NEW YORK _ With their 17-65 season thankfully over, the Knicks no longer need to voice the pretenses of focusing on the game in front of them and pretending to ignore the much more important summer season.
The purpose of the season was not exactly a tightly guarded secret, discarding talent and veterans and putting the ball in the hands of a trio of rookies and a bunch of former first-round picks discarded by their former teams. The Knicks still won't admit it, but they put a team on the floor with the purpose of doing exactly what they achieved _ losing a lot and earning the best chance they could at the top spot in the upcoming NBA draft.
While they wait for the May 14 lottery to determine whether it worked or not, they also are now watching the postseason as closely as any fans, scouting out the potential free-agent targets that they can splurge on with their accumulated salary cap cash.
