If I told you the Knicks make the playoffs next year without making a trade, what would you have assumed had happened?
- 8th seed only required <40 wins
- Randle put up last year's numbers, maybe with a touch more efficiency from range
- Mitch led the league blocked shots/altered, and played well enough otherwise to justify starter minutes
- Bullock shot 40% from range while taking on the main defensive perimeter assignment every night
- RJ is at worst second in ROY voting, shot better than 40%, wasn't a typical 19-year-old disaster on D
- Portis accepted his role as a bench scoring machine
and most of all
- DSJ made a DeAaron Fox type leap and was in the mix for MIP, and one of Knox/Trier/Ntilikina joined him in the MIP conversation
I think none of those are individually infeasible, but it would take luck beyond what I've ever seen in a Knicks team for all those things to happen. If even two of the Mitch/RJ/DSJ scenarios happen, I'll consider the season an unqualified success.