fwk00 wrote:

sidsanders wrote:a bit off topic --
"The near eternal problem the Knicks have is that the Knicks are as hated in the NBA as the Yankees are in MLB without any of the upside"
im gonna say thats just not the case. knicks are largely irrelevant and have been for some time. they are not historically on par with the nba elites for winning. celtics, lakers are in that class. for a team that hasnt won anything in nearly 50 years and has spent most of the 2000s barely making the playoffs, whats worth hating from opposing teams/fans?

That's exactly the point I was making.

The Knicks have none of the good fortune of the Yankees and all of the animus.

Look, the entire reason of the NBA draft is to keep big city teams (e.g. the Knicks) from signing kids as Free agents.

And the spending cap? If Dolan could just spend (and he would), poor small town NBA.

And locking up players in sheboygan with NBA contracts that favor staying put? Hell, Dolan would lure these kids away.

And, OMG! The racism of the Knicks who pay, more hire more, and contribute more to the black community. Yeah, that racism.

my point is there is no animus that i see. i havent lived in the ny metro area in 25 years and where i am, no one cares about what the knicks do or dont do. yankees -- yep. giants -- far distant second. every other team is a general meh.

the cba design has been put together to try and keep players from fleeing (or perhaps to protect poorly run teams from themselves) and usually this creates unexpected consequences. concept of max contract after the garnett contract, rookie cap after 1-1 pick failures (or just 1st rnd busts), further tweaks to the max contract, tweaks to sign-trades, concepts to try and prevent superfriend teams. most of these ideas are to limit poor decisions teams make as the guaranteed contracts reallllly hamper the ability to recover from bad moves. certainly some teams push these ideas until the get bitten by them, hence labor issues and a new cba that has new changes to try and limit player movements and limit teams damage from bad player management.

a more interesting tweak would be going the nfl route with the cap and contract structure. cannot see that happen, however it would let teams be in the market to get FA talent while not being hammered (well, too long) if it does not work out.

Beal is playing phenomenal ball right now. Is a better fit because he is not a ball hog needing the ball in his hands at all time. I actually would much prefer him to Kyrie and almost any other SG at the momenet (Lillard would be great but he's not moving; Klay doesnt count because he's out; Steph im calling a pg, etc..)

he would be an amazing fit here.

Is there a package for Lavin that wont cost the knicks any of its core? I dont think Beal can be had without giving RJ

KnickDanger wrote:I just don't think it's the right time to overpay, even for a Beal. We're not close enough yet.

I'm in this boat

jskinny35 wrote:I agree that it's too costly for Beal and he's best off to go to a contending team due to his age, salary and trade cost.

Lavine is different IMO as he's younger, cheaper contract-wise and would cost less in a trade. Most of us are likely okay to part with Payton, Knox, Bullock, Burks, DSJr, Noel (and for some - Frank :). Realistically it would probably cost one of our players we view as core (Mitch, Randle, RJ, Toppin, IQ) and some picks.

I've posted about the offense needing more spacing so I would be willing to send Randle back in a trade and let Toppin develop with Lavine and others for the next few seasons. Realize that's not very popular opinion here so who would other posters be willing to part with if we are looking to make the deal?

If no Randle - then I'd look to move Mitch or Toppin, along with Burks/Knox or whoever else they want (not named RJ or IQ). I'd be willing to part with #1 of our picks, and #1 of one of the Dallas picks.

(If we hypothetically expanded to include Lauri and/or Kornet - would be willing to increase to Randle, Knox, Toppin, filler as getting back Lauri would open up more space and Toppin wouldn't be as necessary).

If we could send Payton, Knox, Bullock, Burks, DSJr, Noel and Frank for Lavine you do that 10 out of 10 times. If they wanted say the 2022 Knicks pick, I would do that too.

I just think they are going to want something that makes this trade painful. He is their best player right now. That doesn’t go cheap.

The question is can we maybe get him as a FA in 2022. I think the money is tied into cap holds, but if we wanted him as a FA.... these are the type of articles I would throw out there to let Zach know we want him.

That said, assume you made a modest trade for Lavine using some (not all) of the wealth of Draft picks.

And assume you made a move for Drummond’s expiring contract using underperforming Ntlikina, Knox and maybe a 2nd. Add some filler to the 19mm of cap space to make it work.

Lavine
Barrett
Bullock
Randle
Drummond

Now, I still think you are a pure 3&D away from challenging the top teams, but you get the rest of this season to develop synergy and a cohesive defense at the cost of a couple draft picks. Get the kids some playoff chops. Maybe a SF gets disgruntled and you make a trade. Maybe a decent player takes the MLE to play here. But you aren’t really looking at a developing team much longer, you are competitive.

I don’t think they are that far off. Even as a flawed team, they are well coached and have made some more talented teams look really bad with their defense, despite not shooting particularly well.

Might be worth consolidating some of those picks to get players now. I’m willing to wait til after the 21 draft, but since we cl(Anthony)early aren’t tanking, if you see a piece that fits, I don’t think you can be shy about using bargaining chips to finish the starting lineup.

falcindor wrote:Zach Levine is top of my list. The Spurs are having a surprising year or I'd be interested in LaMarcus Aldridge ending his career here as a 6th man. I do talk about Zach in one of my articles this month.

https://theknickoftimeshow.com/should-the-knicks-trade-for-an-unsuccessful-star/

Nice article. Seems like the pricing for players may have increased a bit since the proposed trade values were established. I thought it might take a bit more.

What 3&Ds do you think are available (assuming Kawhi isn’t leaving LA)?

KnickDanger wrote:

sidsanders wrote:a bit off topic --
"The near eternal problem the Knicks have is that the Knicks are as hated in the NBA as the Yankees are in MLB without any of the upside"
im gonna say thats just not the case. knicks are largely irrelevant and have been for some time. they are not historically on par with the nba elites for winning. celtics, lakers are in that class. for a team that hasnt won anything in nearly 50 years and has spent most of the 2000s barely making the playoffs, whats worth hating from opposing teams/fans?

I'll say this -- New York is a basketball town at heart. And their basketball team is the Knicks. The Knicks were still selling out at MSG before...this thing. Whenever there's a buzz (a winning streak, Linsanity) the suits, front runners, and trendies can't wait to overpay to get in. In the meantime fans like us carry the flame in the dark times.

Oh -- and people in other parts of the country just hate New York City -- period.

100% correct