knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

Harden maybe the best of the bunch but Irving will give him a fight and may pass him really soon.

CrushAlot wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

+1
They're also the youngest, lowest paid of those 3 teams (and actually of all 30 teams).

And I wonder for how long can they remain the lowest paid? I don't mean regarding adding another max or near max player. Like how much will Chandler Persons get in a few years? They still will probably need to add to their bench. They are looking very good $$$ wise. And after Lin's contract expires, unless he really ups his play, he won't be making 14 million, so that will help their cap. Probably the same with Asik. Looks like their plan is thus far working though. Funny, Lin and Asik both are making the same amount and will be slightly above Harden that 3rd year.

I am not sure about that. I thought there was another perk for the Rockets being under the cap. I think Asic and Lin's contracts are figured at an average salary for their duration, 8 mil, verus having the 15 mil going against their cap in year three. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that I read this somewhere. Not really fair in my opinion especially when the new cba was supposed to make it harder for players to leave their teams.

That does sound familiar

CrushAlot wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

+1
They're also the youngest, lowest paid of those 3 teams (and actually of all 30 teams).

And I wonder for how long can they remain the lowest paid? I don't mean regarding adding another max or near max player. Like how much will Chandler Persons get in a few years? They still will probably need to add to their bench. They are looking very good $$$ wise. And after Lin's contract expires, unless he really ups his play, he won't be making 14 million, so that will help their cap. Probably the same with Asik. Looks like their plan is thus far working though. Funny, Lin and Asik both are making the same amount and will be slightly above Harden that 3rd year.

I am not sure about that. I thought there was another perk for the Rockets being under the cap. I think Asic and Lin's contracts are figured at an average salary for their duration, 8 mil, verus having the 15 mil going against their cap in year three. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that I read this somewhere. Not really fair in my opinion especially when the new cba was supposed to make it harder for players to leave their teams.

You are right, I remember now and totally forgot about that. I think it didn't apply to us because we were over the cap? Yes, the "advantage" then is not really fair. In a sense, that is why we didn't resign Lin.

- Miami Heat - 3 Championships
- Oklahoma City Thunder - 1 Championship
- For the remaining, I'd say it's a wild card out of one of the other west teams. I'll say the Clippers. I can't vote for the Rockets without knowing what they do in free agency. Same for the Cavs. No title for the Nuggets or Knicks.

Solace wrote:Forgetting the poll, my general feeling is this. Next 5 years (obviously highly speculative, without knowing rosters):

- Miami Heat - 3 Championships
- Oklahoma City Thunder - 1 Championship
- For the remaining, I'd say it's a wild card out of one of the other west teams. I'll say the Clippers. I can't vote for the Rockets without knowing what they do in free agency. Same for the Cavs. No title for the Nuggets or Knicks.

I think OKC, Heat, Clips and spurs are all better suited to winning now and have bright prospects the next few years.

Its about the secular discussion relating to the Rockets, KNuggs and Knicks!

The Mooby loving Lin/Gallo hater can't see past the moment. Can't see the draft picks, youth and cap space flex the Rockets and Denver have. Its not a question of "renewing knick faith" then being real.

The question really is have we mortgaged the future to "win now" but don't really have enough firepower to win, and thus with few assets can we really retool to contend were OKC, Rockets and Denver seem built for a very long contention era.

NYKBocker wrote:

NYKMentality wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

NYKMentality wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

MS wrote:I think if Dwight is smart he loves and goes to the Rockets. Very little pressure in Houston and Harden is better than Kobe. Throw in all there outside shooters and young team and they are the favorite for years to come.

Houston is definitely the best fit for Dwight. As far as the original question, Knicks have the best shot at a title as currently constructed out of those teams, but a lot can change. I have always believed a team built around Melo and Chandler can compete, but the right pieces and right role players must be in place.

What are you doing my dude? Don't you know this type of talk isn't allowed on our Knicks board?

But yea, if Shumpert can re-gain form and improve upon last season? We could have something very special in Shumpert moving forward. A core of Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler can do some things.

None of those players is as good as Harden and if the past is a predictor of the future, probably not as good as the player Morey will use his max-contract FA money on the future. Our best player might be their third best player though.

Harden choked big time in the finals last year. Seem to remember Melo getting criticism on here for his teams playoffs performances, so lets wait and see where Harden leads his team before we say Harden is the better player.

Aside from the fact that you're analyzing a ridiculously small sample of games, Harden has not had near the playoff failure Melo has anyway.

And Melo has never played alongside the likes of Westbrook and KEVIN DURANT lmao

Chauncey Billups is chopped liver? How about Iverson? Melo also had a very good supporting cast in Denver. He had at some point in time the 2 I mentioned and a very good supporting cast in KMart and Nene and Afflalo and JR Smith just to name a few.

NYKBocker wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

+1
They're also the youngest, lowest paid of those 3 teams (and actually of all 30 teams).

And I wonder for how long can they remain the lowest paid? I don't mean regarding adding another max or near max player. Like how much will Chandler Persons get in a few years? They still will probably need to add to their bench. They are looking very good $$$ wise. And after Lin's contract expires, unless he really ups his play, he won't be making 14 million, so that will help their cap. Probably the same with Asik. Looks like their plan is thus far working though. Funny, Lin and Asik both are making the same amount and will be slightly above Harden that 3rd year.

Harden has a higher cap tag than both Lin and Asik. Harden cap number is $13.67M while Lin and Asik is at $8.37.

They won't be the lowest paid next year. They will sign a max type player and still has a bunch of picks. So their future is bright.

UFAs that has been talked about in Rocket land are...

Dwight Howard
Josh Smith
Andrew Bynum
Al Jefferson
Paul Milsap

Not sure who I would want on that group.

NYKBocker wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

knickstorrents wrote:Out of the given teams who has the best player? Harden is the best player from all the given teams, so basic rule of thumb says Houston. They also have good management and team ownership.

+1
They're also the youngest, lowest paid of those 3 teams (and actually of all 30 teams).

And I wonder for how long can they remain the lowest paid? I don't mean regarding adding another max or near max player. Like how much will Chandler Persons get in a few years? They still will probably need to add to their bench. They are looking very good $$$ wise. And after Lin's contract expires, unless he really ups his play, he won't be making 14 million, so that will help their cap. Probably the same with Asik. Looks like their plan is thus far working though. Funny, Lin and Asik both are making the same amount and will be slightly above Harden that 3rd year.

Harden has a higher cap tag than both Lin and Asik. Harden cap number is $13.67M while Lin and Asik is at $8.37.

They won't be the lowest paid next year. They will sign a max type player and still has a bunch of picks. So their future is bright.

UFAs that has been talked about in Rocket land are...

Dwight Howard
Josh Smith
Andrew Bynum
Al Jefferson
Paul Milsap

Not sure who I would want on that group.

They have chemistry to work out as they have added 4 starters this year (asik, harden, lin and now robinson)and they have to rebuild some depth which will take some funds to do so.

Likely they are still a year or two from contending. Same with Denver.

Maybe in Denvers case they need to make some trades to enrich some positions which takes away from some depth, but if they draft well that only enhances their assets (as with any team).