knicks1248 wrote:

October 13th, 2016 at 4:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder
The Knicks will re-sign forward Cleanthony Early, sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Early will likely start his season in the D-League as he continues his rehab from a hamstring injury, Charania adds.

The 6’8″ Early, 25, has played both of his NBA seasons with New York. He appeared in 17 games last season, including two starts, and averaged 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 9.1 minutes. During the 2014/15 campaign, he appeared in 39 games, including seven starts, and averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.6 minutes.

The Knicks have mulled bringing back Early for quite some time and ultimately decided to give the former second-round pick another chance. They renounced their rights to him in early July in order to sign high-profile free agents, including Joakim Noah.

Early’s 2015/16 season was marred by an incident in late December which he was shot in the right knee and robbed. He did not return to action until the beginning of April.

Early’s hamstring injury occurred prior to the summer league, preventing him from participating with the Knicks’ entry in Orlando in July, and is apparently still affecting him. He’ll eventually give new coach Jeff Hornacek another option at the small forward spot.

not sure why

Might be because Early can run the floor. We were near the bottom of the league in fast break pts last season. A big reason was PG play. Maybe with Rose and Jennings in the mix, Phil believes that this new roster will do a better job of exploiting Early's talents. Noah is also an excellent outlet passer.

Finestrg wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Nice. I think they can protect four players from training camp from the d league draft. Tokoto, Early, and Inglis definitely seem like guys signed to play in Westchester. It will be interesting to see if they plan on using a roster spot on Baker and/or Randle. If they do is a spot opened up with a trade, waiving Lou, or NDour or Plumlee not making the roster.

Hopefully we all get what we want out of this. Sasha on the roster for everyone who likes him, then N'Dour, Plumlee, Randle AND Baker (the last 4 being essential for me unless there's an outside chance we can come up with something better than Randle last minute, i.e. the Bulls waive Spencer Dinwiddie, Elliot Williams gets waived by GS, etc.). What might make all this work--N'Dour and Plumlee already getting guaranteed contracts. They got good money--most players of their type don't get guaranteed money. Now maybe they'd be ok going to Westchester, even playing the whole year there if need be, but not on the 15-man--then there'd be room to carry everyone else. Hopefully that's the goal: to keep everyone in the mix here one way or another. If that's what Phil's aiming for here--that's pretty smart. Thing is--I really like the way Plumlee's playing. Kinda want him on the 15-man right away ready to go, definitely ahead of O'Quinn, maybe even ahead of Willy. Never thought I would've said that a couple of weeks ago. I think Marshall's looked that good.

knicks1248 wrote:

October 13th, 2016 at 4:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder
The Knicks will re-sign forward Cleanthony Early, sources told Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Early will likely start his season in the D-League as he continues his rehab from a hamstring injury, Charania adds.

The 6’8″ Early, 25, has played both of his NBA seasons with New York. He appeared in 17 games last season, including two starts, and averaged 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 9.1 minutes. During the 2014/15 campaign, he appeared in 39 games, including seven starts, and averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.6 minutes.

The Knicks have mulled bringing back Early for quite some time and ultimately decided to give the former second-round pick another chance. They renounced their rights to him in early July in order to sign high-profile free agents, including Joakim Noah.

Early’s 2015/16 season was marred by an incident in late December which he was shot in the right knee and robbed. He did not return to action until the beginning of April.

Early’s hamstring injury occurred prior to the summer league, preventing him from participating with the Knicks’ entry in Orlando in July, and is apparently still affecting him. He’ll eventually give new coach Jeff Hornacek another option at the small forward spot.

not sure why

Finestrg wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Nice. I think they can protect four players from training camp from the d league draft. Tokoto, Early, and Inglis definitely seem like guys signed to play in Westchester. It will be interesting to see if they plan on using a roster spot on Baker and/or Randle. If they do is a spot opened up with a trade, waiving Lou, or NDour or Plumlee not making the roster.

Hopefully we all get what we want out of this. Sasha on the roster for everyone who likes him, then N'Dour, Plumlee, Randle AND Baker (the last 4 being essential for me unless there's an outside chance we can come up with something better than Randle last minute, i.e. the Bulls waive Spencer Dinwiddie, Elliot Williams gets waived by GS, etc.). What might make all this work--N'Dour and Plumlee already getting guaranteed contracts. They got good money--most players of their type don't get guaranteed money. Now maybe they'd be ok going to Westchester, even playing the whole year there if need be, but not on the 15-man--then there'd be room to carry everyone else. Hopefully that's the goal: to keep everyone in the mix here one way or another. If that's what Phil's aiming for here--that's pretty smart. Thing is--I really like the way Plumlee's playing. Kinda want him on the 15-man right away ready to go, definitely ahead of O'Quinn, maybe even ahead of Willy. Never thought I would've said that a couple of weeks ago. I think Marshall's looked that good.

you can sign 15, keep 2 inactive and I believe those two can play in the dleague. My vote would be for Baker and NDour to get big minutes in Westchester and wait to get called up when someone goes down

Understood. My fear would be sending a player(s) down to Westchester not on the 15-man without a guaranteed contract, "unprotected" basically, and expect to keep said player(s) for the duration of the year. Now with the guaranteed money we gave to Plumlee and N'Dour, I feel like we went outside the box a little with such a move where even if they didn't make the 15-man, I feel like the loyalty will still be there where these two will stick around in the DL even if another team came calling. I feel like Phil improved our overall flexibility giving those two guaranteed money. We have a greater shot at keeping all of these guys now.

You and I agree. What is a handshake worth?

Nalod wrote:I like this move.
If he does well he can come back , or move on.

Without attempting to sound cynical, genuinely, how many Tweeeners make it in the league. I'll go first...Dray Green... your turn?

anrst wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:I always question what we see in players like Early, Sasha, and admundson, that 29 other teams could careless about

bingo

Bingo bongo. Public sentiment and an ingrained love of mediocrity. Or 32 wins. Whichever comes first.