jimimou wrote:monta is owed $44M after this year. how would that fit into the lbj plan? getting him would severely limit the knicks in signing a robin to lbj's batman - do you go for ellis when wade, bosh, etc are still looming? somethings gotta give right?

Agreed but I'm losing faith that a marquee UFA will sign with a 1-81 team... maybe get Ellis and figure out a way to ditch Fatty and No J

TMS wrote:starphuching only works if u have a player u can build around (in rare cases like the Pistons u can build a champion w/o that franchise guy, but it doesn't happen often)... the 2010 plan is Donnie's idea to bring in a franchise guy to build around... Ellis is not a franchise guy, he's a piece that u add to a team building around a guy like Lebron, Wade, Bosh, etc., so if adding him means u'r throwing away any chance of signing that franchise guy, then it's not gonna fit into Donnie's plan... so unless u can dump Curry's contract in the process, then u shouldn't even waste ur time thinking about these types of acquisitions for the Knicks cuz it's not gonna happen.

its 1 title between those 3. playing in MSG with a skeleton roster isn't going to change that.

TMS wrote:trading for guys like Ellis, G Wallace, Okafor, etc. only makes sense if u can dump Curry's contract in the process, because none of those guys are worth sacrificing our 2010 cap space for.

Wallace is injury prone, Okafor doesn't fit this system, so I agree. I think Monta is tailor made for it, honestly. I agree it would be best to drop Curry, but if you can move a combo of Jefferies/Wilson/Duhon(Will and JJ2 count $9 mil towards the cap next year). You take on Ellis ($11 mil even over the life of his contract) you are only adding $2 mil worth of salary in 2010, giving us $29 mil on salary in 2010.

Maybe it's just me but I really underrate getting rid JJ2 because IMHO, getting 2 max contracts is only a real possibility to us is if we dump Curry.

If you get rid off JJ2, by current estimates ($50-$53 mil) we would have $21 mil on salary (counting Will). That is only $30 mil. A Max is $20 mil right? You need to get rid of both Jefferies and Curry to bring us to the point of realistically signing two max contract guys. That would bring us down to $10 mil, with $40-$43 mil to spare.

You sign 2 max contract guys you would have $50 mil in FA1, FA2, Will, Gallo, Toney, and Hill. You could conceivably resign Nate and Lee (cost will probably be around $13-$16 mil combined-IF they are not signed in the couple months after we have to renounce them). Say you resign both at $14. Now you have a payroll of 64 mil in payroll. No flexibility and you have to hope Will, Hill, and Toney can pan out otherwise you are stuck signing MLE talent for about 6 years.

Give me Monta, our youth and the chance to sign just one of LeBron/Wade/Amare(who isn't a max contract guy-I think he is $15-$17)/Bosh whoever.

If it was me, I trade Will, JJ2, and Duhon for Monta and Fisher(waive) OR Brandon Wright OR Randolph (unlikely, imo). Try and swing a deal of Curry and Hughes + $3mil for Mcgrady and Lowery(let both walk or resign Lowery cheap later).

Go after Lebron and Amare and go into next year with this:

Amare-$16 mil
Lebron-$20 mil
Gallo- $3 mil
Monta- $11 mil
Toney(our Rondo)-$1 mil

Hill-$2.5 mil

Looking here at 53.5 mil.

We get
Anthony Randolph
Monta Ellis

Outgoing Players
Jordan Hill
Wilson Chandler
Toney Douglas
Jared Jeffries

PG-Ellis
PF-Gallo
C-Randolph