My first order of business then would be to coax Melo into opting into his contract to then trade to the Bulls, with the intent of acquiring their two 2014 draft picks and Nikola Mirotic. To maximize the value of that package, I'd try to recruit the Timberwolves and Rockets to be part of the deal sending Kevin Love and Minny's bad contracts to the Rockets, while sending Chandler Parsons, Terrence Jones and a draft pick as principles to the Wolves. More specifically, the deal would look like this with Jimmer Fredette being sign and traded to us for salary cap purposes:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=o6ntpd4

My second order of business would be to move Tyson Chandler to the Thunder for Kendrick Perkins, both their 2014 picks and a few 2nd round picks. Once Dallas gets their cap space, I'd send some cash and Perkins' expirer to them in exchange for a trade exception. With the draft picks, I'd try to condense the 4, into 3 better picks to then select Rodney Hood, Tyler Ennis and Adrien Payne. None of those guys are special but I think they'll have the potential to be very solid pros.

My third order of business would be to flip JR Smith, Raymond Felton and Kenyon Martin to the Nets for Marcus Thorton's expirer. I suspect that Jason Kidd would have a soft spot for these guys since he played with them and can be effective bench players for him in the kind of system he runs.

The fourth order of business would be to flip Chase Budinger, from my first, blockbuster deal for Derrick Williams who I still think could become a star.

I'd hire Steve Kerr to coach and have him start my vets to keep the young'uns hungry and to understand that starting is a privilege. I think this team will suck earlier in the season but would improve as the season wore on but would prefer to tank to see if we can get a franchise changing talent in the draft in 2015.

STARTERS
Jeremy Lin...PG
Marcus Thorton...SG
Derrick Williams...SF
Amar'e Stoudemire...PF
Omer Asik...C

ROTATION
Tyler Ennis...PG
Tim Hardaway Jr. ...SG
Rodney Hood...SF
Nikola Mirotic...F
Adrien Payne...F/C

BENCH
Jimmer Fredette...G
Shannon Brown...G/F
Andrea Bargnani...F/C

no way chandler brings back so much value

no way in hell do the nets take on Felton and JR for an expiring - are we gonna hypnotize them into this?

I would focus on a sign and trade to Chicago or Houston. Take back parsons, asik and Lin.
Try to get rid of chandler and pick up humphries from Boston. He is pretty solid and could be had cheap.

Maybe chandler sucks because of melo, I can't tell.

Then roll the dice.

jrodmc wrote:Melo is too old but your solution includes starting Amare Stoudamire and his fossilized knees? So coax Melo into leaving, but keep Stat? Couldn't you coax some team into taking your revitalized PF as well?
Awesome logic.

Glad you're not Phil.

This team can't take back Melo his contract might cripple the team from becoming a legit contender. I think the Knicks are going to either let Melo walk or Sign and trade him for picks and players. I just don't see Melo in Orange and blue next year. Next year is going to be a tank job which I am all in for. Some monster contract come off the books gives the Knicks more room to sign FA. Turn around will be quick. I can live with this plan and it's a good one that can build the Knicks for the long haul not just a couple of year attempt to create a window for a run. This is what the mistake has always been for the Knicks they have been chasing the window not the championship.

mreinman wrote:2 things:

no way chandler brings back so much value

no way in hell do the nets take on Felton and JR for an expiring - are we gonna hypnotize them into this?

Again, OKC was willing to give up their 29th pick for Iman Shumpert, a guy who is not necessarily a starter in this league. I don't think that them giving up both their 21st and 29th for a starter, who is a top 10 talent at his position, is so far fetch'd. It's the least they can do for having us take back such an abysmal player like Kendrick Perkins.

As for the Nets, taking on JR and Felton is not so daunting a prospect. They are only under contract for 2 more years and combined, are cheaper than Marcus Thornton would be. Kenyon Martin would fill the void left by Reggie Evans nicely and Felton is decent as a third string player that can fill in as 2nd string with injuries; I'd say that he could be the best in the league at that, lol. The real value of the trade is with JR. Thornton is far more consistent and level-headed but like JVG said: "every championship team needs a little crazy on it". That crazy would be JR, who on any given night could morph into the 2nd best player on that team. And if it's any coach and assortment of veteran players that could reach him, it would be Jason Kidd (who runs the same system we did that made JR look like a star) and KG & co.

babyKnicks wrote:Kind of a weak vision of the possibilities.

I would focus on a sign and trade to Chicago or Houston. Take back parsons, asik and Lin.
Try to get rid of chandler and pick up humphries from Boston. He is pretty solid and could be had cheap.

Maybe chandler sucks because of melo, I can't tell.

Then roll the dice.

So you'd do what I just proposed basically? What would be the point in acquiring Parsons, Lin and Asik if we don't have Melo on the team or draft picks to build with?

Vmart wrote:1) S&T Melo to the Lakers for their number one pick. Lakers will be under the cap and can take on Melo and his contract. Knicks in return get a good pick out of the deal.
2) Or send Melo to Rockets for Asik, Parson and Lin.
3) send Melo to Chicago for Butler, Gibson and Hinrich.

This team can't take back Melo his contract might cripple the team from becoming a legit contender. I think the Knicks are going to either let Melo walk or Sign and trade him for picks and players. I just don't see Melo in Orange and blue next year. Next year is going to be a tank job which I am all in for. Some monster contract come off the books gives the Knicks more room to sign FA. Turn around will be quick. I can live with this plan and it's a good one that can build the Knicks for the long haul not just a couple of year attempt to create a window for a run. This is what the mistake has always been for the Knicks they have been chasing the window not the championship.

If you're the Lakers, wouldn't you prefer to trade your pick to the Wolves for Kevin Love who is better than Melo at this point and 3 years younger? That prospect made me sour on the idea of keeping Melo because there are several teams out there that have both the market and assets to attract Kevin Love via trade. We are not among them. And with the prospects of K.Love as a Knick dwindling, what would be the point of keeping Melo?

If you're the Knicks though, why move Melo to the Rockets for Lin, Asik, Parsons? None of those guys are much more than role players so why would you want to make us the Atlanta Hawks and put us in NBA purgatory? There are no star players available via free agency to make that group worthwild, no young players/draft picks to justify having them as your veterans and no hope of being bad enough to get a top 5 lottery pick in 2015, for this to inevitably become the case. I hate the idea of that deal. The same reasoning applies to your Chicago deal for Gibson, Butler (who is nothing more than a bigger Shumpert) and Hinrich. Those deals would be disasters.

NardDogNation wrote:

Nalod wrote:
I think the PHilMelo marriage is preordained.

Phil comes and is ok with Melo as long as Melo is a willing partner to be ZenItized and raise his game. Dolan wants this as he has a marketable star and makes him look good.

If not, then we move in another direction.

Melo was asked to do way too much this season. He did a fine job and stayed healthy. He had a great season.

Its Phils job as the architect of the team to put the pieces together and create a culture. If Melo is a part of that, fine.
If Melo is going to be a low effieicnet no passing one and done star, then its not gonna work.

I don't disagree with what you said at all. We probably could field a competitive team with Melo and an improved assortment of role players. But they wouldn't be a real contender and the possibility of wearing Melo out could turn this into another, 5 year nightmare for us. None of what I'm saying is an indictment against Melo but just a realization that we're not going to do anything productive with him and other teams' castoffs like the Dallas Mavericks.

No, my take is its not a continuattion of what has been. Melo must be a smaller part of a bigger production. This is about employment of the Triange and he a piece of that schematic, not the sole focal point.

NardDogNation wrote:

Vmart wrote:1) S&T Melo to the Lakers for their number one pick. Lakers will be under the cap and can take on Melo and his contract. Knicks in return get a good pick out of the deal.
2) Or send Melo to Rockets for Asik, Parson and Lin.
3) send Melo to Chicago for Butler, Gibson and Hinrich.

This team can't take back Melo his contract might cripple the team from becoming a legit contender. I think the Knicks are going to either let Melo walk or Sign and trade him for picks and players. I just don't see Melo in Orange and blue next year. Next year is going to be a tank job which I am all in for. Some monster contract come off the books gives the Knicks more room to sign FA. Turn around will be quick. I can live with this plan and it's a good one that can build the Knicks for the long haul not just a couple of year attempt to create a window for a run. This is what the mistake has always been for the Knicks they have been chasing the window not the championship.

If you're the Lakers, wouldn't you prefer to trade your pick to the Wolves for Kevin Love who is better than Melo at this point and 3 years younger? That prospect made me sour on the idea of keeping Melo because there are several teams out there that have both the market and assets to attract Kevin Love via trade. We are not among them. And with the prospects of K.Love as a Knick dwindling, what would be the point of keeping Melo?

If you're the Knicks though, why move Melo to the Rockets for Lin, Asik, Parsons? None of those guys are much more than role players so why would you want to make us the Atlanta Hawks and put us in NBA purgatory? There are no star players available via free agency to make that group worthwild, no young players/draft picks to justify having them as your veterans and no hope of being bad enough to get a top 5 lottery pick in 2015, for this to inevitably become the case. I hate the idea of that deal. The same reasoning applies to your Chicago deal for Gibson, Butler (who is nothing more than a bigger Shumpert) and Hinrich. Those deals would be disasters.

The question is if you are overvaluing Melo's worth at this point. I am not sure that we can get that much for him. It would have been smart to trade him at the deadline and maximize our return if the intent was to move him or let him walk.

Phil was here by then so I am not sure what went down. Maybe there was not enough time or a decision was not reached at that point.