Nope, tanking means losing as many games as possible for a better pick in the draft. You saw how upset people got when THJR was out there playing his ass off and the Knicks won
Yeah, this post lacks context. The reason people were pissed about the THJR game is because the season was lost, he'd be trash all year, and his gunning/scoring in the last few games possibly cost the Knicks Karl Towns.
I'm kind of amazed that people still want to paint "tanking" in a broad stroke, in order to make their point, when the knicks have been losing consistently for 15 years with no plan.
Shmeelk lays it out pretty clearly here, you can have good young players who play hard, learn to function in an offensive and defensive system, improve as players, and likely still lose games -- and have it be net positive.
Schmeelk: It’s Time For The Knicks To Embrace The Tank
Of course, if this young team jumped up and played well (unlikely with the talent deficit, but still) that would be great too! I'd rather them be better than worse -- but you don't want to make future crippling choices and end up with 36 wins.
Embracing a full rebuild for once, is the best thing for the team. Young guys can play hard, compete together - we can see if we can find ancillary parts/rotation pieces in our undrafted/second round/G-League rosters, and next year you'll add another top talent. Then you actually have something to any potential free agents.
It's fitment/roster management basics.
Would yall deal Willy for Smart if we were able to sign Noel?
Since Noel isn't offensively gifted but will provide a solid defensive complement to Porzingis, would a line up of Smart, Frank, ?, KP, Noel be promising moving into the future?
Again, I'm not looking to be flamed or acting like I'm on a pedestal here, just want yall ideas?
I actually think we'd like Marcus Smart a lot, he's a goon who can defend almost anyone in the NBA.
A Smart/Wily deal would make a good deal of sense for the Knicks on paper, but you gotta consider how KP is going to feel about having his boy traded. The last year was such a disaster that you have to factor that stuff in now... Keeping KP happy and surrounding him with talent are the two most important things we can do, and they might be conflicting with that deal.
As far as Noel, my biggest concern would be: In the end, KP may be most dynamic at the 5. So playing them together might not be as good a fit as it seems on paper. You might be able to bypass it, considering how offensively, KP takes on the role of the 4... but it would take a deft hand to make sure you still had all the spacing you needed. Because Noel can't score at all.