Opinion: The Knicks need to think carefully about Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving is choosing the New York Knicks as one of his preferred trade destinations. Before the Knicks act on this notion, they should think very carefully on past decisions that doomed the team.

If anyone remembers the moves the New York Knicks have made over the past 20 years, you will remember the big splash trades or signings that failed miserably. Names such as Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Amare Stoudemire, and Carmelo Anthony have failed to bring the Knicks to a championship.

Now, besides Francis and Curry, the other 3 stars gave great efforts. Stoudemire’s knees unfortunately took away his all star ability, Marbury didn’t get enough help to bring the Knicks to the playoffs, and the same argument could be made for Melo in the past 3 years. Now the Knicks are looking to make their team ‘young and athletic’ to surround home grown Kristaps Porzingis. This is a plan that should be carried out.

Now just this past week, Cleveland Cavalier Kyrie Irving wants to be traded from his championship team and he named the Knicks as one of his preferred destinations. Based on the direction that the Knicks are looking to go in, it may be a good idea to invest in a 25 year old all star who is considered by many as a top 3 point guard. Although it sounds very intriguing, this may not be a move that the Knicks should look to go all in on. It was already reported that the Knicks will not allow Porzingis to be a part of an Irving deal which is a relief because he is the shining example of how the NBA is evolving and he is someone who can become a top player in the NBA. A big man with the shooting abilities and athleticism Porzingis has is something the league hasn’t seen before but it is something that should be seen more in the future. If Irving comes to the Knicks, it is hard to tell if he can be someone who can elevate the Knicks to becoming a true contender. As unpopular of a belief as this is, the Knicks should not go after him.

The Knicks just drafted someone to become the franchise point guard, his name is Frank Ntilikina. Fans were uncertain about the Knicks’ number 8 pick because he is an 18 year old from France who no one really knows about but he may be the best defender in the entire draft.

The Knicks desperately need to improve their defense and getting Irving would cost the Knicks draft picks and their defense as well. As great of a scoring threat that Irving is, he is a lackluster defender which is something the Knicks cannot afford to have in their starting lineup, especially when the team has one of the worst perimeter defenses in the league.

There most likely won’t be a trade involving Irving or Carmelo for the Knicks because of the return the Knicks would get from these types of trades as well as what they would have to give up. The most sensible trade that would benefit both the Knicks and the Cavaliers would be if there was a Irving for Carmelo trade with the Knicks giving Cleveland some draft picks as well. Unfortunately, rumor has it that he still has the Houston Rockets as his top priority so it would be hard to trade for Irving in a situation where Carmelo is not involved.

Then when the time would come to resign him, there will be no doubt he’ll want that max contract which is something the Knicks would not hesitate to miss. If that were to happen the franchise would have to give up some key pieces in order to have the cap room to sign him to a deal of that magnitude. Carmelo had a situation exactly like that with Phil Jackson and the team ended up having it’s worst record ever that same season. Disagree with this all you like, but if you were a long time Knicks fan like me you would understand that a move like this could very well be deja vu all over again for the already tormented fan base.