Knicks & Nets Look Ahead To Busy Offseason 

The 2021-22 NBA season was largely forgettable in the Empire State, to say the very least.

A year ago, the “super team” Brooklyn Nets fell just one game short of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. Tom Thibodeau’s New York Knicks were the lovable underdogs of 2020-21, finishing as the No. 4 seed in the East before getting ousted by the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round of the postseason.

Fast forward a year later, and the script flipped completely. The Knicks finished 37-45 and missed the final play-in spot by six games. The Nets barely squeaked in as the No. 7 seed and were swept by the Boston Celtics in round one.

The Nets were a prime favourite to win the 2022 NBA Championship at multiple sportsbooks, including Caesars New York. Basketball may be over for the two New York-based NBA franchises, but Caesars New York customers can still bet on NBA games and all of the other major professional sports.

2021-22 is in the past for the Knicks, and it’s time to turn their focus toward the busy offseasons that lie ahead. Here is a roundup of the latest news involving Thibodeau’s group.

R.J. Barrett Defends “Great Coach” Tom Thibodeau

Barring the unexpected, the Knicks will bring back the 64-year-old Thibodeau for a third season.

Naturally, some fans and prognosticators wondered if the Knicks would fire Thibodeau following an utterly disappointing 2021-22 season. It looks like the veteran head coach and renowned defensive genius, however, will get the opportunity to get this team back on track next season.

Needless to say, young Knicks guard  R.J. Barrett agrees with the decision to bring back “Thibs” for next year.

“That’s my guy, I was actually talking to him yesterday at the facility, he’s really my guy,” Barrett said during a recent appearance on JJ Redick’s The Old Man And The Three podcast (h/t Adam Kester of Daily Knicks). “He’s a great coach, I feel people have a tough time with him because he expects excellence. He expects you to be in there and work every day… A guy like me, I lace them up every day no matter what’s going on I’m out there, so we kind of built that relationship.”

The 21-year-old Barrett is coming off another stellar season in the Big Apple. He averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds, and three assists per game. Only Julius Randle (20.1) averaged more points per game than Barrett.

Thibodeau has a long and successful track record of quickly developing young talents into bonafide stars, and it’s certainly no different with Barrett.

In Chicago, he oversaw a 22-year-old Derrick Rose’s 2010-11 MVP award-winning season. 

As head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017-18, he watched Jimmy Butler and young stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns led the team to its first playoff berth in 14 years.

Randle and Barrett missed 10 and 12 games, respectively, in 2021-22. If they can both stay healthy next year, the Knicks will absolutely be in a terrific position to vie for a playoff berth.

Stan Van Gundy Isn’t Buying The Zion Williamson-To-Knicks Possibility

Despite his all-world talents, there’s always speculation that 2019 first overall pick Zion Williamson could eventually seek a trade out of New Orleans.

Williamson has missed the entire 2021-22 season thus far as he continues to recover from a foot fracture that he suffered in the offseason.

It’s always easy to link a big-named player to the Knicks through trade or free agency, and Williamson is no different. But Stan Van Gundy, who coached the Pelicans during Williamson’s 2020-21 sophomore season, isn’t buying it one bit.

“It’s always a plan that all these free agents want to come there,” Van Gundy said in an interview with the New York Post. “And their fans think everybody wants to come to New York to play. But what is the example of that to use — the high-profile free agents who have come there? A lot of New Yorkers think everyone has New York at the top of their list and the Knicks are picking and choosing. That’s not the way it’s been working the last 20-plus years.”

Van Gundy certainly makes some strong points. Ahead of the 2019 offseason, countless rumours suggested that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant would team up with the Knicks. Instead, they signed with the inner-state rival Nets.

The Knicks have instead had to settle on shopping in non-superstar tiers of free agency. Last offseason, they signed Evan Fournier and former All-Star guard Kemba Walker to multi-year deals.

For now, the idea of Williamson taking his talents to the Empire State doesn’t feel very likely. Even if he does seek a trade? As Van Gundy emphasized, it’s not a guarantee that Williamson would want to play for the Knicks.

Rather than wait it out and hope for a blockbuster trade of any kind, the Knicks will likely focus on improving the roster around the young star duo of Randle and Barrett. There’s a decent foundation in place, but adding some veteran scorers and quality defenders on cheaper deals should be the main priority for now.