Drummond, Konchar, and the math of defending a title on a budget

The Knicks keep adding bodies. John Konchar signed on as a camp veteran, joining Andre Drummond — one year, $3.9 million — as the primary answers to the frontcourt hole Mitchell Robinson left when he took Boston's three-year, $47.4 million offer in July. Exhibit 10 signings have filled out the lower rungs of the roster. None of it is glamorous. All of it is necessary.

Robinson averaged 8.3 rebounds and shot nearly 70 percent from the field last season, and the Knicks' attempt to replace him with a two-year offer sheet to Moussa Cisse was matched by Dallas inside 48 hours. So the plan is Drummond, internal options, and Karl-Anthony Towns carrying a heavier frontcourt burden — which is workable until it isn't. Towns is a legitimate anchor at that position, but Robinson's rim-running and rebounding were a specific kind of cheap that doesn't get replicated by committee.

The other clock, of course, is Brunson's wrist. He had surgery in early July and his availability for the start of camp remains unclear. A team that ran through the Finals on his 25.6 points and 6.6 assists per game can absorb a lot of roster thinness if he's healthy. The depth signings matter more if he's not.

The Knicks are doing what defending champions on compressed payrolls always do: fill the margins with veterans willing to take short money for a ring shot, and hope the core holds. The core is good enough. The question heading into camp is simply how much of it will be available when the games start.