SteveSmith wrote:No, this year seems to direct to the playoffs. And for this, it would not without JJ.

And the Cap Space is sufficiant to sign Bron and Lee.

No it aint.

kam77 wrote:

SteveSmith wrote:No, this year seems to direct to the playoffs. And for this, it would not without JJ.

And the Cap Space is sufficiant to sign Bron and Lee.

No it aint.

27.3 we have already on the books. Lee costs us 8 mil against the cap at first if we don't renounce him, that's 35.3. If per say the cap is 54, that gives us 18.7, and at 54 the max would 16.5, so we def could re-sign Lee and sign a max, if we sign the max first, then we could even pay Lee 12 mil a year if we wanted. Problem is, does Lebron come to Knicks without another Max player?

toodarkmark wrote:

kam77 wrote:

SteveSmith wrote:No, this year seems to direct to the playoffs. And for this, it would not without JJ.

And the Cap Space is sufficiant to sign Bron and Lee.

No it aint.

27.3 we have already on the books. Lee costs us 8 mil against the cap at first if we don't renounce him, that's 35.3. If per say the cap is 54, that gives us 18.7, and at 54 the max would 16.5, so we def could re-sign Lee and sign a max, if we sign the max first, then we could even pay Lee 12 mil a year if we wanted. Problem is, does Lebron come to Knicks without another Max player?

Lee's caphold is 150 % his salary. If we make the playoffs, that's 12 mil caphold. That's probably what he will get as well...

Now you're assuming a cap of 54 which is optimistic.

nyk4ever wrote:Listen, I want to make the playoffs as much as anybody and like it or not Jeffries is a huge part of the way we're playing right now, but the reality of the situation is that this team is going to look completely different next year. So while making the playoffs this year is something that we're all starving for, it really isn't the most important thing right now, so if we can deal Jeffries in the RIGHT trade, then we have to do it.

Better to trade him now than later, then, because if the team really is turning around and making a playoff run, it will be difficult to let him go at some point. You figure that Walsh wants to trade him BUT what if the Knicks have a winning record around the trade deadline? What if we are fighting for the 5th, and dare I say 4th, seed?

Hill, Bender, or someone else would have to step up to replace the D that Jeffries brings to the team. As frustrating as he is on offense, the guy does so much for us on D that you might not be able to replace him during the season if he is traded away.

It will be interesting to see if Bender can get his legs back. He has shown the ability to block shots, and although he has had trouble holding the ball at times, he can still finish better than Jeffries. I don't know if you want him matching up against PGs on D, though, and I don;t think Hill can do this, but Bender might eventually be a Jeffries' replacement.

You could conceivably use Gallo to replace him, and MDA has at times, but then you will take away a lot of the energy and legs that he needs for offense.

All of this is moot, though, if the team does not keep up the pace it is on and falls back into the lottery range.

JCHAN wrote:I'll bite. I don't think we should trade Jeffries. I hated him just as much as anyone up until the last 18 gamesish. But he's growing into something real nice for the knicks. I don't think we're going to get 2 max free agents anyway. I think that LBJ + Lee and the rest of our lineup is more valuable than LBJ + Bosh + scraps. I don't think we need the extra room, JJ has actual use, and this team has great chemistry right now. Throwing Jeffries away would kill that chemistry and put a hamper on our playoff push. We got rid of Randolph and Crawful last year and look what happened. Now, if we can get rid of Curry, fantastic. But coach is on a roll and has his lineup, I don't think you can just give away something we need for junk.

so ur basically saying u'd rather have Lee & FL over Bosh (assuming Lebron will come here regardless, which is a big if)... am i reading u correctly here?

JCHAN wrote:I'll bite. I don't think we should trade Jeffries. I hated him just as much as anyone up until the last 18 gamesish. But he's growing into something real nice for the knicks. I don't think we're going to get 2 max free agents anyway. I think that LBJ + Lee and the rest of our lineup is more valuable than LBJ + Bosh + scraps. I don't think we need the extra room, JJ has actual use, and this team has great chemistry right now. Throwing Jeffries away would kill that chemistry and put a hamper on our playoff push. We got rid of Randolph and Crawful last year and look what happened. Now, if we can get rid of Curry, fantastic. But coach is on a roll and has his lineup, I don't think you can just give away something we need for junk.

I don't disagree. We may find out that James + Lee may be better for us than James + Bosh, assuming we can sign Lee for $5-$6 mill less per year than Bosh. If Lee continues to improve, he will be at a Bosh-like level in 2 years at a cheaper price. I also would not oppose the idea of keeping Jeffries until Hill develops into a starting caliber center. I think Hill needs about 2 more years to reach his potential, so keeping Jeffries helps solidify our defense for now until Hill is ready. Basically, if we replace Harrington with Lebron, we should have a 50 win team with the continued development of Chandler, Gallo, Douglas, and Hill. Next year, Curry and Jeffries drop off. Hopefully, Hill can take Jeffries place as the starting center, and we then sign one more max player.

TMS wrote:

If Lee continues to improve, he will be at a Bosh-like level in 2 years at a cheaper price.

nothing against Lee, but why is it that people always assume he'll keep improving & yet Bosh has somehow already reached his ceiling when Lee is a year older than Bosh & much less highly touted talent & potential wise coming out of college?

Not saying Bosh cannot improve, but Lee has made noticeable improvements each year in the league, which is something few players can do. If he takes his jumper up one more level and works on a few more post moves, the guy will be a 20-22 pt scorer. I don't see Bosh turning into a 28 pts per game type player.