The Knicks were among the big-market teams trying to lure free agent LaMarcus Aldridge this summer. After meeting with New York, however, it became clear from media reports that the Knicks were not on the former Blazers' short list. Aldridge would eventually sign with San Antonio, and later it was reported that the Knicks had asked Aldridge to play center, something Aldridge over the years has resisted. That was pretty much the end of the idea of Aldridge in New York.
What's interesting is what Aldridge said Tuesday at Team USA camp about why the Knicks wanted him to play center: They wanted to keep their power forward position open for their first-round draft pick, Kristaps Porzingis, to get minutes.
“They were saying they wanted me to be more of a center to let their guy develop and I just wasn’t looking to be that,” Aldridge said. “So I was looking to play power forward, and they weren’t really interested.”
By ‘their guy,’ Aldridge was referring to fourth overall pick Porzingis, the 7-foot-3, 19-year-old Latvian slotted for time at power forward. Aldridge, who has played power forward for most of his career, would eat up the minutes at that position and perhaps hinder Porzingis’ development.
“If they’re going to tell me that I have to play center and I don’t want to play center, then of course it’s mutual after that. But before that I was excited to meet with them. I was interested,” Aldridge said. “But they wanted to have their draft pick play and I get it.”
Source: Knicks' Porzingis PF commitment scared off LaMarcus Aldridge - NY Daily News.
On the surface, this is one of those "Knicks gonna Knicks" things. Did they really tell the marquee free agent on the market that if he wanted to play for their lottery squad that he needed to play the position they knew he didn't want to play? They wasted an opportunity to put one of the best power forwards in the league next to Carmelo Anthony! Let's all rabble rabble.
But hold on a second. For years, the Knicks sought short-term fixes to everything. Contending right now was always the objective, and was always urgent. They put the immediate ahead of everything. In this case, the Knicks instead realized the potential of Porzingis, who has been likened to Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant (which is a little over the top), and realized that to put him in the best situation to succeed, they needed to keep the power forward spot open.
It also says something very interesting about how the Knicks see Melo. If the Knicks see Porzingis as a four, pure and simple, and needed a five, that likely means they don't see Carmelo Anthony as a four, which many have argued he's a better fit in that spot. There are arguments on both sides, but the numbers lean heavily toward Melo performing better as a stretch four on both sides of the ball. However, that could have been clouded by the absence of quality talent at the power forward spot, and without the system the Knicks hope to instill with the triangle.
It's an interesting revelation that the team is putting Porzingis first. Although not getting Aldridge does mean the Knicks won't be as good this year as they would have been with the All-Star power forward, it's a positive sign for what Phil Jackson and company are trying to do in New York.
