auchan42 wrote:Good feedback on this thread! Anyway, do we really think Camby will come that cheaply? My understanding is that teams are still very interested in him even at his age.

In general, I'm in favor of growing the team slowly and capitalizing on other teams impatience and mistakes. You know, similar to what other teams have done to us over the years (take a look at us trading camby and nene to the nuggets for mcdyess, us getting crawford from the bulls for a bunch of expiring contracts, giving bulls picks and expirings for curry, etc).

For example, check out what the Clippers did to the Nuggets after the Nuggets traded for Iverson... they were able to get Camby for basically nothing (swapping 2nd rounders) because the Nuggets were looking to shed salary. A fun exercise would be to analyze the current teams payrolls and check to see how they do after the playoffs. If any teams with excessive salary get blown out (or don't make the playoffs) we should immediately target them for trades. Hell, we can take a look at last years teams with big payrolls that disappointed and see what players they have.

With Walsh I have more confidence that he has this kind of strategy and thinking. Let's be opportunistic. If a good deal comes by the trade deadline this year, we should be open to it. If we can't get Lebron this summer, we should stay disciplined and see what we can get in 2011. Let's stop the cycle of overpaying.

Camby's making $7.65M this year & he'll be 36 this offseason... i doubt many teams will be willing to shell out big bucks to sign him to a longterm deal... if we offered him 3 years at $21M i think he'd jump at the chance to come back to NY where he's always loved to play & be close to his Hartford, CT roots... i don't think any teams would go higher than that per year, & most contender teams are over the cap so they won't have anything to offer but a MLE type deal, & there's no way they go 5 years on Camby at his age.

auchan42 wrote:Here are the teams that either didn't make the playoffs last year or got knocked out first round, and are disappointing so far this year that may be desperate to trade:

indiana
utah (they lose on tiebreakers and wouldn't make playoffs right now)
new orleans

Anyone have ideas for players on these teams?

IND - Chandler, Gallo, TD & Fishlips for Danny Granger & Earl Watson (actually clears ~$2.25M off our cap for 2010)

UTA - Nate, Fishlips, both our 2nd round picks & $3M cash for Mehmet Okur & Wesley Matthews (saves Utah $6M total in salary that they can use to pay for a MLE extension for Nate if they wish to keep him past this season, who would be a huge upgrade off their bench than anyone they have now, 2 more picks to rebuild with, & clears playing time for Koufos at C... gives NY a C w/size, 3 pt. range & passing ability that would be a great fit for MDA's system & a backup SG with size who can shoot the 3)

NOH - Nate, Jordan Hill, Fishlips, Curry & a future #1 for Emeka Okafor & Mo Pete (gets NY a true shotblocking intimidator & toughness upfront that we sorely need as well as a backup SG w/size who can stroke the 3, & we gain $2M more in cap space for 2010... gets rid of Okafor's longterm deal for NOH & replaces him with two 1st round talents & 6th man scorer off the bench for the rest of the season)

AnubisADL wrote:

joec32033 wrote:Give me Foye or Lowry over Felton. Rudy Gay ain't too bad but we have Chandler- who can be a similiar player offensively and better defensively.

I rather pay Lowry than Foye or Felton because they all pretty much the same player but Lowry will be cheapest. Rudy Gay is a better defender than Gay and the superior offensive talent.

Strongly disagree. Kyle Lowry is a career backup and Randy Foye is a combo guard. Raymond Felton is a pure PG with great potential to keep improving. He has the speed and court vision to be a very good playmaker for Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler. And his shooting has improved. He's also a winner having won a National title with NC. If we miss out on LeBron James and the other Stars, we should go after the best PG on the FA market and that's Felton by a mile. If we had Felton this season, we would probably have a .500 or better record.

djsunyc wrote:you think the cats can afford to let felton go with the way they are playing this year?

nobody's talking about them, but they are quietly blitzing teams at home. they have a huge challenge in the schedule coming up but if they can escape that in good shape, they can make a late run and cause alot of problems in the postseason. and if they make 1 more move at the deadline, they can upset a team in the 1st round.

mj hired lb last year...he made a bunch of moves and look at them now. sjax deal may have been the best trade of the season.

don't know if this is an example or just what happened or luck, but a GM getting guys a coach needs is obviously a must. sigh.

nyk4ever wrote:

djsunyc wrote:you think the cats can afford to let felton go with the way they are playing this year?

nobody's talking about them, but they are quietly blitzing teams at home. they have a huge challenge in the schedule coming up but if they can escape that in good shape, they can make a late run and cause alot of problems in the postseason. and if they make 1 more move at the deadline, they can upset a team in the 1st round.

mj hired lb last year...he made a bunch of moves and look at them now. sjax deal may have been the best trade of the season.

I been talking about the Cats. Actually I was ripped for saying LB was doing a good job about 2 weeks ago. Funny, look at their record now. That team is dangerous.

they're playing real solid D and Stephen Jackson/Gerald Wallace right now are way better than David Lee/next best Knick.

So lets say, Jeffries and Curry expire and that will give us 18.5 million in space. With Chandler and the raises the other players would receive, I think we'd only have around $5 million in cap space if we were to bring Wilson back. Or we could trade him for young assets/draft picks. But I dont think we can assume going after a preimere FA in 2011 and keep Wilson.

We really need to hit a homerun in this FA class or we're going to have some tough decisions to make a year from now.

auchan42 wrote:Really nice reply TMS!

Of the players mentioned, I really like Mehmet Okur. The Jazz were underperforming in December but are doing ok now so they may not want to trade right now... but they do have issues with opposing SF's (2 losses to Thunder, 3 losses to Denver, and would have lost both games to Cleveland if that rookie didn't get that lucky 3). I think what would help the Jazz the most is better scoring and defense from the sf position (carmelo, durant, kobe, lebron etc)... Chandler might be more enticing for them but there's no way I'd trade him for Mehmet.

Mehmet does fit our system well though... he passes decent for a big man and hits 38% from three, and is accustomed to doing the high pick and roll. What would be interesting to see if we get him would be the D Lee high pick and roll with Mehmet. I think Dave is better suited to rolling so I'd let Mehmet set the screen.

Lack of shotblocking is still a concern though so we'd still need a Chris Andersen type off the bench for us.

yeah, i wouldn't give up Wilson for Okur either at this point... & i agree the shotblocking is still an issue... there was no other deals w/UTA that i could think up that would seem even feasible for either side that would be worth while... i actually think the Pacers deal would be good for both sides if the Pacers are intent on a rebuild.

Hollinger article on how:

-KG just doesn't look right
- Carter looks like he's aging terribly. Ditto with Sheed
- Jameer Nelson is off

I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect Lebron to leave Cleveland on the heels of a championship season. I'm also a bit leery about maxing out Joe Johnson vs just looking for a trade or decent upgrade at PG this offseason and then either signing or trading for a legit franchise player when Curry/Jefferies come off the books.

So I am rooting for the Hawks to take down the Cavs. This team was on the brink of eliminating Boston's championship squad and they're all a year wiser and added instant offense in Crawford, who is having a career year in terms of shooting %age.

After that..anyone in the west really..maybe Kobe..to rile Lebron up and make him even more ring hungry.