Finestrg wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:Are they going to ever sign this guy? a report 2 weeks ago said they were working on a contract, how in the world does that take 2 wks for a role player

Seriously...The only thing I can think of is that the Knicks are not making this sound like an attractive situation and are not guaranteeing playing time. They should be playing every card they have up their sleeve -- if you don't have the money, the next best thing you can offer a potential FA is playing time, esp. a guy that's looking to claw his way back to the NBA...To me, they don't owe Prigioni a damn thing -- decent player, good dude, glad he's back but HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN guaranteed the primary backup PG spot yet. When/if they decide to bring in a 3rd PG, they need to keep an open mind & there needs to be a competition for those mins...They might not be telling these potential PG signees that and it might be giving all of them pause as far as signing here. Bottom line -- if we would've told Bobby Brown he'll be the backup PG (along with the possibility of playing alongside Felton for stretches, something Woody liked to do last year), or at least that the backup spot is wide open right now and that there's an opportunity to earn the spot, this guy would've taken the $800k or whatever and he would've been in a Knick uniform already. That goes for all of these guys so far -- Darren Collison, Aaron Brooks...I just get the feeling they're not presenting the situation like that -- I feel they might be telling these guys that PP is the backup PG and we're only looking for a 3rd string guy for depth. That's simply not attractive enough, esp. if the money is better somewhere else...I mean how bad do they want this guy Brown? Pursue the guy like you want him dammit!

guarantee a 3rd string PG who has been out of the league playing time? What world is this?

Basically the Knicks spoke to bobby brown 2 weeks ago, said they were interested but asked him to wait before they offered a contract while we explored other options. He's waiting on the Knicks to decide, not the other way round.

Also we didn't have a comparable trade package for Bledsoe, and collinson preferred LA because he gets to play with CP3 again, and for Doc Rivers. Brooks seems to feel more comfortable with the Rockets- has re-signed with them twice. The NY Knicks aren't the centre of the universe- different players have different preferences- why do so many people struggle with this concept? Not every player is a diehard Knick fan!

martin wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:Are they going to ever sign this guy? a report 2 weeks ago said they were working on a contract, how in the world does that take 2 wks for a role player

Seriously...The only thing I can think of is that the Knicks are not making this sound like an attractive situation and are not guaranteeing playing time. They should be playing every card they have up their sleeve -- if you don't have the money, the next best thing you can offer a potential FA is playing time, esp. a guy that's looking to claw his way back to the NBA...To me, they don't owe Prigioni a damn thing -- decent player, good dude, glad he's back but HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN guaranteed the primary backup PG spot yet. When/if they decide to bring in a 3rd PG, they need to keep an open mind & there needs to be a competition for those mins...They might not be telling these potential PG signees that and it might be giving all of them pause as far as signing here. Bottom line -- if we would've told Bobby Brown he'll be the backup PG (along with the possibility of playing alongside Felton for stretches, something Woody liked to do last year), or at least that the backup spot is wide open right now and that there's an opportunity to earn the spot, this guy would've taken the $800k or whatever and he would've been in a Knick uniform already. That goes for all of these guys so far -- Darren Collison, Aaron Brooks...I just get the feeling they're not presenting the situation like that -- I feel they might be telling these guys that PP is the backup PG and we're only looking for a 3rd string guy for depth. That's simply not attractive enough, esp. if the money is better somewhere else...I mean how bad do they want this guy Brown? Pursue the guy like you want him dammit!

guarantee a 3rd string PG who has been out of the league playing time? What world is this?

I'm talking about playing the cards that you're dealt here, man. Plain and simple...How are the Knicks supposed to compete for these FAs' services when other teams can flat out offer more money than we can? Answer is - they don't. Not if money is the sole motivation. Sometime money's not the only factor though -- if the money is slightly less yet the Knicks are offering a rotation spot & playing time, I think they could still keep themselves in the mix for players, possibly elevate themselves over other teams even. That could be attractive for a player, esp. for a fringe (up to this point) player that wants back into the NBA...That's also assuming a guy like Bobby Brown has other offers on the table, which doesn't appear to be the case at this point....I don't think that's that far fetched...I don't feel the Knicks are approaching this particular player like this however. From this guy's twitter comments, you get the feeling that this is up to the Knicks, that he's ready to sign on the dotted line.

I know exactly what Pablo Prigioni is btw. I know he's a guy that makes people better for the most part, I know he's a guy that can move the ball, stick an open 3, shows uncanny timing reaching in and stealing an inbound pass, seems like a good character guy etc...The bottom line on him for me is that he's 36, past his prime with virtually zero ability to break down a defense. You can't possibly argue that...That puts us at a serious disadvantage in my book. If Ray ever broke down and we had to turn it over to this guy for a long stretch -- I dunno man, that kinda scares the piss outta me...We can't possibly have a roster with only one PG that can penetrate and push the pace. I'm not gonna profess to know much about Bobby Brown other than what I've read and saw on clips just like everybody else. But from what I can tell -- he passes the eye test as far as what we could use out of an additional PG. There's potential for a lot of excitement and productivity with this guy...I like what I see and I'd be willing to take a chance here, esp. with all these other attractive options (Collison, Brooks, Harris) off the board at this point.

Finestrg wrote:

smackeddog wrote:Interesting- Bobby Browns latest tweet from yesterday said "decisions, decisions", so I guess we've either made an offer or some other nba teams have. Either way the end to this saga is in sight!

Interesting. Ok, maybe he does have other offers. Or, he's deciding between the Knicks and going back to Europe. I just hope that the Knicks, if they even have made an offer, are offering PT along with a contract. That's infinitely more attractive for a guy like this. If he's given an opportunity to play and showcase his talent it'll lead to more money down the road. Look at Chris Copeland. And poor Cope would've gotten even more money if Woody would've taken the shackles off this dude a lot sooner. I would hate to read a week from now that the Knicks lost this guy because they didn't guarantee him an opportunity to legitimately compete for playing time with Prigioni...Up to Woody of course, but if he's given that opportunity, I think he beats out PP for the backup PG spot.

Or maybe Knicks are still working some trade scenerios to land us another PG.

Bottom line -- we know they are going to get another PG (they've already said that publicly) -- very hard to tell what is going on behind the scenes but they obviously aren't in a panic to make a move or they would have pulled trigger already. That would tell me there is more than 1 option they would be comfortable with -- that is still out there. It's also possible that it's Brown who is weighing offers and slowing the process down --- hard to tell which is which.

Me personally --- I think we'll see some type of significant trade before camp opens.

My Heart is broken

smackeddog wrote:

EnySpree wrote:So bobby brown signed with a Chinese team with a nba buyout option...

My Heart is broken

He has a buyout until the 15th August- basically he's giving us 2 weeks or he goes to China.

Frustrating -- just looking over his rumor page over at hoopshype -- Zwerling indicates that he'd much rather join the Knicks than go to China. China's offer is for $1.2m; we can offer roughly 800k, yet Zwerling said he spoke to him personally and he'd rather the Knicks and the NBA over China. I mean WTF, have we even made an offer?? And yeah, 2 week window to get something done before he goes to China...Not sure what there is to think about from the Knicks' perspective here -- the dude has a lot of game, we can clearly use another PG with some speed and skill, Brown prefers the NBA to China and it looks like he's willing to take less...WTF are we doing?!? Get this done!!!

smackeddog wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

EnySpree wrote:So bobby brown signed with a Chinese team with a nba buyout option...

My Heart is broken

He has a buyout until the 15th August- basically he's giving us 2 weeks or he goes to China.

Frustrating -- just looking over his rumor page over at hoopshype -- Zwerling indicates that he'd much rather join the Knicks than go to China. China's offer is for $1.2m; we can offer roughly 800k, yet Zwerling said he spoke to him personally and he'd rather the Knicks and the NBA over China. I mean WTF, have we even made an offer?? And yeah, 2 week window to get something done before he goes to China...Not sure what there is to think about from the Knicks' perspective here -- the dude has a lot of game, we can clearly use another PG with some speed and skill, Brown prefers the NBA to China and it looks like he's willing to take less...WTF are we doing?!? Get this done!!!

Guess we at least now know why we're dragging our feet- Knicks want Udrih, so I suppose Bobby Brown in the (or a) fallback option. Who would you rather have?

Udirih definitely. He's more of a known quantity and I've liked him for some time. But I don't want to be left w/o a chair when the music stops. I want Brown if we can't get Udirih. Hopefully the Knicks are in constant touch with Brown and have told him flat out that he's the immediate plan B. But then there's all this Delonte West stuff out there too. West can play but he's a thug and a headcase. How many headcases can you possibly have on one team?? Udirih if he's even realistic, then immediately offer Brown a contract. That's how I'd go. And I'd also ink up Earl Barron to a vet minimum deal for a little more frontcourt insurance. Not sure why that hasn't been done already..