nixluva wrote:Paul and at this point Deron are still in play. Both have the ability to opt out. Personally I don't think it's gonna happen unless they make an in season trade. We don't have much, but we do have Billups contract which is an expiring one. Iman, Fields and Balkman, Maybe even Jerome Jordan could be worked into a deal with a future pick. For the Hornets it may be better than nothing. There won't be another Melo deal. The Knicks aren't as desperate.

Iman, Fields and Jordan included in the trade for CP3 would be another mistake. Surely they'll also want our 1st rounders for the forseeable future. It's not like we have players stockpiled for our next foray into the trade market. I'm wary of taking on another max or near max contract with knee issues. Let's try to find a less expensive (or costly) alternative.

Knixkik wrote:We are in the driver's seat with Paul more than we were with Melo.

Untrue. The Horners are owned by the NBA. No way on God's green earth that the NBA trades Chris Paul to New York at a discount. The only way to trade him to the Knicks without revolt is to get him for an obvious premium

SupremeCommander wrote:

Knixkik wrote:We are in the driver's seat with Paul more than we were with Melo.

Untrue. The Horners are owned by the NBA. No way on God's green earth that the NBA trades Chris Paul to New York at a discount. The only way to trade him to the Knicks without revolt is to get him for an obvious premium

I would have to agree with that, but at the same time they also wouldn't want to lose him for nothing.

Knixkik wrote:I personally want Paul as much as anyone, but not at the price Melo cost. I was all for getting Melo at any cost because we needed that second big time player. Now that we have him, i don't believe we need to do that again. We are in the driver's seat with Paul more than we were with Melo. If we get him as a FA or in a trade for pennies on the dollar, great. If not there are other options. That being said, we need to split next summer's money into multiple solid players. I say either resign Billups if he has a good season or sign Nash or Sessions with Shumpert as the backup. Look at center options like Chris Kaman or maybe Jerome Jordan develops, and go after a SG like OJ Mayo. I think if we can add 2 above average players to the roster we currently have whether it is at the PG, SG, or center than we can compete for a championship.

i think oj mayo will be a nightmare chemistry wise on this tema imo. i like kaman though but, depending on the cba, he will get almost top dollar because a good center is rare.

jazz74 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I personally want Paul as much as anyone, but not at the price Melo cost. I was all for getting Melo at any cost because we needed that second big time player. Now that we have him, i don't believe we need to do that again. We are in the driver's seat with Paul more than we were with Melo. If we get him as a FA or in a trade for pennies on the dollar, great. If not there are other options. That being said, we need to split next summer's money into multiple solid players. I say either resign Billups if he has a good season or sign Nash or Sessions with Shumpert as the backup. Look at center options like Chris Kaman or maybe Jerome Jordan develops, and go after a SG like OJ Mayo. I think if we can add 2 above average players to the roster we currently have whether it is at the PG, SG, or center than we can compete for a championship.

i think oj mayo will be a nightmare chemistry wise on this tema imo. i like kaman though but, depending on the cba, he will get almost top dollar because a good center is rare.

Knixkik wrote:Another player who would really fit if Paul is not available is Andersen Varejao who would be an ideal center here. DPOY candidate, good rebounder, athletic, good passer, and finisher. Cleveland might want to deal him to completely rebuild with what they have in young talent. Maybe Turiaf, Douglas, and Walker for Varejao. That gives them talent at the SG which they badly need. I have a feeling Paul will be traded to the Thunder for Wesbrook. It just makes too much sense for both teams if Paul accepts a deal there.

C Varejao
PF Stoudemire
SF Anthony
SG Fields
PG Billups

With an upgraded bench that is a contending roster.

well, i am sort of looking for long term solutions. do you want to re-sign billups next year?

jazz74 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Another player who would really fit if Paul is not available is Andersen Varejao who would be an ideal center here. DPOY candidate, good rebounder, athletic, good passer, and finisher. Cleveland might want to deal him to completely rebuild with what they have in young talent. Maybe Turiaf, Douglas, and Walker for Varejao. That gives them talent at the SG which they badly need. I have a feeling Paul will be traded to the Thunder for Wesbrook. It just makes too much sense for both teams if Paul accepts a deal there.

C Varejao
PF Stoudemire
SF Anthony
SG Fields
PG Billups

With an upgraded bench that is a contending roster.

well, i am sort of looking for long term solutions. do you want to re-sign billups next year?

I can see Billups remaining solid for a couple more years. Hopefully Shumpert can develop behind him and become a starter after a couple of years.

nixluva wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

jazz74 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Another player who would really fit if Paul is not available is Andersen Varejao who would be an ideal center here. DPOY candidate, good rebounder, athletic, good passer, and finisher. Cleveland might want to deal him to completely rebuild with what they have in young talent. Maybe Turiaf, Douglas, and Walker for Varejao. That gives them talent at the SG which they badly need. I have a feeling Paul will be traded to the Thunder for Wesbrook. It just makes too much sense for both teams if Paul accepts a deal there.

C Varejao
PF Stoudemire
SF Anthony
SG Fields
PG Billups

With an upgraded bench that is a contending roster.

well, i am sort of looking for long term solutions. do you want to re-sign billups next year?

I can see Billups remaining solid for a couple more years. Hopefully Shumpert can develop behind him and become a starter after a couple of years.

Outside of the great PG's it's always tough for young PG's coming into the league. It's not helping that there's a lockout either. I like the raw skills of Iman, but this is a really tough offense for any PG much more so for a combo guard. He need reps running PnR and learning to control the defense to get them to move the way he wants them to go. Nash is a master at this and it's the one thing that has been missing from out PG's trying to run this system. Nash knows that you have to use misdirection to get the defense to fall for the PnR. He often disguises his use of the PnR. Nash will dribble away from the Pick man and then come back to him after the defense is out of position to give help. The PG has to be aggressive in this offense, but with an eye towards opening up scoring opps for his main scorers. It's not rocket science, but for some reason a lot of guards have trouble with this. Balancing scoring and distributing the ball.

My belief is that the Knicks will use their cap space to fill multiple spots rather than squeeze another max player into the remaining space. Getting a big like Verajao would be a great move. This team just needs higher quality big men.

I feel like that is the first priority, to get a good upgrade at center. As for the PG situation, we have time to figure that out. Billups still has a lot of good basketball left, and this season will probably give us an indication of how much. This season will also give us an indication to what sort of potential Shumpert has. Maybe he can learn from Billups and develop into a starting PG in 2-3 years. Maybe not. I am seeing some solid PGs around the league developing and i'm hoping we have one to continue the trend. Jrue Holiday is a player i'm hoping Shumpert can take a similar path to. But we need to figure out this center situation asap.