The life of an NBA rebuild can adopt many forms. But when the two teams met this preseason, it appeared the Boston Celtics were on a faster track toward success than the New York Knicks.
For the most part, Boston has stuck to a pretty impressive script since the Big Three left town. Vice president of basketball operations Danny Ainge fleeced the Brooklyn Nets for three future first round picks, brought in a bright young head coach in Brad Stevens and surrounded him with promising — if not über-talented — players like Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and Marcus Smart.
The result was one abysmal 25-win campaign in 2013-14, a surprise playoff run last season and the chance for an even higher postseason berth in 2016. Yet as the Celtics and Knicks enter Tuesday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden with 19 wins apiece, the question is worth repeating: Which team is in better shape?
If you asked us that two seasons ago, the answer would be obvious. New York had just stumbled to a disappointing 37-45 record despite playoff aspirations, had fired head coach Mike Woodson and was left with an underwhelming roster whose only star was an aging Carmelo Anthony.
Yet new team president Phil Jackson has the Knicks headed in the right direction, and he has a 20-year-old, 7-foot-3 Latvian to thank.
After sputtering to 17 wins in Derek Fisher’s first season on the bench in 2014-15, Jackson and Co. selected Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Porzingis, who enters Tuesday averaging 13.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game, has the potential to be a legitimate NBA star.
Why is his success so important? Because it gives Jackson a fighting chance to lure top-tier free agents to New York. The Knicks shrewdly sent Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to the Cleveland Cavaliers in January to clear up cap space, then added a few complementary pieces in Arron Afflalo, Robin Lopez, Derrick Williams and Kyle O’Quinn this summer.
Those pieces do not a championship roster make, but there’s a chance New York has turned enough heads with its play this season to convince a free-agent All-Star he could bring postseason success to the Big Apple.
The Knicks lost their 2016 first-round pick in an ill-fated trade for Andrea Bargnani in 2013, so the Celtics certainly have them beat in the “future assets” department. Yet New York appears to have in Porzingis what Boston lacks — a potential franchise cornerstone — which could be a difference-maker as February’s trade deadline approaches.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
