Knixkik wrote:I would love tyler johnson and bazemore.

I'd rather have M.Chalmers over T.Johnson.

1.) I do think AA will opt out but would be looking for long term security under the same figure. I'd be hesistant to give him more than a 3 year deal at $30 million but think I'd still do it, which would leave me at $24 million.

2.) I'd sign Nene Hilario to a one-year, league minimum type deal. He's ridiculously injury prone but with his defensive, passing and scoring ability, he'd be a shoe-in as a solid backup 5 in the triangle. I'd imagine him being something of our Andrew Bogut: misses one-third to half-the season but is fresh for the postseason. An arrangement like that would be teneable because we'd have more than even depth at the 4-5 spots with KP, Rolo and D-Will to accomodate his absence....especially with KP at 245lbs. That'd leave us with $19 million in cap space.

3.) I'd sign Mario Chalmers to a 2-year, $16 million deal with a team option in the 2nd year. He'd be a nice stopgap until we figure out whether Grant is our PG-of-the-future and/or if we can get Russell Westbrook in 2016. That championship/clutch pedigree would definitely help in Grant's development. This move should leave us at about $11 million in cap space.

4.) This is where it'd get tricky for. I'd either look to tender Lance Stephenson a one year deal at $5-$6 million (depending on how well he played the season before) OR offer Kent Bazemore a multi-year deal starting at $9 million per, no opt out. We need a sparkplug off the bench in our backcourt and either man can fit the bill. However, I'm still a believer in Lance Stephenson and given the likelihood that we'd be able to short him on money, I'd be inclined to retain him AND go into the season with cap space to work with. Heading toward the trade deadline, that money could be critical to signing a veteran that a losing team cuts in order to rebuild/retool OR in helping to facilitate a trade beforehand for that same type of player.

The objective overall of these moves is to continue to build with "triangle friendly" players and be competitive, while also maintaining the ability to make a big splash for a star in 2017 (thinking Russell Westbrook despite the fact that I detest his game).

STARTERS
PG: Mario Chalmers
SG: Aaron Afflalo
SF: Carmelo Anthony
PF: Kristaps Porzingis
C: Robin Lopez

ROTATION
G: Langston Galloway/Jerian Grant
G: Lance Stephenson/Kent Bazemore
F: Lance Thomas
F: Derrick Williams
C: Nene

I like this scenario because we could come to a sign-and-trade agreement using Robin Lopez to offset his incoming max-salary and still retain a lot of our flexibility moving forward. And with Mike Muscala having shown promise in the past and Tiago Splitter already on the team, the Hawks might be fine with letting him go. Afterall, there is talk of them looking to go young: dumping Jeff Teague and promoting Dennis Schroder to starter.

STARTERS
PG: Mario Chalmers
SG: DeMarr Derozan
SF: Carmelo Anthony
PF: Kristaps Porzingis
C: Al Horford

ROTATION
G: Jerian Grant
G: Langston Galloway
F: Lance Thomas
F: Derrick Williams
C: Nene/Lou Amundson

....with a puncher's chance of getting Russell Westbrook in 2016 (and me liking the scenario a little more because of how close we'd be to being legitimate contenders).

Although we need PG help, none of the PGs are worth spending money on. DJ Augustin is my choice to be a more back end rotation PG. I'll rule out most of the PGs because of their poor 3pt shooting. I want a PG that can stay in front of the many speedy PGs in the league. And be a 3 pt threat to keep everyone honest.

crzymdups wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:While I am in no hurry to spend our cap space, Bazemore is probably my top choice as a 3&D SG. If Afflalo opts out, Bazemore moves high up my list.

Although we need PG help, none of the PGs are worth spending money on. DJ Augustin is my choice to be a more back end rotation PG. I'll rule out most of the PGs because of their poor 3pt shooting. I want a PG that can stay in front of the many speedy PGs in the league. And be a 3 pt threat to keep everyone honest.

Conley isn't worth it?

I never really considered that Conley would leave Memphis. That said, if Conley is a max player in this market, we really aren't in the running.

Jmpasq wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:While I am in no hurry to spend our cap space, Bazemore is probably my top choice as a 3&D SG. If Afflalo opts out, Bazemore moves high up my list.

Although we need PG help, none of the PGs are worth spending money on. DJ Augustin is my choice to be a more back end rotation PG. I'll rule out most of the PGs because of their poor 3pt shooting. I want a PG that can stay in front of the many speedy PGs in the league. And be a 3 pt threat to keep everyone honest.

Conley isn't worth it?

Conley isnt leaving

In this league, you never know. LeBron wasn't suppose to be leaving CLE and Shaq wasn't suppose to be leaving Orlando either.

But I think Mike Conley,the all-star, is a bad fit for the triangle if he intends on still being considered an all-star. Traditional floor generals don't do well in this system.

Pau Gasol is a free agent who I could see want to finish his career in New York. Pau and Phil are good friends. Pau knows the offense really well. Pau is also teammates with Jose on their national team. Last time Pau was a free agent, NY had no money to offer. This time NY is a better team, with some growth to improve and playing the style of offense Pau really loves. If Chicago doesn't do well in the playoffs, I think Pau is walking. It would mean Lopez is shifted to a 2nd unit/backup role but so be it, it makes us stronger overall as a team. Fisher seems like a coach that will always give his bench a ton of playing time and having Lopez on that 2nd unit would really help. We could also play Lopez/Gasol with Pau at 4 much like we do with KP at 4. Pau has all the skills to be a Triangle 4. If NY can't get DeRozan or Batum or Conley either because they are too expensive or not willing to come, then they should look at Pau because he's someone that can give all-star level and make the offense work on a different level. Talent is talent. A Porzingis/Gasol/Lopez 3 man rotation at C/PF would be one of the best in the league, and we could really hurt teams for playing small, something we can't do with Lopez/Porzingis, because neither is as good as Pau at getting their shot inside in the post (although Lopez is solid inside).

I'd really like to keep Williams, but if he opts out and wants 8-10 million a year and teams are willing to pay that much, I'd let him walk. I'd keep him at 6 million a year tops. Otherwise I'd just re-sign Lance Thomas and feel confident that Melo can play some 4 and we also have Gasol in this scenario as well. Could just as easily play Lopez/Gasol like we do Lopez/Porzingis. Signing Gasol makes Williams more expendable. Afflalo seems like he's really a Knick 100 percent - I could see him stay for the same money annually, but with an extra year or two in length. So keep AA at 16/2 or 24/3 with the 3rd year a team option (with a guaranteed portion for AA in the team opt 3rd year). Lance Thomas is a great consistent bench guy, who can play multiple positions, I'd give him 6 million a year over 4 years (something like 30M/4). This I think leaves us with about 7-8 million a year to spend. I'd go with Courtney Lee from Memphis. Plays some defense, can shoot the 3, would give someone that can allow less minutes load for Afflalo.

Rotation
Gasol/Lopez
Porzingis/(Melo, Thomas or Pau can slide in here)
Melo/Thomas
Afflalo/Lee
Galloway/Grant (depends on Grant's 3 ball, if he can hit it next season, he should start)

Extra depth:
O'Quinn at 5-4
Thanasis at 2-3
Calderon at 1

There'd be some veteran minimum players you can sign as well for depth.

NardDogNation wrote:....though I'm inclined to tell Aaron Afflalo to kick rocks, pass on the opportunity to sign either Lance Stephenson or Kent Bazemore and instead use that money to throw a front-loaded deal at Demarr Derozan. I haven't been a fan of his game but I do think he could fit the triangle and would still have room for improvement. If I'm not mistaken, he's an unrestricted free agent, right? I doubt he leaves Toronto but stranger things have happened....

STARTERS
PG: Mario Chalmers
SG: Demarr Derozan
SF: Carmelo Anthony
PF: Kristaps Porzingis
C: Robin Lopez

ROTATION
G: Langston Galloway
G: Jerian Grant
F: Lance Thomas
F: Derrick Williams
C: Nene/Lou Amundson

....with the opportunity to still sign Russell Westbrook me in 2016. Me likey (despite still feeling that Russell Westbrook is fool's gold).

crzymdups wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

crzymdups wrote:Those salary numbers are all too low. They're based on maybe a $60M cap world. EVERY SINGLE TEAM WILL HAVE $20M or more in cap space.

The cap is going to ~$90M. Every team has space. I would multiply the salaries above by 1.5 or even 2 in some cases.

DeMarre Carroll got 4yrs/$60M in a $70M cap and he's 29 and had one good season. Bazemore is 26 - I think he'll get at least $15M per year, if not more.

I've said this a million times, but I would target Batum or Conley. Knicks can afford one of those guys. I'd take Conley, try to move Jose for a second round pick (remember every team will have cap room and Jose is a servicable point guard on a one year $7M deal - reasonable).

Knicks can go over the cap to give raises to Lance, Galloway, DWill, Afflalo - I'd look to keep most of those guys if the numbers are reasonable.

This might be the last time Knicks have big cap room to make a move for a while - I'd swing for the fences and try to get a borderline all-star like Batum or Conley. We need the talent, but we need that talent to fit our scheme. Both guys fit what we do really well.

Failing those two, I do like Bazemore - but do we really want to pay him $12-15M per year? That's what it's gonna take.

I like Jennings a lot, too. But that's $12M-$15M per, easy. And I'm not 100% sure he fits our team.

If Bazemore will get at least $15 mil then Conley or Batum would be worth more right?? If so then how would we sign one of them when we'll only have about $15 mil after we pay D.Williams and L.Thomas their pay raises which both will be getting and even A.Afflalo could be getting more if he opts out so your numbers aren't gonna work. Just because the cap is going up it doesn't mean all players will automatically be getting more money. That's just you assuming that that's gonna happen.

We can go over the cap to re-sign Lance and Dwill. It's all about how you time the signings. Sign Batum or Conley first - we have about $19-20M. Then re-sign our guys.

Yes i understand that there's ways to sign a max guy with still re-signing our guys but i just wanted to see what kind of team we could come up with if we couldn't get any of the m,ax guys. We need to remember that every team in the league is getting the $20 mil and some teams like the Lakers will have a ton of money to spend and players will still love to go play for them so i can see them getting two significant players this off season and with them already have some really good young pieces in D.Russell, J.Randle, L.Nance, J.Clarkson and a couple other good pieces i can see them becoming a good team quickly especially if they land a couple of nice big names this off season which i think they will.

newyorker4ever wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I would love tyler johnson and bazemore.

I'd rather have M.Chalmers over T.Johnson.

No way. Chalmers is a below average shooter, defender, and has no upside. Johnson is bigger, better shooter, athlete, and most of all, younger.

y2zipper wrote:I think the only play that's going to turn the Knicks into contenders is getting Westbrook, If I had everyone back next season on Williams and AA opt-ins and I couldn't get a max player, chances are I hold serve for another year and try again with the class of 2017.

As it stands, the Knicks need 2 things: the continuing development of Porzingis and an all-star calibur player at a perimeter position. Outside of that it's unwise to really spend flexibility.