If you look at all of the salaries--there will only be two clubs under the salry cap next year--so iut is posible the MLE might be able to yield a player that may have commanded more in a year where more money is availble.

My list
1 Monta Ellis G Golden state age 21
2 Shaun Livingston PG LA Clippers age 22
3 Jose Calderon PG Toronto age 26
4 Louis Williams G Philly age 21
5 Beno Udirih PG Sacremento age 23
6 Josh Childress CF Atlanta age 25

Why can't they make contracts simple? People don't get paid for the work they do. They get paid on seniority.

Happy New Years New York!!!

2008 is here!

[Edited by - 4949 on 01-01-2008 12:03 AM]

Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon will probably get more then an MLE but if we could swing it I would defintely go after those two more then anyone.

Nice little group. Im a big childress fan but the knicks gotta chop some contracts off the books.......right now childress could start for the Knicks.

we're more than an mle signing away from being halfway decent- I'd love to get a guy like Monta Ellis on an MLE deal - but we need to worry about finding our own version of Monta in the draft.

Credit for Calderon? That would be his parents.

Posted by BRIGGS:

If you look at all of the salaries--there will only be two clubs under the salry cap next year--so iut is posible the MLE might be able to yield a player that may have commanded more in a year where more money is availble.

My list
1 Monta Ellis G Golden state age 21
2 Shaun Livingston PG LA Clippers age 22
3 Jose Calderon PG Toronto age 26
4 Louis Williams G Philly age 21
5 Beno Udirih PG Sacremento age 23
6 Josh Childress CF Atlanta age 25

how about Ron Artest? can't he opt out after this year? he's always said he wants to play for the Knicks & would be open to signing a MLE contract to come here... a sign & trade is the more likely scenario tho, i'll give u that.

of your list, i think both Ellis & Williams will be retained by their respective teams unless they get a higher than MLE offer from someplace else, which we can't get involved with anyway unless we engage their teams in sign & trades just like Artest... Childress is a possibility, but really, do we need him? he's a pretty good player but will he make a difference? i doubt it... i'd rather see what Chandler & Balkman can do w/the SF spot next year than sign yet another swingman to this already glutted roster unless he's a real impact level player, which Artest is... forget about Udrich & Calderon, Isiah isn't exactly a fan of Euro players from the looks of it... & as talented as Livingston is, man i have a hard time committing all those dollars to that kid after his history of injuries, especially the last one where his leg pretty much snapped in two & was being held together by his skin... that was 1 of the nastiest sports injuries i'd ever seen.

raptors will re-sign jose 100% guaranteed.

quick thread hi-jack about the tj/calderon debate:

The secret to revitalizing the Raptor offence may lie with the slight young gentleman who’s been watching games for the past few weeks either on television or from the end of the bench in street clothes.

While a 97-92 victory in New Orleans on Monday to usher in the new year presented some reason for optimism, things may not get entirely back to normal until the kid returns.

T.J. Ford, as key to what Toronto does on offence as anyone else on the roster, not only gets points on his own but his ability to create for others could jump-start an offence that has been hit-and-miss for almost a month. It’s all well and good that Jose Calderon has done such an admirable job as the starting point guard but Ford’s absence has been crippling.

"What people fail to realize now is Jose is still averaging about the same but you take T.J. Ford’s 15 points out," said coach Sam Mitchell, inflating Ford’s per-game pre-injury scoring total by about a point.

"How do we make up those? Not just the 15 points but his 82 per cent from the free-throw line and the fact ..... if we were struggling, T.J. could get to the free-throw line because he could force a guy to foul him or he could create an easier shot."

Getting fouled and creating easy shots is not something the Raptors have been good at this season. They stand around too often and shoot jump shots; they are dead-last in the NBA in free throws attempted per game.

"We have to try to get into the bonus earlier because that way you get easy points that way, all the ticky-tack fouls, you go to the free-throw line," said Mitchell.

"That doesn’t sound like much but it is. Now, as a defender, if we as a team put you in the bonus with seven minutes to go in the quarter, as a defender on the court and as a coach, I’m telling my guys, we can’t make cheap fouls, we become less aggressive.

"Now it changes how you can play. Now every time you make a mistake or commit a touch foul coming over the back trying to offensive rebound, you give up six, eight points that way."

And six or eight points can often be the difference between winning and losing. On Monday in New Orleans, for instance, they iced the game at the line – shooting bonus free throws in the last three minutes – and had attacked the basket with more abandon than they had in any of their previous six games.

Mitchell had tweaked the offence just a little bit in a 75-minute practice Sunday and Monday’s hour-long game-day shootaround, making enough subtle changes to free up Anthony Parker for his best game. And with another solid contribution from Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani’s best game in a month, the Raptors were able to steal a road win.

Calderon, while skilled, doesn’t possess Ford’s ability to break down the defence, which creates space for open shooters and enough movement among defenders that other Raptors should be able to get the basket more freely.

"As well as Jose is playing – and Jose has been unbelievable – the combination of Jose and T.J. was giving us about ..... 30 points and 12 to 15 assists," said Mitchell. "How do you make that up?

"The thing about T.J. is he could still finish over guys. That’s what used to shock guys, a guy that small getting into the paint, well, if you didn’t come aggressive and challenge his shot, T.J. could rise above you and score. Or he’d get to the free-throw line, or he’d suck the defence in and he’d make a pass."

This is team is way to far gone to bring in Ron Artest. The players don't want to be here and putting guys like Zach Marbury Artest Q Rich etc.. together is a stronger recipe for disaster. I kind of thought we could do a little reshaping but I am wrong. This is needs to be ripped down and brought back to life. Getting a good draft pick or two and a good young player with an MLE[if I cannot i wont spend it] Of course when I say a Shaun Livingston--I want to see him healthy. Antonio Mcdyess probably had a worse injury and he was a GREAT MLE. Hopefully nhis body has matured a bit as well--he's still only 22. The LA Clippers are to cheap to sign him to that--it's a bit of a risk--like Mcdyess[if healthy]