Knicks won’t rush Porzingis or future building plans

Kristaps Porzingis is back with his teammates, though the New York Knicks don't know when he'll be back on the court.

Joakim Noah won't be back, though the terms of his departure still are being negotiated.

So while there are questions, the Knicks also feel they have certainty with the way they are building their team.

They insist their future first-round draft picks will be used to select players for their own team, not to be dangled in trades that could land them an established player.

"We're committed to following a plan and not just shifting and pivoting because we see something that we think is attractive and might fast track something," Knicks president Steve Mills said Thursday. "I've seen that happen and go wrong too many times and that's not what we're going to do."

It's happened in New York, where the Knicks traded young players and future assets in 2011 to acquire Carmelo Anthony, rather than sign him the following summer as a free agent with the cap space they had. This time, they say they will wait for the summer of 2019, when Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard could be among the free agents — even if one of them suddenly became available by trade now.

They will be patient with Porzingis, their All-Star forward who is still recovering from a torn ACL in February. He is back in New York and working out with his teammates, but faces more testing and rehab before the Knicks know when he can play.

Elton Brand introduced as Sixers GM

Only two years out of the NBA, Elton Brand is set to return to the league as a 39-year-old general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

For a franchise that underwent the painful "Process" for a few seasons and had its last GM caught up in a Twitter scandal, a youth movement in the front office could be what the Sixers need to take the next step into Eastern Conference contention.

Brand is ready to help lead the way.

"I'm going to rely on my team," Brand said. "Not just on the court, but the off-the-court team. I can't keep saying it enough. In my opinion, we are one of the top groups in the NBA."