By the time the week-long SL period in Vegas concludes, I'd like to come away with about 6 impact players for training camp. How's something like this:

- Trade for a low 1 (hopefully Memphis or Oklahoma City will be looking to sell at #25 or #26) and take either Brackins or Darington Hobson. They like both guys and I'm on board with either guy. If by chance Larry Sanders is available I might go with him over either one of these guys -- he needs to put on a little more weight but this man is a lot more skilled than I ever realized. I hope he slips. I first thought he was only a solid defensive presence but with a little work, he has a chance to be a real nice two-way player. Might have better upside and looks to have better two-way potential than Brackins..Seems like a nice kid too. Probably unrealistic for us but you never know -- maybe he slips because other teams think he's too thin. Or maybe we can grab a pick higher than 25/26...
- Trade for a high 2 (outbid everyone in the process -- #34 really would've been nice huh? ) and take Trevor Booker.
- At 38 take Jerome Jordan.
- At 39 take Sherron Collins.
- Invite C AJ Ogilvy to SL.
- Invite SG Ryan Whittman to SL.

Darrington Hobson, Trevor Booker, Jerome Jordan, Sherron Collins, AJ Ogilvy and Ryan Whittman --- A do-it-all wing; a well-rounded & supremely athletic PF with skill & length; a 7 footer with 2-way skills; a good little floor general in the Jameer Nelson mold that's quick, can pass and shoot; a 7' backup center that plays hard and can score the ball and probably the best shooter out there with height (6'6"). There are other guys I like a lot too (Landesberg, G. Vasquez) but this really wouldn't be a bad 6. MDA could make great use out of all of these guys in his system..If we added 6 guys like this we'd look infinitely more attractive to these FAs a week later. I want to see something big like this..

AnubisADL wrote:

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired the 34th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft from the Golden State Warriors in exchange for the 44th overall selection and cash considerations, it was announced today by General Manager Kevin Pritchard. The Trail Blazers now hold the 22nd and 34th overall picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

Source: http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67324/20100621/blazers_acquire_34th_overall_pick_from_golden_state

Donnie needs to get off his ass and move up in the 2nd round. You cant wait until the night of draft old man because then teams aren't going to want to sell the pick if someone good slips.

LOL.

TMS wrote:we won't be buying any picks until we find out exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer.

nyk4ever wrote:what's the point of buying a pick to move up 4 slots? you buy into the first round, not to move up 4 slots.

My two man guys -- unfortunately I disagree with you both here...LOL..

A before B fellas, that's how we have to approach this thing. No real choice anyway -- it's draft then free agency a week later...Whether we get Lebron and Bosh or not, we still have a team to build. It just so happens that if we do have an A+ draft, you would think that it would have that much more of a positive effect on whether or not we can get any of these top guys to come here. Hey that's what I believe anyway...That's the reality of the situation and we have to make the best of it for these two reasons: (1) Attracting FAs and (2) building a complete team regardless...Maxing out this particular draft only improves our chances of pulling off something big a week later in my humble opinion..Can only help us, can't possibly hurt in any way (as long as we keep two max salary slots open)..Buying picks and being aggressive Thurs. night only shows these guys that we mean business and are serious about building a winner and a place that's as attractive and appealing for potential FAs as we can possibly make it.

When I chimed in above with several names, I was basically talking about ADDING TO picks 38 & 39 but if the only options for us prove to be packaging one of those two picks and some of Dolan's petty cash to move up, even if it's only several spots, you do it without question. I would prefer to either go the two other routes of course -- simply offer more cash than anyone else or cash + a future 2 to move up if it came down to it (much like how we got TD last year). I feel like we need to keep both 38 & 39 and add to it though - that remains the best option for us. We need players and some semblance of a rotation for next year..MDA and co. took the time to work these guys out in their gym in drills taylor made to their system and their style of play, then interview these guys personally...I wanna see us get the guy we want now..I mean wouldn't it suck if after putting the work in, we lost guys like Hobson or Brackins to Milwaukee at 37 all because we weren't aggressive enough?? That would certainly piss me off...AGGRESSIVENESS. That's got to be our main objective here - aggressiveness Thurs. night or in the couple of days leading up to Thurs. is the ticket..Let's see if Donnie can accomplish this..We'll find out soon enough...To me Thurs. night is the best night of the year!

Fire Walsh IMMEDIATELY.

Anyone read the RGM thread on this topic? Half the posters in the thread want Walsh canned over "missing out" on this deal.

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:we won't be buying any picks until we find out exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer.

nyk4ever wrote:what's the point of buying a pick to move up 4 slots? you buy into the first round, not to move up 4 slots.

My two man guys -- unfortunately I disagree with you both here...LOL..

A before B fellas, that's how we have to approach this thing. No real choice anyway -- it's draft then free agency a week later...Whether we get Lebron and Bosh or not, we still have a team to build. It just so happens that if we do have an A+ draft, you would think that it would have that much more of a positive effect on whether or not we can get any of these top guys to come here. Hey that's what I believe anyway...That's the reality of the situation and we have to make the best of it for these two reasons: (1) Attracting FAs and (2) building a complete team regardless...Maxing out this particular draft only improves our chances of pulling off something big a week later in my humble opinion..Can only help us, can't possibly hurt in any way (as long as we keep two max salary slots open)..Buying picks and being aggressive Thurs. night only shows these guys that we mean business and are serious about building a winner and a place that's as attractive and appealing for potential FAs as we can possibly make it.

When I chimed in above with several names, I was basically talking about ADDING TO picks 38 & 39 but if the only options for us prove to be packaging one of those two picks and some of Dolan's petty cash to move up, even if it's only several spots, you do it without question. I would prefer to either go the two other routes of course -- simply offer more cash than anyone else or cash + a future 2 to move up if it came down to it (much like how we got TD last year). I feel like we need to keep both 38 & 39 and add to it though - that remains the best option for us. We need players and some semblance of a rotation for next year..MDA and co. took the time to work these guys out in their gym in drills taylor made to their system and their style of play, then interview these guys personally...I wanna see us get the guy we want now..I mean wouldn't it suck if after putting the work in, we lost guys like Hobson or Brackins to Milwaukee at 37 all because we weren't agressive enough? That would certainly piss me off...AGGRESSIVENESS. That's got to be our main objective here - aggressiveness Thurs. night or in the couple of days leading up to Thurs. is the ticket..Let's see if Donnie can accomplish this..We'll find out soon enough...To me Thurs. night is the best night of the year!

if it were up to me i'm all for buying picks... i just don't see DW doing it because of the cap holds it adds to the payroll... i don't see him adding any guaranteed salary until he knows exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer, & unfortunately that won't happen until after draft night.

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:we won't be buying any picks until we find out exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer.

nyk4ever wrote:what's the point of buying a pick to move up 4 slots? you buy into the first round, not to move up 4 slots.

My two man guys -- unfortunately I disagree with you both here...LOL..

A before B fellas, that's how we have to approach this thing. No real choice anyway -- it's draft then free agency a week later...Whether we get Lebron and Bosh or not, we still have a team to build. It just so happens that if we do have an A+ draft, you would think that it would have that much more of a positive effect on whether or not we can get any of these top guys to come here. Hey that's what I believe anyway...That's the reality of the situation and we have to make the best of it for these two reasons: (1) Attracting FAs and (2) building a complete team regardless...Maxing out this particular draft only improves our chances of pulling off something big a week later in my humble opinion..Can only help us, can't possibly hurt in any way (as long as we keep two max salary slots open)..Buying picks and being aggressive Thurs. night only shows these guys that we mean business and are serious about building a winner and a place that's as attractive and appealing for potential FAs as we can possibly make it.

When I chimed in above with several names, I was basically talking about ADDING TO picks 38 & 39 but if the only options for us prove to be packaging one of those two picks and some of Dolan's petty cash to move up, even if it's only several spots, you do it without question. I would prefer to either go the two other routes of course -- simply offer more cash than anyone else or cash + a future 2 to move up if it came down to it (much like how we got TD last year). I feel like we need to keep both 38 & 39 and add to it though - that remains the best option for us. We need players and some semblance of a rotation for next year..MDA and co. took the time to work these guys out in their gym in drills taylor made to their system and their style of play, then interview these guys personally...I wanna see us get the guy we want now..I mean wouldn't it suck if after putting the work in, we lost guys like Hobson or Brackins to Milwaukee at 37 all because we weren't agressive enough? That would certainly piss me off...AGGRESSIVENESS. That's got to be our main objective here - aggressiveness Thurs. night or in the couple of days leading up to Thurs. is the ticket..Let's see if Donnie can accomplish this..We'll find out soon enough...To me Thurs. night is the best night of the year!

if it were up to me i'm all for buying picks... i just don't see DW doing it because of the cap holds it adds to the payroll... i don't see him adding any guaranteed salary until he knows exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer, & unfortunately that won't happen until after draft night.

Well I misunderstood this only until a week or so ago -- I didn't realize that unused slots carry cap holds also...So that limits the amount of low 1s we can add (originally I thought there was room to add 2 or 3 lower 1s -- doesn't seem to be the case.

However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's still enough room for 2 max players AND a lower 1st round cap hold...Plus the 2nd rounders don't have a cap hold, which is why I now agree with Paladin and some of the other guys who are calling for us to acquire multiple 2s, as many as we can get. To me if we don't have a good draft, we didn't do our job leading up to July 1st...Acquiring GS's pick at 34 would've been a nice start but that's under the bridge now...Hopefully other opportunities will present themselves.

CrushAlot wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

TMS wrote:we won't be buying any picks until we find out exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer.

nyk4ever wrote:what's the point of buying a pick to move up 4 slots? you buy into the first round, not to move up 4 slots.

My two man guys -- unfortunately I disagree with you both here...LOL..

A before B fellas, that's how we have to approach this thing. No real choice anyway -- it's draft then free agency a week later...Whether we get Lebron and Bosh or not, we still have a team to build. It just so happens that if we do have an A+ draft, you would think that it would have that much more of a positive effect on whether or not we can get any of these top guys to come here. Hey that's what I believe anyway...That's the reality of the situation and we have to make the best of it for these two reasons: (1) Attracting FAs and (2) building a complete team regardless...Maxing out this particular draft only improves our chances of pulling off something big a week later in my humble opinion..Can only help us, can't possibly hurt in any way (as long as we keep two max salary slots open)..Buying picks and being aggressive Thurs. night only shows these guys that we mean business and are serious about building a winner and a place that's as attractive and appealing for potential FAs as we can possibly make it.

When I chimed in above with several names, I was basically talking about ADDING TO picks 38 & 39 but if the only options for us prove to be packaging one of those two picks and some of Dolan's petty cash to move up, even if it's only several spots, you do it without question. I would prefer to either go the two other routes of course -- simply offer more cash than anyone else or cash + a future 2 to move up if it came down to it (much like how we got TD last year). I feel like we need to keep both 38 & 39 and add to it though - that remains the best option for us. We need players and some semblance of a rotation for next year..MDA and co. took the time to work these guys out in their gym in drills taylor made to their system and their style of play, then interview these guys personally...I wanna see us get the guy we want now..I mean wouldn't it suck if after putting the work in, we lost guys like Hobson or Brackins to Milwaukee at 37 all because we weren't agressive enough? That would certainly piss me off...AGGRESSIVENESS. That's got to be our main objective here - aggressiveness Thurs. night or in the couple of days leading up to Thurs. is the ticket..Let's see if Donnie can accomplish this..We'll find out soon enough...To me Thurs. night is the best night of the year!

if it were up to me i'm all for buying picks... i just don't see DW doing it because of the cap holds it adds to the payroll... i don't see him adding any guaranteed salary until he knows exactly what Lebron & Bosh are going to do this summer, & unfortunately that won't happen until after draft night.

Well I misunderstood this only until a week or so ago -- I didn't realize that unused slots carry cap holds also...So that limits the amount of low 1s we can add (originally I thought there was room to add 2 or 3 lower 1s -- doesn't seem to be the case.

However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's still enough room for 2 max players AND a lower 1st round cap hold...Plus the 2nd rounders don't have a cap hold, which is why I now agree with Paladin and some of the other guys who are calling for us to acquire multiple 2s, as many as we can get. To me if we don't have a good draft, we didn't do our job leading up to July 1st...Acquiring GS's pick at 34 would've been a nice start but that's under the bridge now...Hopefully other opportunities will present themselves.

I am very excited about the draft. I always am hopeful but I think realistically picking in the second round, the Knicks will be lucky to get 1 or 2 rotation players. I am hopeful that they do much better than this but I don't think the 38th and 39th picks set the table for what is coming up on July 1st. I also don't think Walsh can buy a first round pick this year because of the cap impact.

Well per Isola, it looks like it's between 3 guys in the lower 1st round -- Greivis Vasquez, Darington Hobson and Craig Brackins. I think there is room to add that 1 1st round cap hold and still not mess up anything with free agency..

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2010/06/22/2010-06-22_knicks_tempted_by_terp.html?r=sports%2Fbasketball%2Fknicks&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fsports%2Fbasketball%2Fknicks+%28Sports%2FBasketball%2FKnicks%29

Those are 3 good players that would fit well in this system.