that is essentially the current knicks depth chart. given the NBA settlement, Lin and Novak will both be back. from what i've read in the Post, JR will come back to get full bird right's next season. iman, injured in may and out 6-8 months, is out at least until january or february, if not longer.

regardless, we are in desperate need of a backup point guard and perimeter athletes. if JR leaves, that is the case even more so. we have almost the entire salary cap currently committed to two forwards and a center.

bibby could return as a backup to lin, but we should really look to get younger. even if we took bibby, we'd need another backup PG for insurance. that argentinian PG who plays in spain pablo prigoni was mentioned as a possible target in the Post.

would ray felton come back here for the mini mid level? i'd take him back in a heartbeat to backup Lin.

perimeter athletes who would potentially come for mini mid level or vet minimum: CJ miles, gerald green, shannon brown, deshawn stevenson.

finding someone in summer league is also a possibility, especially a perimeter athlete. those guys seem like a dime a dozen and shouldn't be that hard to fill.

this is still a highly flawed roster, but being able to bring back lin and Novak really helps. if we can (A) sign one of the above FAs and (B) strike gold two years in a row with a diamond in the rough (like lin and novak last year, fields sort of the year before), we will be in pretty good shape.

PG: Douglas
SG:
SF: Melo
PF: Stat, Harrellson
C: Chandler, Jordan

BigSm00th wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:This is the current depth chart. This is our "championship-contending" core. If they bring everyone back, yours would apply. You can't just assume negotiations will work out perfectly with everyone.

PG: Douglas
SG:
SF: Melo
PF: Stat, Harrellson
C: Chandler, Jordan

w/ Bird Rights i think that's a fair assumption. they can offer more and match anyone's offer. Lin isn't going anywhere, would be surprised if someone overpaid for Novak. JR i think is 50/50.

I don't think Grunweld, is willing to pay Lin and Novak the $ that the analyst set them for, Lin at 5m, and Novak at 3m.
I think that is the correct move, by offering them less $, they would be able to have the 5m MLE to work with.

MSG3 wrote:

RonRon wrote:

BigSm00th wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:This is the current depth chart. This is our "championship-contending" core. If they bring everyone back, yours would apply. You can't just assume negotiations will work out perfectly with everyone.

PG: Douglas
SG:
SF: Melo
PF: Stat, Harrellson
C: Chandler, Jordan

w/ Bird Rights i think that's a fair assumption. they can offer more and match anyone's offer. Lin isn't going anywhere, would be surprised if someone overpaid for Novak. JR i think is 50/50.

I don't think Grunweld, is willing to pay Lin and Novak the $ that the analyst set them for, Lin at 5m, and Novak at 3m.
I think that is the correct move, by offering them less $, they would be able to have the 5m MLE to work with.

Bingo. Grunwald is going to let the market set Lins and Novaks price. Other teams could take a gamble and drive the price up, but the Nets would be most likely to do this and they won't if they're getting Deron.

If the Knicks can get away with giving Lin 4M per and Novak around 2 we will be in good shape.

Those are very fair numbers, while giving them, player/team options in 1/2 years, and we will get full bird rights, and then decide if they are worth it or not a future deal.

RonRon wrote:

MSG3 wrote:

RonRon wrote:

BigSm00th wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:This is the current depth chart. This is our "championship-contending" core. If they bring everyone back, yours would apply. You can't just assume negotiations will work out perfectly with everyone.

PG: Douglas
SG:
SF: Melo
PF: Stat, Harrellson
C: Chandler, Jordan

w/ Bird Rights i think that's a fair assumption. they can offer more and match anyone's offer. Lin isn't going anywhere, would be surprised if someone overpaid for Novak. JR i think is 50/50.

I don't think Grunweld, is willing to pay Lin and Novak the $ that the analyst set them for, Lin at 5m, and Novak at 3m.
I think that is the correct move, by offering them less $, they would be able to have the 5m MLE to work with.

Bingo. Grunwald is going to let the market set Lins and Novaks price. Other teams could take a gamble and drive the price up, but the Nets would be most likely to do this and they won't if they're getting Deron.

If the Knicks can get away with giving Lin 4M per and Novak around 2 we will be in good shape.

Those are very fair numbers, while giving them, player/team options in 1/2 years, and we will get full bird rights, and then decide if they are worth it or not a future deal.

This conjecture sounds great, but from the looks of it so far this FA season, teams are spending big. We might just have to take a little more meat off the bone to pay these guys based on market rates.