NBA Trade Deadline a Waiting Game For Many Knicks
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Julius Randle has devised an ingenious plan to occupy himself between now and 3 PM EST, when the NBA trade deadline puts an end to the suspense about the immediate future for both Randle and his teammates.
"We'll see what happens,' Randle told reporters following practice on Wednesday. "I'm honestly going to go home and I'm sure my three-year-old will keep my mind occupied. So I've got enough to deal with at the house."
But Randle, who is on his third team in six seasons — not to mention the subject of numerous rumors himself every time the rumor mill picks up speed — serves as a voice in the locker room, instructive to to his younger teammates.
"I told them earlier in the year, things can happen," Randle said. "Just in my short career before I got here, how much change I've experienced with the rosters and organization and teams I've been on. Anything can be happening and you can't be surprised by anything."
Randle expressed a desire to stay in New York, which was echoed by Elfrid Payton, also the subject of trade rumors. Then again, Payton was drafted by Scott Perry in Orlando, and with Perry now calling the shots, the chances of Payton staying in town seemingly improved.
"I feel like Scott's a good leader," Payton said Thursday. "He's somebody I trust right now."
In Payton's mind, the 15-36 Knicks have displayed enough promise to earn more time together as a group. He pointed out the two straight wins, the close losses to the Lakers and Sixers — that late blown call leading to Philadelphia triumph still rankles inside the locker room — and it's easy to understand why the point guard, coming off a triple-double, wants to keep things as they are.
But it is also easy to understand why Perry wants to deal some of the expiring contracts, which will be little more than ancillary assets to the long-term build once the trade deadline comes and goes, but this morning, can be turned into draft picks and young, team-controlled players for years to come.
Randle gets it, too. He wants Marcus Morris Sr. to stay, he said, but he also knows that might not happen.
"I don't make those decisions," Randle said. "I would love for him to stay, obviously. But like I said, I don't make those decisions. He's had a great year, I'm sure whatever happens, he'll be fine. He'll be happy. So, we'll see."
But the bottom line is that the organization needs to be thinking in different terms than its players. It is impossible to succeed in the NBA without a laser focus on that moment — to max out effort in the next practice, to learn that night's opponent, their tendencies and weaknesses, through film, to get physically ready for the battle ahead.
Scott Perry isn't thinking that way today, though. And Randle knows it.
"I don't really think you can put it on one season," Randle said. "I don't think things are made or broken in one season. Like I said, I don't make those decisions, and I can't assume as well. So whatever decision was made, was made by the people who made those decisions."
By this evening, in Orlando, Randle will find out what those decisions mean for the players around him in that locker room.
