The Knicks are nearing a deal for free agent center Tyson Chandler. (Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE)In a development no one saw coming, the New York Knicks, with zero cap space, have somehow vaulted to the front of the race for Tyson Chandler, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, who broke the story — a story since confirmed by SI.com’s Sam Amick and several other outlets.
This is monumental, and not only because acquiring Chandler would give the Knicks the one player Chris Paul wants most as a teammate. Some implications:
? The Knicks must create the space to sign Chandler as a free agent, and they can do it either by using the amnesty provision on Chauncey Billups–a few months after picking up his $14.2 million option for this season–or trading Billups to a team holding enough cap space to absorb him without sending anyone back to New York. Billups is still a very efficient offensive player, and if the Knicks do use the amnesty clause on him, at least one of the teams under the cap figures to place a bid on Billups for this season. The Clippers and Kings come to mind immediately, in part because they have the space for pretty big bids and varying degrees of need at the position.
? Chandler leaving Dallas shifts the 2011-12 title picture dramatically. The Mavericks cannot win the title without him, even if they land Billups via a Chandler sign-and-trade, as Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested they might try to do. Brendan Haywood is a decent big man who can protect the rim, but he lacks Chandler’s ability as a pick-and-roll threat on offense and can’t touch Chandler a pick-and-roll disruptor on defense. Ask LeBron James.
? Ah, Chris Paul, the wild card here. Paul has made it clear he’d be much more amenable to staying long-term with a team that lands his former teammate Chandler. Is that New York’s play here? Perhaps. But with Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony on board for 2012-13, plus Toney Douglas (the only real point guard left here without Billups), Iman Shumpert, Landry Fields and roster filler, the Knicks would not have the cap room to offer Paul much — if anything — as a free agent. To repeat for delusional New York fans: The Knicks would not have cap room to chase Paul in free agency if they keep the Chandler/Stoudemire/Anthony trio.
Something must give here. Perhaps New York has given up on Paul in hopes of landing a lower-priced point guard with the mid-level exception in the summer. A ring-chasing Steve Nash comes to mind, and Nash will be a free agent after this season. The Knicks could also be fine with the Stoudemire/Chandler/Anthony core, reasoning Chandler is precisely the kind of defensive anchor these two defense-challenged stars need in order to compete with the league’s best teams. Even so: You need a primary ball-handler. Melo can run a decent pick-and-roll from 20 feet out, but the Knicks need a floor-spacer who can control the offense every time down the floor. Melo can’t do that. Who can? Douglas is a nice player and a capable shooter, but he has not shown he can play this role 40 minutes per game on a good team. Shumpert, all hype aside, is a rookie who disappointed in college.
Which brings us to the most dramatic possibility: Are the Knicks ready and willing to deal Anthony or Stoudemire for Paul? The Hornets are doing due diligence on Rajon Rondo, Boston’s primary Chris Paul trade bait, and at this very second, it appears Paul’s other suitors (the Warriors and Clippers) aren’t ready to part with the pieces New Orleans wants most — Stephen Curry and Eric Gordon. Is it possible the Knicks feel they can step into the void with Anthony or Stoudemire? Neither is an ideal rebuilding piece, but both are legitimate All-Star players. Anthony is 27, so he’s not young anymore, and he’s an indifferent defensive player who compromises his own prodigious scoring ability by too often stopping the ball and jacking bad mid-range jumpers. Still: He is a centerpiece scorer who can draw fouls in bunches, attract double-teams and work as the foundation of a top offense.
Stoudemire is a more unique offensive talent — a power forward who can hurt you inside and as a pick-and-pop threat. But he’s older (29) with a history of bad knees (though the history is getting distant now), and he has never progressed into an adequate defender. He works hard on that end, but he has never had a good understanding of angles and positioning.
Still, if I’m the Knicks, I’m working hard to flip Anthony to the Hornets for Paul. The Paul/Stoudemire/Chandler trio is a natural fit. Chandler is an ace defender who can cover for Stoudemire and draw attention when the Knicks have the ball by rolling to the hoop. Stoudemire can take advantage of that attention by rotating into space for jumpers and serving as New York’s primary pick-and-roll threat. Paul can orchestrate it all the way he has done it for years, only now he’d have two different big man threats, just as he did in 2007-08, when he, Chandler and David West led the Hornets to 56 wins behind one of the league’s half-dozen best offenses. Paul is a better shooter now than he was then, and if you give him two complementary pick-and-roll threats, you’ve got the makings of a top-three offense.
You could certainly work with a Paul/Anthony/Chandler trio, but the pieces don’t fit as nicely. Anthony and Paul are both “starters,” in that they both have preferred to initiate things.
And all of this might be moot if the Lakers swoop in and acquire Paul today or tomorrow, something they are reportedly trying to do using Pau Gasol as the bait in a three-team deal, per SI.com’s Sam Amick and Chris Mannix.
What then, New York? Stay tuned.
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