nixluva wrote:
Pivot - Robin Lopez
Primary Wing - Devin Booker
Secondary Wing - Jae Crowder
Power Forward - Larry Sanders
Point Guard - Aaron BrooksSixth Man - Carmelo Anthony
Third Guard - Langston Galloway
Fourth Guard/Shooting Specialist - Jose Calderon
Bench Enforcer - Chuck Hayes
Rotational Big - Luis Scola
Developmental - Tim Hardaway Jr/Orlando Sanchez/Thansis Antekoumpo/Clem Early
I think you have valid reasons for some of your selections. Lopez, Crowder are decent role players, tho at the lower end of the Free Agents we actually do have a chance at signing. Brooks is 32 and short, but he is a very good offensive player. I don't see Brooks as being right for this team.
I don't understand the Devin Booker draft pick at all. We have the #4 pick!!! Why are we ending up with this guy? I don't understand Larry Sanders at all.
Chuck Hayes is 31 and barely plays anymore. I just don't see why you had to reach that far down to the bottom of the barrel for him.
Luis Scola is 35 and tho he is a skilled and tough player, we don't need him for what he has left to offer.
Your reasoning is fine if all we wanted to do is build a mediocre team with no upside. There's some scoring so I can understand that but also too many lame old players in the mix.
Robin Lopez, even at a slight overpay, is useful for helping RIGHT NOW and still would retain some future TRADE VALUE
Jae Crowder, a plus defender on the wing and still young, would help the defense RIGHT NOW and still would retain some future TRADE VALUE
Aaron Brooks is a battle tested veteran point guard with playoff experience. He also has time in with Scola and Hayes from their Houston days to provide a trifecta of locker room leadership. While he's not going to be a starter on a contender, it's easy to see him as a backup point guard for one, who can help now and offer some limited TRADE VALUE for the short term future. Also he could mentor Galloway and Sanchez on the nuances of the position.
Teams making a hard contention push are always looking for size with defensive pedigree, backup point guards and wings who can actually defend on the perimeter. This is in line with NBA marketplace history when looking at trade deadlines across time. By having veterans with experience who are good locker room guys around guys like Tim Hardaway Jr and Clem Early, you are allowing them to develop slowly and organically, without overexposing them, so they can offer future value or at least try to create a future trade chip with them.
What I've constructed is a team that can defend, limit Melo's worst flaws and offer some glimpse of possible future trade value. If you could get a semi productive season out of Aaron Brooks, watch him mentor a couple of young PGs, then flip him at the deadline for a couple of late 2nds, I wouldn't call that the worse thing in the world.
I also think putting a guy like Hardaway JR on the bench and saying " Look kid, you need to step up, take better shots, show some defense, and you will get to play" will work more on developing him than making him a quasi starter on a barren roster.
Devin Booker , Jae Crowder and Galloway give you a solid rotation of actual perimeter defense. Booker can help the team without conflicting with Melo's flaws. Booker can gun it from long range, spacing the floor, and he can defend, which lifts the burden off of Melo ( the better defense you can put around Melo, the less you are asking a toxic won't try/don't care/so what defender to deal with defense and let him focus on scoring the damn ball) Booker is a 3 And D Wing with the upside for more.
The Knicks could draft a Mundiay. Or a Stein. But those guys will take much longer to develop and impact than Booker. Melo doesn't move well off the ball, so how is that elite point guard going to help the Knicks in the next three years? Mundiay needs the ball in his hands, a reality of the position. Melo needs the ball in his hands. How is that going to work. At least Brooks has the veteran experience to know when to edge back and help in other ways. Stein is a plus defender, but big men notoriously take the longest of all prospects to develop, and how does that fit into Melo's short timeline? By the time WCS ends up being mostly what he will be, Melo's contract is just about done.
If the Knicks can get a big man who is an UDFA who is a prospect or maybe pick up a late 2nd to draft one, they need MENTORSHIP. Scola might be on his last legs, but would you rather anyone else teach that young big how to play the post, work on low post moves and how to be crafty when banging around? Hayes is another good influence if the Knicks get a young big man. At worst, they offer mentorship and leadership to teach Greek Freak 2.0, a very raw player who will likely model out as a power forward. And Nixluva, if you don't want older players to offer leadership on the roster, then consider it a "tax" on Melo's failure to provide real leadership. Knicks are going to need to get leadership from somewhere and if it costs some roster spots, then that's what it will cost to pay for Melo's flaws.
By trading down and picking up Booker and possibly future draft assets, the Knicks can have some hope for 2016 instead of seeing it as a giant black hole for draft potential. They also release themselves from the Stepien Rule trap, making it possible to trade future draft picks again before 2018, if that's in the cards for the team.
And face it, the Knicks likely are not getting Carroll or Jimmy Butler or even Danny Green or Ajinca or any of the number of names tossed about. Most of these players talking up the Knicks are just trying to create an ideal market condition for their original team to pay them the most money.
As far as upside, Booker, Crowder, Galloway, Greek Freak 2.0 and possibly Clem Early getting some development for the future isn't the worst thing in the world.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I want to see players I'm proud to see in a Knicks uniform. Call a Jae Crowder what you want. But he's going to play and never give up and fight and battle with true grit and determination and leave every ounce of blood on the floor. Win or lose, he will play the right way and I can feel good about calling him a true Knick.
Some of you guys just want "brand names" without a care in the world if those names actually fit together or balance a true team or are the right kind of mindset/leaders the team needs the most. I care about building the best overall TEAM POSSIBLE given Melo and Calderon and Hardaway are STUCK ON THIS ROSTER and this team will not endure a true rebuild.
Nixluva, you just accused me of putting together a "mediocre team" Well I accuse you of trying to constantly starphuch of assembling a far fetched Inception level trade rapists wet dream of players with mediocre character who are just mercenaries who don't fit together.
As for those you not named Briggs or Smackedog or Nixluva or any of the other folks who plain just don't like me, consider this at the end. The guys criticizing my team build are the ones who think resigning Andrea Bargnani is a good idea. Ask yourself this, which is more likely to work? My idea of building around that little thing call DEFENSE, best as it could be given the dire situation, or their version of the Knicks where Bargs is still making millions and laughing his way to the bank.
6/1/2015 8:23 PM