In NBA arms race, Knicks still deciding whether to fight

In the wake of the Knicks move to cut ties with Phil Jackson on the eve of free agency, general manager Steve Mills was left to pick up the pieces and try to move the franchise forward. But as money has been thrown around and new powerhouses created and other teams stripped, Mills has been silent on the sidelines.

The Knicks don’t have the money to be players for the big name players, the assets to find themselves ni a major trade or the allure to even attract interest from players interested in winning. The rich have gotten richer and even the young teams with potential like the Sixers have become a destination.

For the Knicks, the best hope is that addition will come simply from subtracting their top executive.

The first real task for Mills is determining exactly what the Knicks want to be right now. And it’s not an easy answer.

In the last few days before he was fired, Jackson spoke about the path for the Knicks and said, “I think we know what we’re doing. Although it’s not been apparent in our record the last couple of years. We’ve grown from within. We have young players that are on their move up. It takes time to rebuild with youth. .... I think they have confidence in the fact that we’re going to have good players, we’re going to have a good team and we’re going to be on the court competitive.”

The Knicks spoke of building with youth, but it’s not a simple path for Mills to navigate. The roster still is saddled with the change of plans from a year ago when Jackson orchestrated a trade for Derrick Rose and then signed free agents Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings. Jennings was let go during the season to join a playoff team and Rose is a free agent, but one the Knicks are still keeping in contact with as they seek a bridge to what they hope is the future with 18-year-old Frank Ntilikina.

But despite the Knicks efforts to move Noah, with three more years and $54 million left on his contract he’s not going anywhere. Lee is the one veteran who actually could be an attractive chip, a versatile defender and three-point threat. Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis, despite Jackson’s best efforts, are still here.

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While stars are relocating and role players are being paid like stars, the Knicks are in a waiting game for affordable pieces to fall through the cracks. They are currently over the salary cap, but can free up approximately $15 million if they renounce Rose and his $30.3 million cap hold

While the Knicks, with their draft picks still in their possession, may not want to win, it’s worth considering whether a year later, with Jackson no longer in the picture, last year’s plan could actually work.

The Knicks may be looking toward a distant future when Porzingis and Ntilikina usher in - along with a few more lottery picks - a team capable of contending in a post-Warriors superteam era. Still, there is the awkward present when the Knicks have veterans who were supposed to win last year before everything went sideways.

If Anthony holds firm and resists any trade proposal, his heels still dug in from his war with Jackson and a desire to remain in New York through a difficult family time, the Knicks still have a starting lineup that includes Anthony, Lee, Noah, Porzingis and a point guard to be named later. Without the triangle offense being shoved down the throat of the players and coaches, could it work this time?

“Carmelo is still a very good player,” one NBA team executive said. “If he goes to another team I’d think he’ll acquiesce to the star he joins and be very good. But will he do it for them?”

The task to make it work - or not - will fall now to Jeff Hornacek, who was stuck between his own plans and Jackson’s insistence on stepping on his toes with his efforts to prove the triangle offense would work in today’s game. The Knicks shuttled between trying to find a way to fit Anthony, Rose and Porzingis and their offensive abilities into Jackson’s system, while also developing young players like Willy Hernangomez, Justin Holiday and Ron Baker.

“I’m not sure the direct plan, whether we’ll roll with some of these young guys,” Hornacek told reporters at the Orlando Summer League. “Frank’s 18, KP’s only 22, Willy’s 23. That’s a pretty big young nucleus to build with. We just have to see how the roster shakes out.”

Hornacek indicated that the Knicks would retain some of the system from last year while advancing his own plans and he also noted that Porzingis might be ready to step into more of a featured role. If in his third year he can step forward, if Noah is healthy after serving a 12-game suspension to start the season, if Rose returns - recovered from surgery, able to play the style that earned him an MVP in 2011 - and if Anthony plays with the chip on his shoulder he seems to be burdened by, could Hornacek make it work?

“Jeff is a good coach,” an NBA scout said. “He put himself in a bad spot taking the job just to get a job.”

Now, can he redeem himself? The better question is, do the Knicks want him to do it?

Email: popper@northjersey.com