TMS wrote:looking at the upcoming FA class, there doesn't seem to be a plethora of available PG's to pursue.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FreeAgents-09-10

TJ Ford, Ray Felton, Will Bynum, Kyle Lowry, Jordan Farmar, Derek Fisher, Mario Chalmers (team option), Carlos Arroyo, Eddie House, Luke Ridnour, Rafer Alston, Shaun Livingston, Jason Williams, Patrick Mills, Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, Brevin Knight, Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, Randy Foye, Javaris Crittenton, Mike James & a few other scrubs not worth mentioning.

out of that list, i'd probably prefer to target someone like Randy Foye, Sergio Rodriguez or Javaris Crittenton... i'd really like to have a PG w/some size... Livingston scares me too much w/his fragile body, otherwise he woulda been an ideal option... i think guys like Blake, Lowry or Ridnour wouldn't be bad backup options either.

if Duhon plays out the rest of this season & returns to last year's form, i'd be willing to go as much as 3 years at ~$15 mil, but not if that means i'm losing out on any better FA's... he'd be my last fallback plan if i couldn't attract a better PG to sign here.

What are your preferences?

I'm not sold on Foye like some folks appear to be -- as a point guard.

I loved him out of Nova but he seems to be a tweener - unless I'm missing something.

If I'm talking about a point guard that would best fit next to a great player (Lebron, Wade or J-Johnson) - I think Steve Blake is the best out of the guys on the list because - he's smart, he defends, he knocks down open shots and he doesn't have an ego.

Blake as a short time solution would be a solid pick up....Foye obviously if you are looking to take a gamble on a guy with potential upside. I also like Lowry for his toughness but he can't shoot.

TMS wrote:

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:

TMS wrote:

MS wrote:On board with Foye. Good kid and winner that can hit the big shot play some combo guard and has some size and because washington isn't really playing him could be had for the mid-level exception.

we won't have the MLE this year, but i know what ur saying... we'll only have enough cap space to sign 1 max FA & maybe 2 midlevel FA's this offseason... depending on who else we can get, Foye would be a nice option for us.

One of my favorite NBA columnists is Britt Robson from a Minnesota blog. Foye drove Minnesota fans absolutely crazy and I'm 75% sure that once he becomes a Knick we would hate hate hate the way he plays. Dude is NOT a PG. More of a combo tweener.

well if we get Lebron or Wade to come here we won't really need a PG in the classic sense anyway... we can make due w/a combo G or even an undersized SG playing the point... like i said, it all depends on who else we sign in free agency... if we get someone like Bosh or Amare, then we definitely need someone who can set those guys up for shots in the paint, so Foye might not be the ideal option at that point... if that's the case, i'd probably opt for someone like Blake or Ridnour as a fallback option, but i'd probably look to make a trade for an orchestrating PG first.

This may be a sign of absolute desperation but..I'd love to have Steve Blake on the Knicks. Probably not a starter on a championship level team but..I prefer him to Ridnour because it looks like he plays better defense.

I think a team can win with Blake as their worst starter a la the Lakers with Fisher. He wasn't spectacular but he rarely if ever screwed up on either side of the ball and knew his role. hit some cluuuutch jumpers.

BRIGGS wrote:Shannon Brown 4 years 14mm
CJ Watson 4 years 12.5mm

Cheaper options that are going to come into their own. Cant spend 8mm on a Randy Foye or a Felton[who I dont like anyway] spend 3- 3.5mm

Randy Foye will not receive $8mil. Where are you from?

Juice wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Shannon Brown 4 years 14mm
CJ Watson 4 years 12.5mm

Cheaper options that are going to come into their own. Cant spend 8mm on a Randy Foye or a Felton[who I dont like anyway] spend 3- 3.5mm

Randy Foye will not receive $8mil. Where are you from?

i like Shannon Browne but he's strictly a SG... wouldn't mind bringing him in anyway regardless of who we pick up to play the PG but he'd have to come real cheap... & Foye is not gonna cost no $8 mil per... he's got a $4.8 mil qualifying offer next year... if we offer him a little above that i doubt very much the Wizards would match when they have Arenas, Stevenson & Nick Young under contract for next season.

McK1 wrote:I like the idea of bringing in Foye as lead guard.

However, if dudee is here past the trade deadline and isn't deactivated with a mystery illness then allowed to expire and seek employment in the Ukraine league Walsh should be swirlied till his shriveled sack is froze dry from the wind gusts produced by the toilet whirlwind

haha...WHAT?!!?

Foye cool..but I like Felton...is Felton fast enough for us though? He seems the chubby, slower type of PG.

Just a wondering.

BRIGGS wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:Based on the PG names being thrown out around here and how he has played with Minnesota, did we do the right thing when we passed on Sessions?

Just a wondering.

There will be a bunch of people who say it wasn't a mistake--and they are wrong. If Ramon Sessions was here--we would be much better. It was a no-brainer at that price.

I wanted to pick him up, too. Minny seems committed to Flynn at this point, even though his assist numbers have not been as good as I would have expected, and I think Sessions needs at least 30-35MPG to play at his optimum level and show some consistency on his shot, so I don't think we have seen the best of his game so far this year, and may not if his playing time does not increase.

I understand the 2010 plan, but the money we would have spent on him would not have been that damaging to our cap flexibility, and we have to look for another PG next year, anyway.

We had a buyer's market with little competition for his services, and we passed. A mistake IMO.

BRIGGS wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:Based on the PG names being thrown out around here and how he has played with Minnesota, did we do the right thing when we passed on Sessions?

Just a wondering.

There will be a bunch of people who say it wasn't a mistake--and they are wrong. If Ramon Sessions was here--we would be much better. It was a no-brainer at that price.

I wanted to pick him up, too. Minny seems committed to Flynn at this point, even though his assist numbers have not been as good as I would have expected, and I think Sessions needs at least 30-35MPG to play at his optimum level and show some consistency on his shot, so I don't think we have seen the best of his game so far this year, and may not if his playing time does not increase.

I understand the 2010 plan, but the money we would have spent on him would not have been that damaging to our cap flexibility, and we have to look for another PG next year, anyway.

We had a buyer's market with little competition for his services, and we passed. A mistake IMO.

There is no way that Minn is going to keep Flynn Sessions and Rubio.

Nobody thought Kahn would draft Flynn and Rubio in the first round either.

TMS wrote:

Juice wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Shannon Brown 4 years 14mm
CJ Watson 4 years 12.5mm

Cheaper options that are going to come into their own. Cant spend 8mm on a Randy Foye or a Felton[who I dont like anyway] spend 3- 3.5mm

Randy Foye will not receive $8mil. Where are you from?

i like Shannon Browne but he's strictly a SG... wouldn't mind bringing him in anyway regardless of who we pick up to play the PG but he'd have to come real cheap... & Foye is not gonna cost no $8 mil per... he's got a $4.8 mil qualifying offer next year... if we offer him a little above that i doubt very much the Wizards would match when they have Arenas, Stevenson & Nick Young under contract for next season.

Love the idea of acquiring Brown and Watson. I agree that both have good promise that won't be fully realized in their current situations. No problem at all going after these two when the time comes. Brown's very strong and a supreme athlete. Much better all-around player than when he first came in the league. Can shoot it pretty well now and he plays some nice D. I've caught a few Laker games on the NBA League Pass - this guy's entire game looks like it's really improved a ton, top to bottom. He's become a very efficent 2-guard in the mins. he does get...And Watson's quick as hell and a very good offensive player for a 1. I think this guy could be one hell of a PG in this league if given more reponsibility. Every damn time I see this kid play where Nellie give him a little bit of a run he impresses me..Hard to say definatively that they'd be starters here next year (hopefully we could add even more backcourt talent than these two somehow, but both certainly have the talent to start in this league)..You figure at the very least they'd be very solid rotation players and would go a long way in suring up our backcourt and improving our talent base. For the type of money Briggs mentioned, go get them both. No-brainer..Agree totally that these are the type of guys we should be looking at - guys at the right price that could really be good. Excellent call. I'm totally in favor of taking chances on low risk/high reward young talent like this. If it were up to me, I'd be building a whole team of guys like this right now..

A little further -- Brown played with LeBron in Cleveland (he knows what this guy's capable of - hopefully they had a good rapport when Brown was still with the Cavs, I know Brown is very gracious when talking about James from some things I've read) and I think Brown and CJ Watson both played together for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the D-League a couple of years back...Two nice little factors when thinking about building some future chemistry. These guys know each other..LBJ knows Brown and I'm sure he's well aware of the progress he's made since leaving the Cavs and likewise with Watson - James knows this guy's a good player that's just buried out there in the Bay area. I honestly think Watson might be an even better talent than Mo Williams, LBJ's current PG..Just sayin'..

Good call on Foye too TMS. Still has nice upside and he can shoot & score (although his shooting % has been a little low for his career which scares me a little bit). This guy was a very good player for 'Nova though. I still remember that backcourt they had of Foye & Kyle Lowry and how potent it was...Thing is Washington just traded for him and gave up on the 5th pick in the draft in order to get him -- I know they got Mike Miller in that trade too, but Foye was really the centerpiece in that deal for the Wizards. Hard seeing how they give up on the 5th pick in the draft only to let Foye walk next summer..Then again, he's started only 2 games out of 16 so far this season for Washington and his numbers are down across the board. Haven't seen enough of the Wizards so far to really comment on how Foye's fitting in over there. Anyone been watchin' Foye a lot this season that has a better take? TMS?