That makes me think actually that Phil may want to keep him for those reasons, let Affalo walk or move Afflalo in a salary dump. Grant has size to play 2, more than enough. He'd likely re-sign Sasha for insurance in case Grant is not better. Would give us room to keep Lance or Williams (I think we only keep one of those 2).

Lopez/Seraphin
Porzingis/O'Quinn
Melo/Thomas
Galloway/Grant/Sasha
Conley/Calderon

Paris907 wrote:Briggs came up with what at first looked off the Wall with Terence ROSS and Alex Schved starting with DeRozen starting as well. 3 guard office with draft Denzelle Balentine starting as well.

It begs the question what are the objectives? A championship? A team that can win 50 in two years?
Miami, Cleveland and GSW, Clippers and San Antonio all have 3 bona fide Stars. Melo qualifies but I'm of the belief that in 2 years his knees will impact his ability to lead and be a team top scorer.

Youth. We have Porzingis. Williams. Thomas. Afflalo and Calderon all Cost plenty and are an extravagance. I've heard trades that bring us a young backcourt (Teague, and and Schroeder), with OTTO. That makes some sense as no one over 26. Another trade I proposed is Rose (rumored in NY at seasons end)and Bobby Portis for
Melo and Calderon. Finally the rumored trade of Melo for Blake makes some sense as well. These trades allow the Knicks to get younger, (Blake, OTTO, or Portis), bolster their backcourt with youth, and keep Lopez, Galloway and either Thomas or Williams or Afflalo. We are at a crossroads. If the team is going to hire Tibs, it means they'll play D., and win with D. Youth required. If Tibs and KP are in the mix I say bring on Rose and Portis (10 boards and 15.6 as a rookie over 36 minutes). With Lopez and another big (perhaps Herangomez), and signing Nicolas Batum (or Beal in the offseason), the team would look like this:

KP/Lopez/Portis/Hernangomez (or KOQ)
Batum/D Williams/ or Thomas or Afflalo
Beal (or Batum) / Rose/Galloway/
That's the rotation - the rest is fodder

Defensively KP/Lopez/Portis can play D. Batum and Thomas play both ways.

Offensively : KP will score 16-18 pg; either Batum or Beal 18-20: Portis 16-18 year two If given starting job
Rose 18-20: Gallo: 12-14-Lopez 12-14
The Bench can score- Williams and either Afflalo or Thomas.
If Beal, then Beal and Rose score 40 per game.
Team has balance, youth, capable offensively, athletic defensively and KP/Galloway/Lance/ are character guys. Without pressure of having to take the scoring lead, Rose can do what he does best: penetrate and set up KP, Portis, and Lopez as well as Batum.

wargames wrote:I still say throw KOQ to the bucks for MCW and see if he can be remade into a good/consistent player.

I doubt KOQ would get it done. It would probably have to be a pg swap of Grant/MCW

Paris907 wrote:Nyorker forever: one of us was an English Major with a doctorate and a masters. My Knick rant is just that. I'll keep reading your rants and see who is the more eloquent. Trust this is coherent enough for your urbane sensibilities. Go Knicks!

NewYorker4Ever has a masters and a doctorate?

This was based on a $90m cap figure but their are reports that the cap will be in the $92-95$m range.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/TimBontemps/status/699651460464840706

I just thought I would bump this to give people a refresher on what options the Knicks have or what could be if AA/D opt out and if the knicks wanted to even more space. For those with trade ideas don't forget to do the math of what the Knicks cap would be after the proposed trade.

This free agency contains a lot of restricted free agents(RFAs) which does not help the knicks cause especially when you couple that with a huge cap jump that relieves the pressure of signing players to a higher yearly contract. There are also some two year RFAs out their and as knicks fans know from the Lin fiasco teams can offer "poison pill"(Gilbert Arneas provision) contracts to those type RFAs. Here is a brief refresher on how that works:

This loophole was seemingly closed in the 2005 CBA with the “Gilbert Arenas Provision,” where it was ruled that an offer sheet made to a restricted free agent in his first or second year in the NBA could not contain a first-year salary greater than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($5 million for 2012-13) and a second-year salary no greater than the standard 4.5-percent raise from the first year. The third year of the offer sheet has no such restrictions and could be as high as the player’s maximum, given the offering team’s cap room. However, if a raise from year two to year three is greater than 4.5-percent, the team proposing the offer sheet must be able to fit the average of the entire contract under the cap, rather than the first-year salary, and that is how it is applied to their ledger. But if the original team decides to match the offer sheet, the annual salary is applied to the original team exactly as it is laid out in the standing offer sheet. To put this in context of 2003, the Wizards would only have been able to offer the full mid-level exception in the first two seasons, which at the time was $4.917 million. Golden State therefore would have at least had the option to match this offer sheet for Arenas, if they chose to do so.

he difference in the application of the salaries for each team is where the loophole lies. This structure allows a team with a plethora of cap room to back-load an offer sheet significantly in the third and fourth year, only needing to fit the average of all four years (or three years, depending on length of the offer sheet) under the cap in the first season of the deal.

The Houston Rockets took full advantage of this recently with their offer sheet to Chicago Bulls center Omer Asik. They submitted a three-year, $24.3 million offer, paying around $5 million in the first two years before ballooning to almost $15 million in year three. Houston, with boatloads of cap room, only needs to fit the average of the total deal, or around $8.1 million, under the cap each year. But if Chicago matched the offer, they would have to pay Asik $5 million this year and next, and then almost $15 million in 2014-15 when they are already paying big men Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah almost $30 million combined. Tack on Derrick Rose’s max deal, and those four players would take up Chicago’s entire salary cap. And given the Bulls’ typical aversion to the luxury tax, especially when the penalty will be more severe in 2014-15, it is a virtual certainty they will not match the offer for Asik. This was a strategic move by Houston to ensure they get the player they want through a loophole in Gilbert Arenas Provision designed to help teams keep their successful second-round picks.

The Toronto Raptors used the exact same concept with their offer sheet on Tuesday to Landry Fields, back-loading the contract to make the third year higher than the first two and likely preventing the Knicks from being able to match. The Houston Rockets and Jeremy Lin agreed to a four-year, $30 million offer sheet, which includes a team option in year four. Lin will make $5.2 million over the first two years, before getting a bump to $9.3 million for the remaining two years of this contract. Expect to see more of the same going forward this summer. My bet for who’s next: Devin Ebanks.

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2012/07/the-gilbert-arenas-provision-and-why-its-sometimes-better-to-be-a-second-round-pick.html#more-22110

Players of note that fall under this are Tyler Johnson, Langston Galloway, and Dwight Powell. I doubt Galloway will get that type of deal but Johnson and Powell could be potential candidates. Both players could be useful for the knicks. Tyler is an athletic combo guard and Dwight is an athletic bigman that is working on his jumper but has much needed energy and versatility defensively.

Note:

I am trying to look up what an updated "poison pill" offer sheet might look like.

To be continued...

babyKnicks wrote:Any chance rondo and Howard come together?

That'd be the unholy trinity right there.

Melo. Rondo. Howard. Your 2016-2017 seemingly forever 8th seed New York Knicks!!!

One would hope that at this point people would have better player judgement with the data that is available these days.

Everyone can make fun of WS48 but its rarely wrong.