ekstarks94 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:We have finally seen the Rose front office in full swing and I think so far we can make a few assumptions and observations;

The draft went according to plan and maybe even better. Obi and Quickley were clearly the 2 targets of this front office (LaMelo Ball notwithstanding) and they not only got Toppin but did so without having to make any moves, he fell in their lap. Big win for the front office so far. Then we got to free agency...

It’s hard to say at this point if this is how the front office planned it. They have been exceptionally quiet and we probably can assume that’s by design. It seems like they never even attempted a VanVleet deal, Gallinari, or any other semi-big assumed targets. Hayward was in play, but ultimately there’s no way they were going to pay him anything near what we got.

The knicks have made 3 boring moves so far. Burks while a boring acquisition is actually a very good pickup. He’s better than Bullock or Ellington and can shoot and make plays from the wing. The issue with him has always been health, but he’s low risk. Noel is a fine backup for Mitch. Payton coming back is a bit frustrating for me because of the lack of shooting, but my guess is he’s still a fail-safe for the team that doesn’t trust the other guards on the team.

So what does it all mean? Well the Knicks still have 25 mil or so in cap space if you count Payton or Noel having contracts that can be absorbed into the MLE after using up all the space. This front office seems to be doing 2 things; letting free agency come to them, but even more importantly, i think they are maintaining this flexibility for a big trade in the next week or so. Maybe Westbrook, Wall, or Rozier come to mind. Maybe there’s a couple surprise names out there that will come up. Or maybe this post will age poorly and the Knicks blow all this money some other way. But I expect the Knicks have held off on spending because something big is brewing.

My main concerns are bringing back Payton as a starter and still not addressing the shooting concerns. Maybe they feel like Burks, Bullock and Quickley on the wings, plus replacing Randle with Toppin at the 4 addresses the spacing issues, but doesn’t seem like enough. We will see. I think the main takeaway here is this cap space will likely be used and it may not be in free agency. We will see.

Great post...I also think based on what someone indicated on Twitter is that they can carry this cap space into the season and do not need to reach the “floor” until the end of the season...if they go this route the essentially become the bank or a clearinghouse for teams to make moves....if they can use this shrewdly they can pick up a few assets while maintaining a decent portion of the cap for 2021...

This is my thinking on it too. I think in general the Knicks are looking for cap flexibility the next two years so that when they have a chance to sign a real superstar they're in a good position to do so. They also accrued valuable draft capital the next two years. There's going to be some really talented prospects coming out and some star studded FA pools. Hopefully they will be in position to take advantage.

ekstarks94 wrote:Also I think despite Thibs not being a miracle worker he is a competent coach with a tried and true system...he will squeeze more out of this team than a Fiz or a Miller...let’s not forget that....

Fiz was the Adam Gase of the NBA so that won't be hard.

I thought Miller did an admirable job last year

wargames wrote:On the low the best PG might be Quickley..... and he played SG in college

He should start at the 2

Chandler wrote:
i also agree with the post the Elf is a sign that Frank or DSJ is toast.

I cannot see the logic of this. If the FO has decided that Frank or DSJr are not our PGs of the future, then why did it not draft a PG prospect? I understand that the Knicks loved that Obi fell to them at #8, but wouldn't it have made sense to then flip Obi for a Haliburton or a Kira Lewis, plus get another asset out of it? I mean, what is Sancto planning to do with both Fox and Haliburton? Wouldn't a player like Obi make more sense to them?

And if the FO still wants to give Frank or DSJ another chance, then having Payton taking up their minutes and possibly being ahead of them on the depth chart would be detrimental to that plan. Even someone like Kadeem Allen would have made more sense - effective in a backup role and well-suited for it, and actually good enough to be an occassional starter given where we are talent-wise right now.

Philc1 wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

wargames wrote:On the low the best PG might be Quickley..... and he played SG in college

He should start at the 2

With Barrett handling the ball out of the 2, he can be the 1.

Barrett should absolutely run the point. Quickly's game is shooting the ball

Might be more semantics over “position”. I’d like Quickley up at the 1 and let him cover the PG on defense. Just let Barrett handle the ball more.