newyorker4ever wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Send them THJ and early for Levine. If we don't end up with Stein after blowing up our chance to get the first pick, I would stage a protest in front of MSG. It would be a colossal failure if one of those guys are not on our roster next season

Towns
Russell
Stein
Winslow

THJ and Early for Lavine?? You can't seriously think Minn would even think about that right??

Until this horrid season, you all thought THJ was the better talent. LAVINE went on and won the dunk contest, ever since his stock has risen. Beyond his athleticism, he has yet to show that he is something special.

Knicks1969 wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Send them THJ and early for Levine. If we don't end up with Stein after blowing up our chance to get the first pick, I would stage a protest in front of MSG. It would be a colossal failure if one of those guys are not on our roster next season

Towns
Russell
Stein
Winslow

THJ and Early for Lavine?? You can't seriously think Minn would even think about that right??

Until this horrid season, you all thought THJ was the better talent. LAVINE went on and won the dunk contest, ever since his stock has risen. Beyond his athleticism, he has yet to show that he is something special.

WCS is the right move IMO. Just take the defensive anchor and build out from there. We all know how this works.

Knicks1969 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Send them THJ and early for Levine. If we don't end up with Stein after blowing up our chance to get the first pick, I would stage a protest in front of MSG. It would be a colossal failure if one of those guys are not on our roster next season

Towns
Russell
Stein
Winslow

THJ and Early for Lavine?? You can't seriously think Minn would even think about that right??

Until this horrid season, you all thought THJ was the better talent. LAVINE went on and won the dunk contest, ever since his stock has risen. Beyond his athleticism, he has yet to show that he is something special.

I think we can finally get away from chasing flashy talent. Phil has been talking about Defense and the need for a big man etc. It's pretty clear that if we really want to win it's not gonna come from chasing young athletes who haven't put it all together and won't likely impact the team's ability to win consistently.

WCS is the right move IMO. Just take the defensive anchor and build out from there. We all know how this works.

Agree......

With WCS it's not a hope and a prayer that he one day becomes a player who can have an impact. What he does naturally is exactly what you need and he can do that from day one. Now that we've seen his comfort with the Jumper it's hard to imagine that he can't translate that to the game if he's getting consistent touches and open looks. We know this offense creates those open looks cuz we just watched it with a bunch of scrubs.

WCS should be able to blow by a lot of slower Centers. That was another thing you could see in the video. He's got a quick 1st step and he's agile. This offense will put him one dribble from the rim A LOT. I've made up my mind on taking this guy. I don't need any more convincing. I was high on him before but now i'm sold.

Knicks1969 wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Send them THJ and early for Levine. If we don't end up with Stein after blowing up our chance to get the first pick, I would stage a protest in front of MSG. It would be a colossal failure if one of those guys are not on our roster next season

Towns
Russell
Stein
Winslow

THJ and Early for Lavine?? You can't seriously think Minn would even think about that right??

Until this horrid season, you all thought THJ was the better talent. LAVINE went on and won the dunk contest, ever since his stock has risen. Beyond his athleticism, he has yet to show that he is something special.

For that action alone, I will stay away from this dude.

nixluva wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:

Knicks1969 wrote:Send them THJ and early for Levine. If we don't end up with Stein after blowing up our chance to get the first pick, I would stage a protest in front of MSG. It would be a colossal failure if one of those guys are not on our roster next season

Towns
Russell
Stein
Winslow

THJ and Early for Lavine?? You can't seriously think Minn would even think about that right??

Until this horrid season, you all thought THJ was the better talent. LAVINE went on and won the dunk contest, ever since his stock has risen. Beyond his athleticism, he has yet to show that he is something special.

I think we can finally get away from chasing flashy talent. Phil has been talking about Defense and the need for a big man etc. It's pretty clear that if we really want to win it's not gonna come from chasing young athletes who haven't put it all together and won't likely impact the team's ability to win consistently.

WCS is the right move IMO. Just take the defensive anchor and build out from there. We all know how this works.

Agree......

I mean you can finally build a top defense. You get WCS. You get Carroll or Danny Green. You basically just keep adding guys that can play on both ends and you'll have a team that can compete at a high level. It's not rocket science.

With WCS it's not a hope and a prayer that he one day becomes a player who can have an impact. What he does naturally is exactly what you need and he can do that from day one. Now that we've seen his comfort with the Jumper it's hard to imagine that he can't translate that to the game if he's getting consistent touches and open looks. We know this offense creates those open looks cuz we just watched it with a bunch of scrubs.

WCS should be able to blow by a lot of slower Centers. That was another thing you could see in the video. He's got a quick 1st step and he's agile. This offense will put him one dribble from the rim A LOT. I've made up my mind on taking this guy. I don't need any more convincing. I was high on him before but now i'm sold.

Wait until this kid can earn enough to hire a big men coach like Olajuwan or Kareem to teach post moves fundamentals, in three years he will be worth more then $100 million. Oh most of the nay Sayers were more then willing to pay one trick ponies like Amare and Carmelo that type of money.

There are plenty of other talents that we should look at as well such as

International older Center as a smaller Yao Ming that has said he wanted to goto the NBA recently but has a higher chance going to a team with no STATE TAX at a multiyear deal at 2-3m with about 20m-25m as a rotational Center
Boban Marjanovic

Thabeet - he is ready now, after a couple of years developing, it is time for him to possibly break out and be a solid rotation Center at the very least that could be a DPOY like a Roy Hibbert

Jared Cunningham *really has improved his shooting and has the ability to penetrate/finish like a poor mans Monta Ellis, once compared to Westbrook and was a mid lottory pick*

Nate Walters *depending on our roster as a shooter off the bench, Sniper*

There are many more other talents however, for us there are only so many young players we can acquire without even considering UNDRAFTED ROOKIES as well as 2nd rounder that we could likely acquire

Eddie Griffen/Khem Birch, as stetch 4's

CJ Fair *Josh Howard comparison*

Willie Reed *poor mans Greg Monroe*

some PG's like

Aaron Craft, Tim Frazier, Darrius Morris, Tourre Murry

There are a lot of possible 2nd rounders, undrafted players, and late 2nd rounders to acquire to stash and develop like we did with Thanasis
Speaking of which, if we can trade Calderon + our pick for Giannes and a trade exemption *other picks we acquire back*
CA isn't an easy player to build around and takes up a lot of the cap, a talents like Giannes's versatility and defensive abilities would fit and also have his brother Thanasis together, on top of trading Calderon
It is a no brainer if we can get rid of Calderon's contract, acquire Giannes, and their 1st round swap for our #4 pick

I would like to move up to acquire Bobby Portis and could sign Jermaine Oneil to develop him with the vet min, if needed, and guarantee that he will be our development coach for years to come in which he would mentor/develop Portis under his wings
I simply do not see us being able to sign TOP TIER FA's if other teams are willing to offer them similiar contracts, so we will have to find other creative ways of trying to build our roster
In fact, Phil Jackson probably should go to a team like, Lakers, Twolves, Philly, as they actually have the ability to improve much with FA/salary, many draft picks and future draft picks, and the players needed to execute his system
Though NO OTHER TEAM will pay him the money he got with Dolan

wargames wrote:LMA just put his house on the Market in Portland. I'll say this if Phil thinks he can get LMA to come to ny WCS next to him would be a Beast Front court

Supposedly he put his house on the market when he was a free agent in 2009, too. Sounds like it could just be a negotiating tactic.

blkexec wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

wargames wrote:LMA just put his house on the Market in Portland. I'll say this if Phil thinks he can get LMA to come to ny WCS next to him would be a Beast Front court

Supposedly he put his house on the market when he was a free agent in 2009, too. Sounds like it could just be a negotiating tactic.

I'm not a huge LMA fan....but I think him and WCS will make each other look better. LMA has an inside outside game, which keeps the paint open. Stein is great with those high low passes, like he did with Towns, so he's not going to crowd the paint. Stein will be doing a lot of pick and rolls for those lobs. This might be the best pairing of centers /forwards if we draft Stein. But how much more will he demand? vs Monroe? vs Robin Lopez?

When you have a player like Stein, you don't need a max guy next to him to be effective. That's the advantage of adding a glue guy like WCS who doesn't need the ball to succeed...And his defensive energy will be contagious.

smackeddog wrote:http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/04/3884011_ex-cat-cauley-stein-assessed-as.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&rh=1

Not much was expected of Willie Cauley-Stein when he walked onto the court for Monday's pre-NBA Draft workout in Los Angeles.

It was the format of the workout — not the formidability of the player — that led to the lowered expectations.

Those in attendance knew that the former University of Kentucky standout would not be able to show off the defensive skills that will make him an early pick in the June 25 draft.

This workout, which included likely top-five picks Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell, would be all about offense.

Shooting, passing, ball handling and post moves were in. An opportunity for Cauley-Stein — possibly the best defender in this draft, but perceived to be offensively challenged — to prove his defensive mettle against former teammate Towns was out.

Cauley-Stein had a good day anyway.

"I thought he was really impressive," said DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony, one of the few analysts invited to the workout. "I came away pleasantly surprised."

A DraftExpress scouting breakdown earlier this year mentioned the former Wildcat's shooting stroke as a "strength" to his game, even if UK fans rarely got to see it outside of pregame warm-ups.

So Givony knew Cauley-Stein could shoot. He just didn't know he could shoot like he did Monday, when he was draining jumpers from all over the floor in a variety of ways.

"Just to see him knocking down three-pointer after three-pointer — that I wasn't really prepared for," he said.

It will be a comforting thought for whichever team selects Cauley-Stein in the NBA Draft. His showing in Monday's workout won't change the immediate expectations, which are almost entirely on the defensive end. But it did prove there could be more to Cauley-Stein's game down the road.

"There's a difference between hitting that shot by yourself in a gym and doing it in a game with a defender on you and all that pressure," Givony said. "But that's how guys become shooters. They work on it by themselves, and they get more comfortable with it in the game setting. I think what this means to me is that he has the potential to develop into that."

Another attribute on full display Monday was Cauley-Stein's elite athleticism, a major part of what makes him such a great defender.

He has often been compared to one-time NBA defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler, though former UCLA star big man Don MacLean — who was responsible for running Monday's workout — said Cauley-Stein is much more athletic than Chandler has ever been.

MacLean compared him to Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, a first-team all-NBA defender this season and a player whose uber-athletic dunks and blocked shots have left fans shaking their heads in disbelief over the past few years.

"Willie is an unbelievable athlete," Givony said. "So you can compare him to all of the best athletes in the NBA, and it really doesn't matter. The guy is an amazing athlete. Just the way he covers ground. I mean, I don't know if there's a guy in the NBA who can do that."

The concerns from NBA teams have largely been of the off-the-court variety.

Much has been made of Cauley-Stein's interest in art and the continued questions about how much he ultimately cares about basketball.

He says he's completely serious about the game — something that those who have been around him are quick to confirm. His "I don't really like art" declaration from last month's NBA Combine came across as more of a PR overshoot, and it was met with skepticism.

Givony said it's not the art talk that NBA teams care about.

"I think some of that stuff is a little bit overblown," he said. "He's going to be a top-six pick, you know? So they're not that concerned."

The concern, Givony says, is the inconsistency that Cauley-Stein showed during his three seasons at UK.

"There were certain games where he just didn't look like he was operating at full intensity," he said. "I just think it's teams doing their due diligence on that, because so much of his game is going to revolve around playing hard, so they just want to make sure that he's going to do that on every single night.

"And the only person that can say that with any certainty is Willie."

Given his continued rise in NBA mock drafts, whatever concerns there are seem to be fading.

DraftExpress.com projects Cauley-Stein as the No. 5 overall pick to the Orlando Magic, though Givony said Wednesday that he could "totally see" the former UK center go to the New York Knicks at No. 4.

No matter where he ends up, he'll be expected to make an immediate impact.

"I think whatever team he's going to go to is going to really need him," Givony said. "I don't see him coming in and being like a project guy, playing 10 minutes a game. I think that whoever picks him is going to need him to come in and play a role right away, and I think he's ready to do that."