nyknickzingis wrote:Phil's problem has been the veterans he picks are all on decline, with the wheels kinda falling off for them and little gas left in the tank.Lets go in order:
Jose Calderon 2014 Trade - Never really was the same Jose of the Raptors time. Good passer and shooter, nice teammates, but not a starter.
Aaron Affalo 2015 FA - Decent get but again not really a starting 2 at the point the Knicks got him
Joakim Noah 2016 FA - Bulls FO said it loud and clear. Proven this year he is no longer a starter.
Derrick Rose 2016 Trade - Probably best veteran player Phil got, still an outstanding individual talent but not a good fit or the player he once was.
Then there's Carmelo Anthony 2014 FA kept - given a NTC as part of negotiations to keep him. That was another mistake as Melo has declined each year since. Melo was a much better player in 2011 than he is today. Healthier, younger, better. Still a damn good player, a top 25 player, but not one you choose as the franchise player who gets a NTC.
The one veteran he did sign to a great deal, who was in his peak and playing like a player with fresh young legs that still had prime years head in Robin Lopez he traded away for Rose. That was a mistake in hindsight, even though Willy is a more skilled player than RoLo, we could have used RoLo more longterm. Oh and Courtney Lee was solid, but lets see how he looks in a year or two. So far Lee was a good move but only his first year of the deal.
Those are the mistakes in my book. Too many veterans brought in who couldn't play like they once could, who were paid like they were still able to play as if they were in their primes. All this talk about system, coaching, trade talk. Noah, Rose and Melo make a combined 65 million nearly. They don't even give half the value there. In my book, Melo's a 15 million a year player making 25. Rose is a 10 million year player making 21. Noah is a 6 million a year player in value making 18. Just bad bad moves by Phil.
He needs to clean up his "veteran" mess and continue to rebuild with more talent like Willy,and KP, Keep taking chances on D League or 2nd round picks like Holiday, Thomas, O'Quinn, Baker. NDour, Randle. Internationals like Kuz. I like that stuff plenty. I dislike the veteran moves just as much as I like these moves. He's got to clean this up, and it starts by trading Melo, letting Rose walk and drafting well in 2017 NBA draft. Then going out and making smart decisions in free agency and abandoning the declining veteran love fest (No more Afflalo, Calderon, Rose, Noah type of moves).
Okay, reasonable criticism even if I disagree.
I forget the nitty gritty details of the Calderon exchange but my memory is that Phil inherited a mess of bad attitude in Chandler, a media storm in Felton-a gun-and an angry wife, no draft picks and so on. The same fans criticizing Phil now claimed that "no one wants these players", blah, blah, blah. But Phil *did* get rid of them admittedly at a steep discount. Calderon was never anything more that a stopgap transition from Felton to whatever future PG will eventually shine. To claim that Calderon was expected to be anything more is just not plausible.
Afflalo was a buddy of Melo's and was signed as another good buddy move that all the teams make these days after the Wade-LeBron-Bosh threesome in Miami. I do think a lot more was expected of him. In retrospect a disappointing signing but perfectly understandable at the time.
Rose/Noah was yet another buddy signing that again, all things considered, was a known risk but one worth taking. Rose is off the books, Noah remains as an albeit expensive but great team player - lots of energy and emotion. The broader and most important target that no one talks about is Holiday. He's a keeper with the most future of any of that bunch.
Was RoLo too much to pay? Not really. A great teammate and personality. He was good but not great. Our record this year would have likely been no better and the rooks would not have gotten the floor time they have. Is any of this reason to crucify Phil? Its a dubious argument, IMO.
The Melo signing was a "damned if you do/damned if you don't" proposition. Melo held the cards and Phil believed Melo was serious about becoming a world-class star. Water under the bridge.
The money is NBA funny money. I don't lose a wink of sleep over who makes what. There are SO MANY bad contracts out there in the NBA that to criticize the few we own now is disingenuous.
You accurately credit Phil with the youth movement he was building all along under the covers. It will blossom in a year or two which is, by all reasonable expectations, how long rebuilding a team takes if on a fast track (see: Philly).
None of it adds up to the malicious hate speech against Phil, Dolan, or their administrators.
4/7/2017 8:09 AM