Chandler wrote:foosballnick wrote:Chandler wrote:HofstraBBall wrote:Knixkik wrote:SupremeCommander wrote:Zach LaVine would be at the top of my list
Agreed. He fits very well. He would give a #2 option and elite shooter.
Any concern with injury issues? Salary?
Brook Lopez and Grant are available in FA. Do you consider them good enough to be second options?
injuries and attitude. I'd pass
I started a rumor in the other thread. We should consider Dame. he's on a way different timeline than the rest of their talent, e.g., simon and sharpe. He could do the Mitch version of "Foul That" and say "Zone that"
though he's small i played him at 2. i think there wuold be some real benefit to having another ballhandler as i expect the good teams to try and run Jalen ragged the way Heat did. Given his age hopefully he's not ridiculoously expensive but i wouldn't be surprised if he still has a lot of game in him
We need clutch shooting more than anything
Let me play devil's advocate on why you would not want to bring Dame here. He's 33 with some previous injury history and making between $45 - $63M per year over the next 4 years. You'll likley trade a significant amount to bring him here, including picks and have to match salaries.....i.e. something like Randle & EF. You also end up having 2 small guards and ultimately a 37 year old Dame making $63M in salary on your roster in 2026.
Everything you say is true though i don’t see Randle in the package as much as RJ or someone else on their time line, and I’d like to think the package wouldn’t need to be monstrous given his age and salary
But what you say illustrates the dilemma. You can go around the whole league and ask how can the Knicks get elite shooting that they need. I suspect any candidate will have the same or similar issues. ANd they need the shooting NOW so they can’t wait/hope for someone to develop that way
In theory they could find it in the draft but it’s no sure things.
If you go with a single Big move - would agree that there is a dilemma as you will either have to over-pay in a trade and/or be stuck with a bad salary in out years. Probably why I would go with smaller moves to improve the shooting at multiple positions.
Guys like Reid/Stewart/B. Lopez upgrade the shooting at the C spot as well as provide a floor stretch component. I would look to replace one of our current centers with someone like this. Higher cost options would be Vucevic or Wood - but would have to get creative with something like a S&T as there is no cap space.
For a wing player I like Cam Johnson, but he's an RFA with Bird Rights so going to be difficult to swing something with the Nets. Also, no way the Nets are trading Mikal to us. I like Franz Wagner, although his stats aren't spectacular (yet) I have followed him through his Michigan and Orlando careers and think @ 6'10" he's a guy who can shoot/hit an open shot and will keep getting better. Although not a sharp shooter - another guy I like is Bruce Brown who is on a player option and plays both ends, is still only 26 years old, has playoff experience and also improved from 3.