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The New York Knicks front office certainly believe that the roster they had entering the 2024 offseason was knocking on the door of legitimate title contention. They decided to trade away plenty of draft capital to bring Mikal Bridges in and then they went all-in, dealing away both Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in a blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.
At the moment, however, the Knicks are trying to navigate the delicate dance of maintaining a 12-man roster so they could stay below the second tax apron, for the Towns trade hard-capped them. They have legitimate depth concerns, especially amid the injuries to Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa, handicapping them even further.
Nevertheless, Vince Carter still believes in the Knicks' chances of mounting a legitimate push to snap the franchise's title drought that has now spanned over 50 years. Carter thinks that the sheer star power of the Knicks as well as the fit of their core guys should allow them to flourish, depth concerns notwithstanding.
“I for sure think they’re the most talented. I know were talking about playing them at the Center position, I like KAT at the 4 where you can use him for your advantages. You can use different lineups and use him in small ball,” Carter said in an appearance on FanDuel's Run It Back show.
Carter even mentioned that the Knicks could bring Josh Hart off the bench in an attempt to balance out the rotation in a much better way.
“I heard you guys talking about it earlier, about Josh Hart and him not being happy. You’ve got to look at your squad, and you’ve got to have somebody come off the bench. I like big guards, big defends, big wing defenders that can run, score in transition, shoot the ball. KAT unlocks that so I’m okay with bringing Josh Hart off the bench because you’re bringing energy, effort, we know what he can do, you know what he can bring,” Carter added.
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Can the Knicks overcome their major depth concerns?
The Knicks will be an interesting case study of the stars and scrubs approach to building a contending roster. It was only last season when the Knicks had assembled such impressive depth across every position, but over this past offseason, they lost Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Isaiah Hartenstein, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Alec Burks. All of those players, apart from Randle, contributed one way or another during the Knicks' run in the 2024 playoffs.
But now, New York has legitimate depth concerns. Apart from Miles McBride and Cameron Payne, there are plenty of question marks surrounding their other bench pieces.
Jericho Sims is an athletic center, but he is at his best when he's the team's third-string center. Can he play backup minutes, or perhaps even survive in two-big lineups alongside Karl-Anthony Towns?
And then the Knicks round out the roster with two rookies in Tyler Kolek and Pacome Dadiet. Kolek, for one, is a guard; he'll be playing behind Jalen Brunson, McBride, and Payne, making it unlikely for him to get minutes. Dadiet, meanwhile, is viewed as a project.
