. Um, but this offseason is important for New York because you are kind of going down this this path where if you go to the right, this is kind of who you’re going to be for the next u next two or three years, which is totally totally fine. Um, as far as the coach, um, man, I I I never understood why there is such angst amongst Knicks fans as far as trying to get rid of a coach. Is Tibs perfect? No. But is any coach perfect out there? Definitely not. Not even Phil Jackson was perfect. Um, so he’s going to be back unless there’s the owner steps in and and and you’ve already seen the certainly the players u especially Jaylen Brunson kind of give him the vote of confident here. I think he’s could he have done a better job in the Knicks series? Could he have done a better job playing the bench? Could he have done different? Yeah, we could go through everything. Um, but I think he’s the right fit for this group. I think he’s I think he’s going to be back next year. Um, and uh, and that that’s my two I never really I never write these articles about firing, why somebody should fire get fired. Um, that is never really the purpose. I say maybe the front office will need to think about it or question or I’m never going in there saying this coach needs to be fired. Um if you’re looking for that and go reach somewhere else. Um there are no participation trophies when you lose in the conference finals. But I do think in whole when you look at where New York was um reaching the conf the sec at least the second round three years in a row um first conference final since 99. Um, as I said, this is something to build on, not tear down. That is the um that’s the most important thing to to think about this. I I think what happened is when you beat Boston in the who was, you know, the prohibited favorite after Cleveland goes out, when you beat Boston in the second round, there’s this thinking that we are, you know, basically our path to the final NBA finals is going to be clear. It wasn’t. During the regular season, you had one game separation between yourself and Indiana. Pacers were red-hot down the stretch and then at the end of the day, they were the better team. Sometimes reality kicks in that they are the better team. All right, let’s look at the season. I mean, let’s look at the off seasonason. So, you’ve got one pick. You’ve got a second round pick. It’s 50th pick in the draft. I would say likely that’s probably going to be tagged either if you trade out um that’s probably going to be going to be tagged as a two-way player just because what you have to spend this off season is probably going to be more important as far as what your roster is. Certainly um a player that you draft and you sign to a second round pick exception you do get them at a lower cost. So that is certainly that’s the one thing here are your free agents. Precious, it’s basically your bench. Precious Achua Campaign, Delon Wright, Landry Shamut, uh Ariel Hug Party has got a team option, PJ Tucker, and then your your two-way players are all on um your two-way players are all on um all free agents here. So, you’re basically going to wipe the slate clean as far as from a two-way perspective here. There is an interesting quote in the in the state of the roster that um and if you haven’t watched it and I’m sure Knicks fans have, it’s the James Dolan interview with the Roommates podcast. That’s Josh Hart and Jon Brunson’s podcast where he basically says like man like we we changed over the roster last year. We traded for um Muel Bridges and then we traded for Carl Anthony Towns. Like sometimes you need to like let this thing marinate a little bit here and let it develop. like there’s no perfect wand out there that can just put, you know, basically wand itself over the team and say like this is a championship team. This is a good team, but there is some work to do and we’re going to talk about that in a minute. Um I’m just looking at my phone because I don’t have my second screen up there as far as what to um um you know over over here. Um the strength of this roster, I think continuity is the strength of this roster, right? But it’s not perfect, right? U lost to Indiana proof. You got to the bench has got to get better or more used. I think it’s there’s a one thing is is what you had was good enough maybe, but you have to figure out what the role is for your depth. This is an interesting stat. I said for better or worse, Nick starters averaged 95 94 points per game in the regular season, the second most since 86 87. The only team they trailed in this in the starters points per game this season was the Denver Nuggets. And we saw after the Denver series, Ukage depth, depth, depth, depth. Um, all right. This is where you are financially going in there. And there are there is a little bit of wiggle room. You’re at $200 million. Remember, the apron rules reset starting on July 1st. Um, so you are at $200 million in salary. Um, they are $3 million over the first apron. So the season ended and we went into July 1 and that’s who you are. Remember you cannot use more than 100% of your traded player exception. If you’re post, it’s always important post transactional salaries exceed the first apron. So that means taking back more money other than a veteran minimum contract in a trade. Okay, so that’s where you are 3.8. You are $8 million below the um below the the second apron. Remember the apron hasn’t triggered, right? So, if you wanted to go out and sign all your free agents and bring them back and exceed the second apron, you can do that. Is that going to happen? I would say highly unlikely. As far as how that happens, you are probably going to get some flexibility. I I do see them um not exercising the PJ Tucker uh team option, which is at 3.5 million, because even if you wanted to bring PJ back, you can bring him back at a $2.2 million salary. Um that would save you at least 1.3 million. So, I would expect um unless we’re going to be ultra ultra aggressive, and we can talk about that in a minute, you’re basically looking at your $5.7 million tax mid-level exception to use on one or two players and basically filling out your bench with uh minimum contracts, unless you’re going to make a trade to shed some more money. Um, but you are going to have to be extremely extremely creative as far as how you are going to fill out your bench. Remember, if you use the 57 tax mid-level exception, that will trigger the second apron. Okay? So, you’ve got to keep that in mind there. Just by using that doesn’t make you uh exempt as far as how the second apron rules p um are. Remember, if you exceed the second apron, as I said, if you wanted to just go out and resign all your your free agents and you want to go over the second apron, which I don’t think is going to happen, then you are not allowed to aggregate combined salaries if it leads you over the second apron. Okay, so that’s a little bit on finances. You got a $2 million option on Hawkport, too. Um, so those are the two players with options, but you have you have got a little bit of money, not a ton of where you are. Um, as I said, the debt, the priority this offseason is going to be dep. Uh, your two second round, your two picks last year, Kolic and and um, Dier paid a combined 400 minutes this season, you are going to need to make a that either they can play or they can’t play. I mean, that’s the reality of it here. You’re not going to force guys that can’t play, but when you draft in the first and you get an early second, there’s a priority for those two players to be part of the rotation next year. 93% of your payroll is tied up within your starting five and sixman Mitchell Robbins. Okay? So, you’ve got to be resourceful in free agency. You’re going to have to sell free agents, take less money with the goal of competing for a championship, but and potentially less playing time. The Knicks reserves a season ranked last in minutes per game. So, if you’re going to sell a guy on on um on on coming to play, they’ve got to be mindful that it might be not the minutes they’re expecting here. Um, as I said, the trade market is less advantageous unless New York wants to move one of its starters or Robinson. Uh, the Robinson situation is going to be interesting because he was really good for you during the playoffs and when he was healthy, he’s got an expiring $13 million contract. Um, is he, it’s kind of going back to the trade deadline. Is he more valuable on the court or in a trade? That’s what you have to weigh here. Um, and remember, you have one tradable first round pick um, in the next seven years, 2026. top eight protected first from the Wizards. Okay, so that’s kind of the state of your priorities is basically kind of bargain shopping for your bench unless you’re going to make a swing for a trade unless it involves Robinson or maybe Josh Hart. We’ll certainly keep an eye on where New York goes here. All right, here are your extension candidates to watch. The Brunson extension last year has given you a financial pathway. So if you go out and sign Muel Bridges this off seasonason, he’s eligible for four for 156, that puts you in a B position where you’re still going to be significantly under the second apron in 2026 27. That’s the first year when Bridg’s extension kicks in. You’re roughly $30 million below the second apron. So it’s not like you if you extend them now, you’re stuck where where this roster is. I think that because remember Robinson’s coming off the books. Um some other salaries are coming off the books. cap’s going to go up again. So keep an eye on that. I think you have to weigh that. If you if you are comfortable extending male bridges at that number, then go out and do that. But you do have to have that mindset is that once you extend them, a he can’t be traded for six months. And B, this is kind of who you are with Towns, Brunson, OG, and Bridges all making 30 million plus in 2627. There were some good good positives from Male Bridges this year. Certainly, I think there was a it’s a different role from for him certainly than what we saw in Brooklyn the last two and a half years. And it’s it’s similar to kind of the role we saw in Phoenix. Um you know, he’s uh his efficiency went up, his points per game went down. Um ranked number two on the field goal percentage at the rim. Certainly from a defensive standpoint, you would maybe like to seen a little bit different. Made those huge plays in that Boston series, but he is the extension candidate to watch. If he’s not extended, then that is certainly going to be the trade candidate that we’re going to circle here. And he’s on an expiring contract. Um, Towns is also extension eligible. Um, um, he can extend for, he’s got three years left, 53, 57, 61, that last year’s is a player option. You can either extend him for three where that player option is removed with another year. It’s basically a comparable salary, or you can go two for 150. I I am not and I like Carl Anthony Towns. I’m not extending him for two for 150 at $75 million per year when he’s in his mid-30s. I’m not doing that. Team needs three and D wings off the bench, perimeter shooting, front court debt. Um, as we talked about the draft equity that really isn’t there. That’s showing that trade with Brooklyn has diminished a lot. Got one tradable first in the next seven years. You’re allowed to swap first in 26, 30, and 32. And you have seven seconds available. Um remember if you go out and buy a pick at the draft uh you um your second apron gets triggered for next year. So be mindful of that. So that is it in a nutshell here. I know everyone is going to want to talk about Giannis and KD. Do we have enough to go out and do that? I think you have to be careful when you’re basically we’re already talking about a team that’s lacking depth. Um you’re basically having you have to trade a combination. I don’t see a team like Phoenix or Milwaukee wanting Carl Anthony Towns. That doesn’t fit as far as what they’re doing wanting to do. Then you’re looking at it would be Anobi and Bridges or Bridges and Bridges and Hart isn’t even enough to do something like that. Um so it’s you better you got to be extremely extremely careful when you’re weighing another blockbuster trade just because of what you have from a draft equity standpoint. one tradable first uh any of these trades and I’m gonna I’m working on this mini trade guide and I think it will give you an idea any of these trades that maybe could come to fruition man it is going to be extremely extremely complicated where we’re getting three or four teams involved people are talking about Minnesota certainly with Durant all this is going to be complicated I never say it’s not doable but I I just always say it’s going to be extremely complicated so that is it enjoy Enjoy your Sunday. Uh we’ve got no basketball till Thursday. Um enjoy your weekend.

Bobby Marks gives his 2025 offseason guide for the New York Knicks after they were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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