As the summer gives way to fall, NBA teams across the league are preparing to open their training camps for the 2016-17 season, all hunting the defending champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Golden State Warriors, who after winning a record 73 games in the regular season were defeated by the Cavaliers 4-3 in the finals.
After holding their annual Media Day this upcoming Monday, the Knicks will commence training camp at the MSG Training Center Tuesday before departing for the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., for a third year, where they will hold practice at Christl Arena from Wednesday through Saturday.
The Knicks hope this year will be the year they make the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
Coming off another sub-.500 campaign in which they finished 32-50, 13th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, the Knicks bolstered their roster with the additions of guards Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings and New York City native forward Joakim Noah to give the team’s star Carmelo Anthony much needed support.
While all three are exceedingly talented and productive when healthy, their recent injury history puts all of them in the status of dubious, particularly Rose, the 2010-2011 league MVP, who was acquired by the Knicks in a trade with the Chicago Bulls in June. Rose, who will turn 28 Oct. 4, is also in the midst of a serious legal issue, as a 30-year-old woman whose identity has remained anonymous to the public has filed a $21.5 million lawsuit against him, accusing Rose and two of his friends of gang-raping her in 2013.
The development of second-year power forward Kristaps Porzingis will also be critical to the Knicks’ fortunes. After emerging as one of the NBA’s best rookies last season, ending it as runner-up to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns for the Rookie-of-the-Year award, the 21-year-old from Latvia seemingly has as high a ceiling as any young player in the game.
But Porzingis also had injury and stamina issues, missing 10 games in contrast to Towns playing in all 82. If the 7-foot-3 Porzingis shows significant improvement—and he was solid last season—on his averages of 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, the Knicks could make a sizable leap in the conference’s pecking order.