Kris Pursiainen's 2020-21 Perfect Knicks Starting Five

I see value in a rebuild as a way of putting together a championship team. Take whatever it is you are starting with, get it down to young assets and short-term contracts, turn whatever assets you have that aren't long-term pieces into more future assets, and add, over the course of a few years, young talent to the team through the draft, free agency, and potentially even the trade market. The Knicks haven't taken this approach to building their team in forever; it's time to take that approach now.

That is why, when putting together my dream starting five for the Knicks in the 2021 season, I took full control of the team and directed them towards a rebuild. I could have gone routes that involved winning as much as possible now or focusing on acquiring talent to win now and in the future, but I chose a good and honest rebuild.

To get things started, I instantly defy the conventions of truly rebuilding a team and turn to the upcoming free agent market to address a large need. The Knicks have long needed someone to run their operations on the offensive end of the court (and do a good job at it). The organization is in such dire need of someone to bring stability as a primary initiator, that it's rumored they are willing to take on the 2 year, $85 million deal owed to Chris Paul in exchange for his services as someone who makes the players around him better. In my own efforts to find the Knicks a starting point guard, I signed Fred Van Vleet. Van Vleet is one of the better free agents in what is an incredibly week class overall, finding himself on the market after averaging 10.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game on 41.1% from the floor and 39.2% from deep for the title-winning Toronto Raptors last season. FVV is someone I'd like to see the Knicks target in free agency, whether they decide to rebuild or be competitive with their young players.

Getting the start at shooting guard in my ideal starting five is soon-to-be NBA sophomore RJ Barrett. This was an easy choice for me to make considering the fact that my Knicks will be prioritizing the development of their youth going forward. Barrett should be starting for the team next season in real life, as well; the club did just invest the third overall pick in last year's draft in his talents. The rookie put up averages of 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game on 40.2% shooting. These are sure to improve in an offense that should have more spacing than last year's thanks to the upgrade from Payton to Van Vleet and the difference in the shooting abilities of Julius Randle and the player I have starting at power forward (spoiler alert: it's not Randle).

With Van Vleet and RJ sharing ball-handling duties and the two big men down low optimally being used as offensive weapons, my starting unit lacks defense on the perimeter. My desire to lose a good amount of games next season in an effort to wind up with Cade Cunningham in New York led me to decide on Moe Harkless as the team's starting small forward. Harkless can't shoot the ball all too well, but Van Vleet and a hopefully-improved RJ Barrett should be able to bring just enough shooting into the backcourt to justify giving the nod here to Harkless. Harkless wouldn't play too many minutes overall in my team's rotation, but would come out with the starting unit as a glue guy on both ends of the floor. In the 12 games Harkless played for the Knicks before the suspension of the season, he almost doubled the number of assists he was averaging from his production earlier in the season with Los Angeles. Harkless should be able to contribute to the team on both ends of the floor simply by being a willing passer, cutting at the right moments, and making intelligent plays on defense.

I should begin this section by saying that due to the fact that my dream path for this team is a rebuild, my dream starting five for next year was bound to include this year's lottery pick. To determine what player I would be mocking to the Knicks, I went to a website that Knicks fans know well: tankathon.com. I simulated the lottery a single time, which resulted in the Knicks landing the eighth pick in the draft. I then used the lottery results given to me by Tankathon and re-did the picks for every team ahead of the Knicks to get a realistic sense of what players would still be available by then. The first seven picks of the draft went like this: Washington, Ball; Golden State, Edwards; Sacramento, Wiseman; Atlanta, Okoro; Cleveland, Avdija; Minnesota, Okongwu; Detroit, Hayes.

With the Knicks on the clock to make the eighth overall selection, I had a tough decision to make. I have always preached that when you are an organization in the position that the Knicks are in now, you need to draft the best player available when you're on the clock in the lottery because passing up on a franchise talent isn't worth addressing a need - when you have as many needs as the Knicks. However, the Knicks have had a need at point guard for the last several years and a 20 year old PG who, in terms of their college careers, compares statistically to Lonzo Ball is available.

Despite the temptation to select Iowa State's Tyrese Haliburton to bring some stability to the point guard position, that need will have to be addressed through another method. The selection is one of the best prospects in the entire draft, Dayton's Obi Toppin. The 6'9" forward averaged 20 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game with a 63.3 FG% last season at Dayton. In a piece for Bleacher Report, Jonathan Wasserman compared Toppin to John Collins and Amar'e Stoudemire.

With Toppin now on the team, my first instinct was to get him opportunities without taking any away from players like RJ, Mitch, Frank, and Knox. To do this, I traded Julius Randle away to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for James Johnson and their second round pick in the 2020 draft. This cleared the path for me to make Obi Toppin my starter for the Knicks at power forward.

It should be easy to guess who it is I want to start at center for the New York Knicks in game 1 of the 2021 season. The answer comes in the form of everyone's favorite goofy seven-footer, Mitchell Robinson. Knicks SI's own David Vertsberger came through with what is one of my favorite pieces written on this site to date, "The era of Mitchell Robinson is here", in late February. This piece followed a home game against Chicago, one for which I was in attendance, and details just how casual a 23 point/10 rebound/2 block outing can be for the young sophomore big-man. The high-flying 22 year old may bring some additional drama along with him now that he's signed with Klutch Sports, but he's still who I would want to have starting for the Knicks next year.

All in all, my starting five ends up being Fred VanVleet, RJ Barrett, Moe Harkless, Obi Toppin, and Mitchell Robinson.