mreinman wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:Bazemore WS48 is now down to .092 which is under average. Overpaying him would not be smart since he has yet to prove himself even though he may pass some peoples eye test.

Giving Jennings a big contract is of course insane and I think that most people would agree with that.

I would think that some would have learned from Afflalo that signing low efficient players means they will probably be just as inefficient here. Can we get lucky on one of them? Maybe but we mostly likely won't so why overpay these guys?

And guess what ... Batum is not down to under average and he is the big prize?

Derozen will probably stay though maybe Phil can pull a pat riley and try be useful and earn his huge contract.

Yeah, I think Bazemore might be overrated. We might be able to find a much cheaper guy who can do the same thing. I think he's a system guy for Atlanta anyway. But at the right price, he'd be a solid addition.

I think we're at the point where we need to take a bit of a risk on a Rondo or Jennings signing at PG. I'm not in favor of a huge overpay, but I am in favor of making a strong offer to those two.

There is zero chance DeRozan comes here and I think maybe a 2% chance he leaves the Raptors at all. That organization is becoming a sort of Spurs lite organization. Really well run and the players all love it there.

Eastern Conference All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan says it will be “pretty tough” for interested teams to steal him away from the Raptors in free agency this summer. “My whole mindset has always been this is home for me,” DeRozan said in an interview that will air in full on Saturday’s Meet the All-Stars show on ESPN Radio at 5:30 p.m. “I never think otherwise unless it’s brought up to me, or you see things, or people ask you about certain things. This has always been home to me. I took pride in putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey since I’ve been drafted here. And my whole goal was to get this team to the point where it is now. And I feel I’ve been a major key to that.”

I would agree about Derozen but you never know about things like that. To many variables that we are not privy to.

I don't want to over pay for under average players. I really hope that we trade melo and rebuild. That me be our only smart option (if he is willing to wave his NTC).

I assume that we won't trade melo and we will starphuck overpay and just dig a deeper hole ... that is what we do.

Also, would really like to see what will happen in cleveland ... something is very very wrong there.

I bet Bron makes a big push to move KLove there this summer. Not sure about Irving. Cleveland is defintely interesting though.

IF I were the Knicks, I'd have a helluva lot more interest in Irving than Love.

Though I really can't see Melo going to Cleveland - that's Bron's team. He kind of hinted that if they teamed up it'd be somewhere warm aka not one of their existing teams. Maybe the Lakers?

I still think the most likely play this summer, if we trade Melo, is for Blake to the Clippers. Another thing to watch down the stretch is that Blake is returning to the Clippers in four games. Clips have been better without him. If they falter when he comes back, I think they may look to move him.

I agree the better way to build would be to move Melo. But I think it is more likely to keep him - he wants to be here. I think that MAY change if the Knicks totally strike out in Free Agency. Like if the Knicks don't get Rondo or Jennings, I think we way hear about a mid-July trade rumble of Blake for Melo. Maybe the Knicks keep Blake, or maybe they move him to a third team for 2017 picks or something? But I think a Triangle frontline of Blake and KP would be great. Bring Rolo off the bench as the third big, or move him for a guard.

But since Melo is more likely to stay, I am interested in talking about what that means for FA this summer. I don't necessarily think it's the best path, but I've long since given up screaming at the clouds for that to happen. Those thoughts left me around the time we gave away Lin because he hurt Dolan's feelings and then we passed up a trade for Lowry because Masai previously hurt Dolan's feelings.

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:Bazemore WS48 is now down to .092 which is under average. Overpaying him would not be smart since he has yet to prove himself even though he may pass some peoples eye test.

Giving Jennings a big contract is of course insane and I think that most people would agree with that.

I would think that some would have learned from Afflalo that signing low efficient players means they will probably be just as inefficient here. Can we get lucky on one of them? Maybe but we mostly likely won't so why overpay these guys?

And guess what ... Batum is not down to under average and he is the big prize?

Derozen will probably stay though maybe Phil can pull a pat riley and try be useful and earn his huge contract.

Yeah, I think Bazemore might be overrated. We might be able to find a much cheaper guy who can do the same thing. I think he's a system guy for Atlanta anyway. But at the right price, he'd be a solid addition.

I think we're at the point where we need to take a bit of a risk on a Rondo or Jennings signing at PG. I'm not in favor of a huge overpay, but I am in favor of making a strong offer to those two.

There is zero chance DeRozan comes here and I think maybe a 2% chance he leaves the Raptors at all. That organization is becoming a sort of Spurs lite organization. Really well run and the players all love it there.

Eastern Conference All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan says it will be “pretty tough” for interested teams to steal him away from the Raptors in free agency this summer. “My whole mindset has always been this is home for me,” DeRozan said in an interview that will air in full on Saturday’s Meet the All-Stars show on ESPN Radio at 5:30 p.m. “I never think otherwise unless it’s brought up to me, or you see things, or people ask you about certain things. This has always been home to me. I took pride in putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey since I’ve been drafted here. And my whole goal was to get this team to the point where it is now. And I feel I’ve been a major key to that.”

I would agree about Derozen but you never know about things like that. To many variables that we are not privy to.

I don't want to over pay for under average players. I really hope that we trade melo and rebuild. That me be our only smart option (if he is willing to wave his NTC).

I assume that we won't trade melo and we will starphuck overpay and just dig a deeper hole ... that is what we do.

Also, would really like to see what will happen in cleveland ... something is very very wrong there.

I bet Bron makes a big push to move KLove there this summer. Not sure about Irving. Cleveland is defintely interesting though.

IF I were the Knicks, I'd have a helluva lot more interest in Irving than Love.

Though I really can't see Melo going to Cleveland - that's Bron's team. He kind of hinted that if they teamed up it'd be somewhere warm aka not one of their existing teams. Maybe the Lakers?

I still think the most likely play this summer, if we trade Melo, is for Blake to the Clippers. Another thing to watch down the stretch is that Blake is returning to the Clippers in four games. Clips have been better without him. If they falter when he comes back, I think they may look to move him.

I agree the better way to build would be to move Melo. But I think it is more likely to keep him - he wants to be here. I think that MAY change if the Knicks totally strike out in Free Agency. Like if the Knicks don't get Rondo or Jennings, I think we way hear about a mid-July trade rumble of Blake for Melo. Maybe the Knicks keep Blake, or maybe they move him to a third team for 2017 picks or something? But I think a Triangle frontline of Blake and KP would be great. Bring Rolo off the bench as the third big, or move him for a guard.

But since Melo is more likely to stay, I am interested in talking about what that means for FA this summer. I don't necessarily think it's the best path, but I've long since given up screaming at the clouds for that to happen. Those thoughts left me around the time we gave away Lin because he hurt Dolan's feelings and then we passed up a trade for Lowry because Masai previously hurt Dolan's feelings.

I think that if we get Rondo or Jennings that melo's fate is sealed. He should look get the hell out.

Rondo/ Batum
Wroten, Galloway and Grant

Melo Wikkiams Early

KP Lopez Hernangomez OQuinn

Calderon Sasha

That team is over 500. Out in first round

BRIGGS wrote:

callmened wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:#1 Try to sign Demar Derozan to a max contract

if fail

#2 Try to sign Rajon Rondo to a 3 year 30mm$ deal with mutual opt out after 2
Bazemore to a 3 years 24mm$ deal

If either or both Williams and Affalo opt out giving us 13mm additional

Sign Eric Gordon 2 years 15mm opt out after 1(6th man)
Sign Bobanjovic C 3 years 16.5mm (primary back up C)
Sign D J Augustin 1 year 2.5mm

i cant imagine any reason why Derozen would leave a winning team or turn down going home to los angeles to go to new york

i like the idea of signing bazemore but hell cost WAY more than 8 mill. try 13-15 mill. rondo wont go for 10 mill either. samething 13-15 mill

gordon is made out of paper and is not worth signing. (he will ask for at least 10 mill). boba as a back up big would be cool. again, im not sure why he would come here. DJ Augustin sucks.

My suggestions: sign bazemore and jennings to short term 2 yr contracts (12-14 mill each). go from there

I dont like Jennings and no way would I give him 12mm.

i cant stand him either. hes not that good to me

crzymdups wrote:

Paris907 wrote:I can see Rondo but under what coach as it matters. If Melo won't go then I'd rather have Batum or Fournier than Bazemore. If Afflalo and Thomas go then Let Seraphin, Admundon, go. Early gets another look as If Melo misses time then Williams and Early are depth.

Rondo/ Batum
Wroten, Galloway and Grant

Melo Wikkiams Early

KP Lopez Hernangomez OQuinn

Calderon Sasha

That team is over 500. Out in first round

Yes, the coaching question is a big one. I think the coaching search will also figure in how vocal Melo is in waiving his NTC this summer. I don't know if he wants Rambis.

BRIGGS wrote:#1 Try to sign Demar Derozan to a max contract

if fail

#2 Try to sign Rajon Rondo to a 3 year 30mm$ deal with mutual opt out after 2
Bazemore to a 3 years 24mm$ deal

If either or both Williams and Affalo opt out giving us 13mm additional

Sign Eric Gordon 2 years 15mm opt out after 1(6th man)
Sign Bobanjovic C 3 years 16.5mm (primary back up C)
Sign D J Augustin 1 year 2.5mm

For perspective I've read that the Max contracts will be as follows next year (assuming a $90 Million cap figure).....

$21.0 million (players up to 6 years)

$25.3 million (7 - 9 years)

$29.5 million (over 10 years)

Knicks will have somewhere about $20 Million (more or less) in Cap Space and up to about the $33 Million range if Aflalo and DWil opt out. I don't believe they will have enough to sign Derozan to a Max Deal ($25 Million) without DWil or Aflalo opt out. Also Rondo is not signing for only $10 Mil per year. This will be his last big contract opportunity. Further, I realize Eric Gordon has had injuries over his career, but why would he sign at half his current salary with the dramatic increase in cap and salary escalation coming starting next year?

mreinman wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

mreinman wrote:Bazemore WS48 is now down to .092 which is under average. Overpaying him would not be smart since he has yet to prove himself even though he may pass some peoples eye test.

Giving Jennings a big contract is of course insane and I think that most people would agree with that.

I would think that some would have learned from Afflalo that signing low efficient players means they will probably be just as inefficient here. Can we get lucky on one of them? Maybe but we mostly likely won't so why overpay these guys?

And guess what ... Batum is not down to under average and he is the big prize?

Derozen will probably stay though maybe Phil can pull a pat riley and try be useful and earn his huge contract.

And what was it that Pat "the rat" Riley pulled?? Please don't say he got Wade, Lebron and Bosh to come together in Miami cause that had nothing to do with him and had everything to do with Lebron getting that together.

I thought that Pat had a lot to do with it.

How do you think Riley is as a GM?

Riley is still to me the best basketball man in the game. And his coaching in NY really made him stand out even more for me.

I think Pat has a lot of help with being with the Miami Heat in Miami with no state taxes and having a star player in D.Wade that is one of the most humble and respected players in the entire league who's a player that every player would want to play with. I think he was one of the greatest coaches to ever coach and loved when he was with us. I think it was Lebron that set up the big three in Miami which was supposed to be Wade, Lebron and Melo but Melo signed the longer contract with us which put him out of that big 3 so they got Bosh to be the 3rd part. Now Pat does have/get a ton of respect around the league from players and he is the guy in charge so of course he has a lot to do with who plays for the Heat but i just think he has a whole lot of help which i already mentioned.

Vmart wrote:If the Knicks sign Derozan and Gordon the Knocks will be in the finals next year.

with out a doubt, and we all know Toronto loses it's sg a soon as they turn FA (see Mcgrady and vince carter)

newyorker4ever wrote:

Vmart wrote:If the Knicks sign Derozan and Gordon the Knocks will be in the finals next year.

That's a lot of love for E.Gordon who isn't all that great but i'll give that team a playoff birth and would be a tough out for anyone.

If Affalo leaves--we would need a new 6th man. I dont think Gordon can play more than 26 minutes for 70+ games. With the old salary--that would be 3-5mm but new salary--I think a 7.5mm 1 yr contract with an option can be done and sell him on a spot where he can also manage his health with a good role off the bench and spot starter.

I think the 7.5-8mm salary is the equivalent of the MLE now. Im willing in the right scenario to pass out a couple of low range MLE to 2-3 guards if Affalo is gone----maybe a little more to a Rondo type.

If it was up to me Id trade Melo and see if I can score 2-3 picks in the draft and get MUCH younger from the guard position but its not happening

So we need intermediate players who can still give us upside I think Bazemore is 25 Gordon 26. Rondo would give us the vet leadership and advanced PG skills that we havent had despite his lack of quality J shot and inability to get to the line. The only guy Id max out is Derozan--Id consider him a star in this league--a guy who is a leader on a team ho has won 50+ games back to back and 26 years old as well.

The two guys Im looking at in the draft from picks 17--29 is DEnzell Valentine and Grayson Allen if we get a pick.