Getty Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks yells to his players during the first quarter of Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The New York Knicks may have come across a significant amount of success with their currently constructed collection of talent in 2022-23, but if their postseason run taught the front office anything it’s that they could use for some bolstering in the shot-making department.
Converting on a playoff-worst 29.2% of their attempts from distance and a third-worst 43.3% from the field as a whole, it’s rather apparent that one of Leon Rose’s main objectives this offseason should be to try and add a few trusty snipers to Tom Thibodeau’s arsenal, and Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes believes a pursuit of impending Brooklyn Nets free agent Seth Curry could be a realistic endeavor for them to consider.
“The 32-year-old guard shot 40.5 percent from deep for the Nets last season and ranks fifth all-time (among players with at least 1,500 career attempts) at a scorching 43.5 percent. Curry has his defensive limitations and isn’t going to do much facilitating, but he’s a five-alarm fire off the ball—exactly the kind of attention-grabber New York’s offense needs to unclog the lane and capitalize on kickouts when Mitchell Robinson inhales offensive boards,” Grant Hughes wrote.
Hughes would continue on by suggesting the Knicks could offer up their full MLE to the veteran guard (holds a projected value of $12.2 million) which, in his eyes, should be “enough to land perhaps the best pure shooter on the market.”
Playing in 80 regular season games during his one-and-a-half-year tenure with the Nets, Seth Curry has posted solid averages of 10.6 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 47.3% from the field and 42.7% from deep.
Knicks Expected to ‘Lowball’ Immanuel Quickley
Outside of potentially swiping free agents away from other ball clubs, the Knicks will also be looking to re-up with a few of their own players eligible for new contracts this summer and, according to one league executive, they may be looking to come to terms on a bargain deal.
In a recent sit down with Heavy Sports NBA insider Sean Deveney, an Eastern Conference GM informed him that New York will be looking to “lowball” the reigning Sixth Man of the Year runner-up, Immanuel Quickley, in contract negotiations this offseason.
“They will try to lowball [Quickley] in an extension,” the East GM told Deveney. “Nothing against the Knicks in saying that, just that is what the protocol is. Every team does it.”
“You know, four years and $50 million, hope he goes for it. Would they come up from that? Maybe. But I know that whatever talks there were about trading him back in November, that is gone,” they added.
Posting easily his best season to date in 2022-23, Immanuel Quickley went on to boast per-game averages of 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting 44.8% from the field and 37.0% from deep.
Despite his productivity, however, the anonymous league executive believes that the Knicks will be looking to save a few bucks during expected extension talks this summer.
Karl-Anthony Towns to Knicks Trade Talks Trending Down
Despite initial rumblings this offseason that suggested the New York Knicks could be intent on making a splashy move for Minnesota Timberwolves big Karl-Anthony Towns, SNY NBA insider Ian Begley recently reported on the Hoopshype podcast that the club’s interest in the three-time All-Star is waning.
“From what I’ve heard from a couple of people in touch with them, they felt the temperature was a little down on the interest in Towns compared to where it was very early on in Leon Rose’s tenure,” Begley said.
Nevertheless, despite this report, fellow guest on the podcast Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News would go on to note that Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau “would have no problem coaching Towns again.”
Thibodeau previously coached Towns during his two-and-a-half-year stint coaching the Timberwolves from 2016 through early 2019 before being released in mid-January.