A four-time champion and noted Knicks skeptic believes the gamble for Mikal Bridges will backfire and force team president Leon Rose into another rebuild.
“I just don’t think that group is good enough to beat Boston. Ultimately you’re building a team that you hope can beat Boston. And I don’t think that team is going to beat Boston,” Draymond Green, the Warriors power forward, said on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show.” “So you got a year or two like the Houston Rockets. I don’t know if y’all remember the Rockets when we [the Warriors] were on our run. … You got two years and it’s oops, that didn’t work. Clint Capela is gone. The first domino falls. And then once the first domino falls, that’s it. It’s gone from there. That’s what I think is going to happen. That’s how I see it playing out. If it don’t work, that’s exactly how it will play out. So you heard it here first.”
Green’s reference to the Rockets was about their failed attempts with James Harden past the Western Conference Finals, losing thrice to the Warriors in the playoffs.
The dismantling of that Houston squad — which started with Capela being traded to the Hawks — set off a current streak of four straight years out of the playoffs, which included three years with a winning percentage under .270.
The Knicks, who haven’t advanced to a conference finals since 2000, agreed to give up five future first-rounders and a pick swap to the Nets for Bridges.
It was the boldest move yet from Rose, who had been stockpiling draft picks for an opportunity to land a star.
Bridges falls short of superstardom but is viewed as a perfect fit as a two-way, durable former college teammate of Jalen Brunson.
The upside is a roster construction that will compete with the Celtics and possibly knock them out.
It’s a gamble on Brunson’s stardom, OG Anunoby’s health and Julius Randle’s impact on winning.
Green is betting on the downside.
“The Knicks are in a space where they’re going for it, and I respect it, I think you got to go for it at some point,” Green added. “But what just happened with the trade was that you know if this doesn’t work in two to three years, the Knicks will be rebuilding again because they traded all their picks away, and then they’ll be trying to trade those guys, get picks back and that’s kind of how it all plays out.
“I’m sorry to the Knicks fans but that’s how I actually think it’s going to play out and I don’t think it’s any indictment to Mikal who I think is like a top-tier player in the NBA like you know you got tiers, but damn good player. Jalen Brunson, who is All-NBA, Julius [Randle] who has been All-NBA. Donte [DiVincenzo], nothing but love for Donte, OG [Anunoby], who’s a champion. It’s actually no indictment on any of those guys like — I just don’t think that group is good enough to beat Boston.”
Green was wrong about the Knicks recently, when he emphatically predicted they’d fall to the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs.
“Nobody is stopping [Joel] Embiid,” he declared at the time.
The Knicks won that series in five games.
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