Very well said Vmart. I concur on all counts!

Franco - If Lee's your 4, you need a very specific 5 then correct?

He's got to be able to shoot threes because you need 4 guys who can shoot in a MikeD offense.

He's got to be a great defender to make up for Lee.

He's got to be able to play in a fast break system.

He's got to have some weight to him to be able to play against big centers.

I don't know if that magical player exists.

Camby, Villanueva, Batche, and Wallace are probably the closest matches in different forms.

All I gotta say is Ewing would totally destroy Dwight Howard....no question about it.

Posted by EnySpree:

All I gotta say is Ewing would totally destroy Dwight Howard....no question about it.

There is no doubt about it Ewing was so much more skilled.

Posted by djsunyc:

there is an inherent danger to filling a team out with $8-10 mil players without having the alpha dog in place...

if 2010 is the plan, then you can't re-sign both.

why not? who says you can't resign both this summer and then trade one or the other in 2010? Lots of teams will have cap space to absorb contracts.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

there is an inherent danger to filling a team out with $8-10 mil players without having the alpha dog in place...

if 2010 is the plan, then you can't re-sign both.

why not? who says you can't resign both this summer and then trade one or the other in 2010? Lots of teams will have cap space to absorb contracts.

you're relying on dumping the contract on another team so then what's the point of cap space in 2010 if a trade is required to sign someone?

I am not saying the Knicks are RELYING on dumping a contract on another team but it could be an option if we want to extend Lee, Nate. That's just the realities of it.

At this point if we want to keep Nate, Lee and have cap space, we have relied on dumping contracts - Jamal, Zbo and we still have at least 1 to go.

There are also sign and trade options, no? Let's say we somehow get Curry off the cap cause he is phenomenal next year, and let's say we also extend Lee this summer. No reason the Knicks can't go after LeBron while at the same time trade Lee to a team that has cap space with that team signing Bosh and shipping him to NY.

I think Donnie was calling for cap flexibility, which means some cap space and/or players with value while being around the cap line.

Posted by franco12:

all that was settled last night is Lee is a PF, not a 5, and we badly need a true center.

No truer words have been spoken

If Lee had hit his midrange shot, he would have been OK and would have gotten more minutes.

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

there is an inherent danger to filling a team out with $8-10 mil players without having the alpha dog in place...

if 2010 is the plan, then you can't re-sign both.

why not? who says you can't resign both this summer and then trade one or the other in 2010? Lots of teams will have cap space to absorb contracts.

you're relying on dumping the contract on another team so then what's the point of cap space in 2010 if a trade is required to sign someone?

I am not saying the Knicks are RELYING on dumping a contract on another team but it could be an option if we want to extend Lee, Nate. That's just the realities of it.

At this point if we want to keep Nate, Lee and have cap space, we have relied on dumping contracts - Jamal, Zbo and we still have at least 1 to go.

There are also sign and trade options, no? Let's say we somehow get Curry off the cap cause he is phenomenal next year, and let's say we also extend Lee this summer. No reason the Knicks can't go after LeBron while at the same time trade Lee to a team that has cap space with that team signing Bosh and shipping him to NY.

I think Donnie was calling for cap flexibility, which means some cap space and/or players with value while being around the cap line.

I agree with everything you've written but regarding Bosh, I think only the that an FA previously played for (Toronto in this case) can orchestrate a sign and trade.
Flexibility as you pointed out is the key here, though. Don't give up our top players. Keep Lee and Nate unless you're going to sign Lamar Odom instead of Lee. It will be easy enough to get rid of a player if necessary to get under the cap but keeping them will be good backup insurance in case signing a max contract FA doesn't pan out.