Right now - the Knicks have not shown they can consistently play with or beat the top seven teams in the league. Everyone else they are right with or better than. But PHX, DEN, LAC, UTAH, BKLYN, PHI, MIL - I'm not sure they are there yet. One more shot to prove they are vs. LAC.

And just for the record since people are seeing this as a criticism. It isn't. No one should expect this team to be with that elite group yet. They made huge unexpected progress just to vault into that second tier. HUGELY successful season. Can still win a 4/5 playoff series.

People are asking me why. It is simple. Talent. The Knicks second best player depending on the night is a 32 year old Derrick Rose or 20 year old RJ Barrett. Now compare that to the 2nd and 3rd best players on the other teams on that list. It isn't close.

The Knicks have a bunch of cap space to add players and a bunch of draft assets for a trade. They are now an attractive destination. Their talent will improve if the front office operates the right way. So far they've shown the ability to do so. Rome was not built in a day.

LOL - some of the replies to what I thought was a pretty reasonable non-controversial thread.