NYY1NYK2 wrote:martin wrote:Dude is making $12+M this year anyway, no way the Knicks could trade for him and it doesn't make sense.
We wouldnt have to trade, pick him up after clearing waivers
That's one way of looking at it. Run the risk of someone else picking him up though. What if they never dump him and then what if they work out a trade with someone else? I mean we could be aggressive and jump on this right now. I actually think trading for him right now makes some sense on a couple of levels. First off on the surface talent-wise, a hypothetical trade of Calderon + Cleanthony Early for Lawson is pretty fair (in our favor actually). I might even include cash too (I believe we still have our full allotment to use in a trade, no?). Lawson's better than Jose obviously but DEN doesn't seem to want him anymore -- to get a decent young sweetener like Early may make it worthwhile. I like it for us for several reasons -- Lawson's coming off a very good year and despite being slightly undersized, he's still a starting caliber PG (15.2 ppg, 9.6 apg -- for perspective, those are comparable numbers to Jeff Teague who was an all-star last year -- Lawson's had good numbers the past 3 years as a matter of fact). Only 2 more seasons left on his contract just like Calderon's so if it didn't work out, it's only 2 years--not like we'd be adding 5 years of extended high salary here. Same length as Calderon's and on the talent upgrade alone, you can certainly argue Lawson would be worth the $4mm difference a year over Calderon, give or take. Speaking of Early, I know he's looked good in SL (ya figure his value is solid right now) but I'm not really a fan to be honest. I actually think Ndour might be a better player -- so if we went 2 for 1 on this trade, we'd open up the extra roster spot to accommodate Ndour, plus maintain the two current open spots to add the guard and big we need (Elliots Williams, O. Galdikas?). It's another talented ready-to-go piece we could surround Melo with (we are still trying to win with this guy despite developing some young players) and like Afflalo, Melo's played with Lawson in Denver so there's some familiarity. I mean Lawson could be good for 5 more wins by himself alone. The more wins we get the weaker the pick we wind up giving Toronto, right? Last year's over -- time to start winning games now and Lawson could help us do that. Plus another thing is we'd be able to bring Jerian Grant along a little slower than what we're looking at right now -- I like Grant but he may not be ready to start right way. Lawson backed up by Jerian Grant would be real solid. Add to that Afflalo & Ledo at the 2 and maybe an Elliot Williams who's versatile enough to play both spots (real athletic and talented too)--the backcourt would finally feel much more complete than it does now. Another thing to consider -- the addition of Lawson, a nice productive PG and assist man, would make us look that more attractive to potential FAs next summer.
There's some hesitation there with Lawson -- what's this his 3rd DWI now, 2 in the last yr? Young man's got some work to do to straighten himself out for sure but it doesn't seem insurmountable. There are guys out there in much worse shape than Ty Lawson. I dunno man -- I think the pluses would outweigh the minuses if we acquired Lawson. Maybe we could even milk a future 2nd round pick out this -- try to sell them that we're talking on salary (saving them salary), talking on a troubled player and giving them a halfway decent prospect in Early.
7/15/2015 8:35 AM