On June 30th, it was reported that the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have agreed to a trade in principal. The Knicks will receive former 1st-overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Andrea Bargnani and the Raptors would receive Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, and the Knicks 2016 1st round draft pick.
Bargnani is a 7-footer, who plays a smaller than his size, and has a career average of 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds over 7 NBA seasons. He will be able to space the floor well with Carmelo Anthony, and also helps form a deep and scary front-court of Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, and Amar’e Stoudemire.
Since Knicks Coach Mike Woodson barely used Novak in the playoffs, this can be seen as an overall upgrade. My one criticism of Coach Woodson in this years playoffs was the fact that he played Novak and Copeland throughout the regular season, but they were barely spotted in both the 1st round against the Boston Celtics and the 2nd round against the Indiana Pacers. Bargnani has a much more polished overall game than Novak, and is also a very good 3 point shooter. They only knack on Bargnani is that he does not add the overall physical toughness the Knicks lacked in their playoff series against the Pacers.
I see this trade for the Knicks as being a risky one, but one that can work out well. Now the Knicks have tremendous depth in the front-court and insurance in case Amar’e’s knees cannot hold up for a full season. Bargnani has 2-years and $23 million left on his contract, which will expire in the summer of 2015. The summer of 2015 will be a big year for the Knicks as Chandler’s, Stoudemire’s and Anthony’s contracts all expire as well.
Justin Lerner: PureSportsNY