BigDaddyG wrote:How are you guys feeling about DeAngelo Russell on a prove it deal? He's boys with KAT and could provide minutes as an offensive hub for the second unit. Sucks as a defender tho. This assuming he opts out.

Never liked his game

Knixkik wrote:My absolute best best case scenario is both Horford and Chris Paul. Horford signs for the TPMLE and Leon convinces his buddy Chris Paul to finally come play here and win a championship for the minimum.

C Horford
PF Towns
SF Anunoby
SG Bridges
PG Brunson

Hart
CP
Deuce
Mitch bench rotation

Kolek
Hukporti
Dadiet
McCullar

Now that’s the ideal team to try to win a title with

Its a good look actually. I might go with Mitch as starting. Al has a nice jumper and some range and I believe can play with Mitch if needed. I like Huk with Towns from what little I saw with them. Of that Trio of Mitch, Al, Kat someone will be injured and Huk will get minutes.

Who finishes the game? Maybe its who we playing that will dictate that on a nightly basis.

Nalod wrote:

Knixkik wrote:My absolute best best case scenario is both Horford and Chris Paul. Horford signs for the TPMLE and Leon convinces his buddy Chris Paul to finally come play here and win a championship for the minimum.

C Horford
PF Towns
SF Anunoby
SG Bridges
PG Brunson

Hart
CP
Deuce
Mitch bench rotation

Kolek
Hukporti
Dadiet
McCullar

Now that’s the ideal team to try to win a title with

Its a good look actually. I might go with Mitch as starting. Al has a nice jumper and some range and I believe can play with Mitch if needed. I like Huk with Towns from what little I saw with them. Of that Trio of Mitch, Al, Kat someone will be injured and Huk will get minutes.

Who finishes the game? Maybe its who we playing that will dictate that on a nightly basis.

It'll be the Thibs Gone Wild version of himself where Mitch/Al switch both starting and finishing based on opponent and flow. Huk gets the scrap minutes.

Horford would also be a good backup PF next to Mitch.

Knixkik wrote:My absolute best best case scenario is both Horford and Chris Paul. Horford signs for the TPMLE and Leon convinces his buddy Chris Paul to finally come play here and win a championship for the minimum.

C Horford
PF Towns
SF Anunoby
SG Bridges
PG Brunson

Hart
CP
Deuce
Mitch bench rotation

Kolek
Hukporti
Dadiet
McCullar

Now that’s the ideal team to try to win a title with

If we stay the course something like this is the best way to pad the margins around the current core.

We add basketball IQ, vocal veteran leadership, ball handling, defense, depth, and more versatility in double big lineups.

In a lot of ways this team is like the Melo/Amare/JR pairing which was talented, awkward, defensively deficient and had by far it's best season when you stacked high IQ veterans around it. Brunson and KAT are better than that pairing so the ceiling is much higher. But the overall theme is kind of similar right now.

We have a tradable 1st and Mitch/Hart/Deuce essentially to make those kind of trades.

We basically have the starphucking lane with guys like Giannis and KD.
We have the "stay the course" lane with vets and cheap labor.

The mid tier lane needs to be considered as well. Boston traded their "heart and soul" Marcus Smart and a pick for KP which took them from ECF to champion. What could Hart and a 1st net us on the market? I honestly see a lot of similarities in Smart, and Hart, and their meaning to the pre 2024 Celtics and the current Knicks respectively. And also the need to maybe make the tough decision to move on and package the contract with a pick for the final missing piece for this team.

martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:My absolute best best case scenario is both Horford and Chris Paul. Horford signs for the TPMLE and Leon convinces his buddy Chris Paul to finally come play here and win a championship for the minimum.

C Horford
PF Towns
SF Anunoby
SG Bridges
PG Brunson

Hart
CP
Deuce
Mitch bench rotation

Kolek
Hukporti
Dadiet
McCullar

Now that’s the ideal team to try to win a title with

This is the easiest path forward. Most likely too?

I'd be good with Malcolm Brogdon or Tyus Jones off bench too.

Yeah I could see getting 1 of Horford, Kornet, or Boucher and 1 of Paul, Jones, Brogdon, Dinwiddie as the easiest path. Add 2 useful vets who fill roles. The question is 1 probably takes the TPMLE and the other settles for the minimum, and who’s willing to do that. But if we can convince 2 from this group to join our current top 7, that is ideal.

Also, from a math perspective, if we add 2 of these players but keep the high salary earner to about 4.5M instead of the full 5.7M exception, we can add a third vet on a minimum such as Shamet or Wright. Then the last 2 spots can be left open for 2-way guys or second round exception contracts such as McCullar, our 2nd round pick this year, or maybe even James Nnaji?

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Another lane we need to consider, is the lane similar to Boston trading for Jrue and KP. They basically made a couple mid tier trades, for guys who were maybe a little undervalued at the time but were prior all star level guys.

We have a tradable 1st and Mitch/Hart/Deuce essentially to make those kind of trades.

We basically have the starphucking lane with guys like Giannis and KD.
We have the "stay the course" lane with vets and cheap labor.

The mid tier lane needs to be considered as well. Boston traded their "heart and soul" Marcus Smart and a pick for KP which took them from ECF to champion. What could Hart and a 1st net us on the market? I honestly see a lot of similarities in Smart, and Hart, and their meaning to the pre 2024 Celtics and the current Knicks respectively. And also the need to maybe make the tough decision to move on and package the contract with a pick for the final missing piece for this team.

I feel like trading Hart could backfire, not only because of the intangibles he brings, but because he's Brunson's best friend. He's also played in 158 out of a possible 164 games the past 2 seasons. He's an ironman.

Hart's contract is too good as well. You have to have a few high motor guys on your team. Feel like Hart IS the middle class intangible guy on the roster. You can't beat $20M per at his production.