Ned let me ask you on Ajinca -- we've got different takes on this guy. I see a guy who's ready to break out offensively a little bit if given larger role (I could see something close to Roy Hibbert offensively, maybe better), with his rebounding and defense (shot-blocking) the lesser elements to his game (not as good as Hibbert in these 2 areas). You seem to see it the other way--that he's a rebounder and rim protector first with his offense a little behind. I remember you saying you watch the Pels a lot -- tell me why you feel that way? Also, I'd love to get Alexis for $3mm a pop -- I feel he's gonna cost a little more than that. Discuss -- maybe I'm wrong here too, I dunno.

Finestrg wrote:Nice job. That's a realistic roster for next year.

Ned let me ask you on Ajinca -- we've got different takes on this guy. I see a guy who's ready to break out offensively a little bit if given larger role (I could see something close to Roy Hibbert offensively, maybe better), with his rebounding and defense (shot-blocking) the lesser elements to his game (not as good as Hibbert in these 2 areas). You seem to see it the other way--that he's a rebounder and rim protector first with his offense a little behind. I remember you saying you watch the Pels a lot -- tell me why you feel that way? Also, I'd love to get Alexis for $3mm a pop -- I feel he's gonna cost a little more than that. Discuss -- maybe I'm wrong here too, I dunno.

Thanks. Sure. In my opinion, defense is Ajinca's calling card. Sure he improved on offense but that will never be his thing.

heres a good summary from a website i have bookmarked to keep up to date with the pelicans

http://www.bourbonstreetshots.com/2015/05/06/new-orleans-pelicans-season-in-review-alexis-ajinca/

callmened wrote:

Knixkik wrote:This is the route i would go as well. Signing Monroe gives you one true impact player with good upside. Mudiay/Russell provides the hope for the future that we have a real homegrown star and hopefully they can make an impact in year one as a quality starter. I would start Galloway over Hardaway Jr, as Galloway offers more defensively and could be a nice mix with Russell or Mudiay as a combo guard able to handle some PG duties or spot up. For the other big man spot, i like the idea of Allen or O'Quinn, someone under the radar who can provide post defense and not be a liability on offense. We will be better next year, maybe improve and make the playoffs like the Bucks did, and have max cap space available the following summer for Durant or Horford.

starting Timmy or galloway doesnt matter to me. i will acknowledge that SG would be a weakness. Id start timmy only because i still think he has potential (and I'm a fan)

Knicks1969 wrote:Monroe is ready to become a star in this league. If he is in NY, as smart of a guy as he is, he will bring it every night which in my opinion will propel him to become a star. The media will ensure that he shows up every night. This kid has skills. He will give us what are was never able to provide.

Monroe is a classic example of a player who has the skill set and youth to break out under the right circumstances.

callmened wrote:You (RonRon) asked me to propose a lineup solution (especially since im so quick to dismiss others). Like i said, I respect the thoughts and information from the posters here on this site. thats why i continue to come back. But ill work on refraining from negativity . In the meantime, this is my logic so far - I'll add as much details as possible

Starting point - from what i understand the knicks have the contracts for Melo (22mill), Jose (7), Hardaway (1.3), Early (0.8), and will most likely pick up the option for Galloway (0.8) if they havent already. In a nutshell thats about 32 mill with the salary cap being about 63 mill. That leaves us roughly 26mill of monopoly money to play with (roster holdings, draft picks, etc). And if we waive/stretch Jose that gives us about another 5 mill (7mill-2mill to be paid out this yr). So lets round it up to 30 mill to make things easier

Needs - everything! lol. but in this style of NBA now, a lead guard is very important. We also need a big man since the triangle is made for post players. The knicks also need role players. Its nice to think of high quality free agents however, i realistically think they do NOT want to come to ny (a cold city with evil media, high taxes and a crazy owner). I'll expand on this later. For now, Id settle for role players (specifically defensive ones) that are YOUNG and MOTIVATED

Draft Pick - i know everyone has their opinions and its fun to debate. But at #4, i dont think the knicks will make any surprises - they will draft Mudiay if Russell isnt available. One can argue that they should think outside the box but i dont think the front office is that gutsy or creative. lol. they'll simply do what people think they should do to avoid criticism. In regards to Emmanuel Mudiay, I'm old school in that i like to actually WATCH players to get a feel. not all star games or youtube highlights. With that said, from what ive seen hes a dynamic prospect. the best analogy ive heard so far is a pass-first high IQ tyreke evans

Free Agents - to make things simpler I will go with the 30 mill monopoly money (assuming they waive Jose). I think its pretty much a done deal that Monroe will be coming here for the Max. For a player his age the max is around 16mill. Like I previously stated, I dont think high quality free agents like Millsap, Love, Aldridge etc will come here. That includes high quality role players like Carroll, Middleton or D.Green. My only hope is that the Chicago situation will implode and they just decide to detonate everything. this leaving Butler available to sign (if thats the case, please scrap all of these plans and sign him to whatever he wants. lol). Therefore, besides Monroe, my "plan" is to sign cheap role players that are YOUNG, Defensive minded, and motivated. Save some money for the following 2016 inflated year for when: 1. better free agents are available and 2. free agents might be more willing to give NY a chance because they've seen the progress (more on this progress later)

My realistic options - Ive mentioned several of them in previous posts. Again, I'm thinking cheap underrated diamond in the rough options. Not the big time or role player free agents that laugh at Dolan and NY.

1. Alexis Ajinca - he was a backup most of the time in new orleans however when he played he played solid defense. mobile defender who can block shots and rebound. In addition, he developed some offensive moves but still not his game.

2. Kostas Papanikulou - I think houston has a gluttony of wings that theyre not all interested. Kostas Papanikulou is being paid 5mill to sit the bench. i dont think he'll pick up his team option. He's talented and also motivated to stay in the NBA

3. Kyle O'Quinn - I dont know what Orlando is up to. I dont think Orlando knows what Orlando is up to. I think this Long Island Native could be obtained for cheap.

4. Lavoy Allen - I've liked this Temple product because he's a defender who works hard.

Others
PG - D. Sloan
SG - J. Jenkins/W. Ellington
SF - D. Wright/KJ McDaniel
PF - T.Robinson/Seraphin
C - Ayres/B.Wright

Overall - I'm thinking of cheap role players to play around Melo, Mudiay and Monroe. That includes searching the DLeague and summer leagues for talent. What about that 6-10 french kid we got from indy?

Bring back - I'm willing to admit that i was completely wrong about Shved. I originally thought he should return to Russia with love. No, dude can play and hes perfect for the triangle. My only concern is he tends to be injury prone. I've been a fan of Ricky Ledo since HS - he has talent and we caught glipses of it in the spring. Lance thomas was a nice surprise; he showed he belonged in this league. Cole Aldrich - this former lottery pick (yes people forget that) can be a decent 3rd string bench warmer and hes excellent at waiving towels to cheer. most of all hes 7ft and understands the triangle. Bring these players back on cheap contracts to help fill out the roster. Phil already stated that he noticed how hard they played and they picked up the triangle well.

Possible Lineup = 58mill

PG Mudiay (4mill)/Shved(2)/Sloan(1)
SG Hardaway (1)/Galloway (1)/Ledo (1)
SF Melo (22)/K.Popaniklou(2)/Eaarly (1)
PF Monroe (16)/Lance (1)/Allen(1)
C Ajinca (3)/Q'Quinn(1)/Aldrich (1)

Expectations - Id be happy with doubling the win total to 34. I dont expect free agents to come to this rebuilding mess in nyc. in order to earn their efforts, the knicks have to show that theyre on the right track. hopefully that will happen in 2016. in the meantime, accumulate cheap role players to build around Melo and Monroe and play hard. Simply adding melo can add 10 games, add on another solid player (like Monroe), thats another 5 wins. if mudiay is the real deal that could be another 5. Am I expecting playoffs? nope - mainly because im not expecting high quality free agents to come this yr. I'm hoping that the following yr that (better) free agents are more likely to join an improving NY team

Weaknesses - for every plan there are holes. Lets see if i can list them

1. Ned, your math doesn't add up. I'm not a cap expert so dont quote me cent for cent but i think these figures are reasonable. The dollars and cents is missing the point; my overall point is bring in CHEAP talent. 1-3 mill contracts
2. Youre assuming Monroe is really coming to the knicks - yep! I wouldnt be the only one
3. What if they dont draft Mudiay? - to me anyone besides Towns or Okafor was a disappointment. Russell and Mudiay i can settle for. anyone else is up in the air. Like i said, i think the knicks will do the safe thing and draft Mudiay. If not this whole exercise was a waist of time (still fun though!)
4. But Ned, Melo wants to win NOW! - if thats the case he shouldve gone to a contender instead of worrying about his "brand" or fashion line/watch collection
5. Phil is getting old and wants to WIN - I'm assuming phil is wise and will not rush to make STAPHUQ decisions. besides he cant FORCE players to come to NY

what do folks think? let me know!

thanks

Ned, since you didn't list the years for the players, I am not sure but I am guessing,
your plan is to preserve cap space for 2017 to sign FA's, possibly 2 MAX tier FA's and maybe a bit more

While looking to develop Mudiay, your philosophy isn't bad add all, however, besides our own players that we have contracts on, unlikely for Shved either, those numbers for FA's are not going to land any UFA's outside of Greg Monroe *who isn't even a lock to join NYK's if another team is willing to offer him the same contract, especially a team with NO STATES TAX

Those numbers are the complete LOW BALL and MINIMUM that players would sign for, only considerations would be
Remember the cap is going to explode, by the later summer/fall we shall see how it will affect the supply/demand with discounts heading for the 2017 season
Only 3rd string players and older vet min players would agree to such numbers and would take their time deciding till teams start drying up roster spots

Only chance for Svhed to sign such a deal is if we guaranteed him a starting job with a player option for the 2nd and if we draft Mudiay, that makes it unlikely

Sloan
Hardaway, Galloway, Ledo, Early, *as we own their rights so they have no choice*,
Cole Aldrich is unlikely to even take such a deal as well, we own his early bird rights, and could use him to have the full 6m MLE to utilze, or have the 2.8m LLE instead (aka bi annual exemption)

I view Greg Monroe as an undersized Center and not a LEGIT PF, though a pairing of Ajinicia would work much better since Ajinicia has great length, athleticism, and could hit the 17footer, though I do not expect him to sign the 3m you listed, neither will Lavoy Allen at the vet min

So it is unlikely that we can sign those players at those numbers that you are suggesting
However, I understand your philosophy in preserving cap space to sign FA's in 2017, with that said, why not just fully utilize this upcoming year to collect talent and bad contracts for multiple assets in addition to possibly trading the #4 pick (in which has a TOP PG potential in a strong draft class)

Again, Philly has the assets to make us an offer that would be hard to refuse if they have interest in acquiring both Mudiay and Russell in which they were high on both players prior to the draft order
They still have over 20 draft picks in the next couple of years and with talents of being the next "John Wall" and "Stephen Curry" to go with Saric/Covington, Embid and Noel....

With that team, it is unlikely to compete for a play off spot, I personally would rather look to acquire assets in the draft by taking David Lee/Gereld Wallace
While I do not want to trade the #4 pick, I would explore trading it ONLY if a team overpays for it, a team full of assets such Philly and Boston has the ability to do so

My point, we should either try to build the best talent team possible or collect the most young talent/assets possible for our future
If we can unload Calderon, even better, if not, collect the most assets we can, instead of building a 35win season team
I do expect another amnesty in 2017 after the new CBA negatations as it allows teams to rebuild faster and allows players to make more possible money, so both parties should agree for another amnesty

Even if we do not trade CA, we could still look to use our cap space to acquire David Lee and Gereld Wallace and their 1st rounders
If Philly does in fact want both Mudiay and Russell and would be willing to pay a premium with a combination of assets from young cheap players to multiple future 1st rounders and many 2nd rounder (5 this summer) and future 2nd rounders

So we have the possiblity to fill our roster with a lot of talent in this draft, in which some 2nd rounders can also be stashed as we own their rights
We can get a lot in return for Mudiay, in addition to taking bad contracts for draft picks....

Now with those assets, we can move up and to acquire many of these targets, that these multiple threads have "Making a Case of ________"
Or maybe even trade for some established young talents like Giannes as well, with Jabari Parker coming back and MCW dominating the ball and not being a good shooter, with similiar skill sets of Giannes, as their record declined dramtically after they traded for Brandon Knight, they also have Damien English, the first pick drafted in the 2nd round that plays the SF

Some recent trades for draft picks, but none that were recent that were TOP 5 picks and such a strong draft class

2 Years ago
================

1- Trey Burk (pick 9) was traded for Shabazz Muhammad (pick 14) and Gorgui Dieng (pick 26)

2- New Orleans drafted Nerlens Noel (pick 6, who was ranked as the #overall pick pick prior ro his knee injury dropped to 6th and would have fit next to Anthony Davis has the best shot blocking duo with rebounds and defense which both played at Kentucky) along with a future TOP 5 protected pick, along with pick 42 (Pierre Jackson), and Elfrid Payton which was traded for more assets

for

Jrue Holiday *with Noel's (pick 6) injury concern and athleticism, New Orlean's opted to not take the risk and to take on a cheap salary for Jrue Holiday at 11m per year which was a borderline ALL STAR YOUNG TALENT at the time but has been injured for the most part since*

The trade saw the 76ers send out all-star point guard Jrue Holiday along with the 42nd pick in the 2013 draft for the Nerlens Noel, the 6th pick in the 2013 NBA draft, as well as a 2014 first round pick from the Pelicans, which is top 5 protected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_NBA_draft

3- Last year, Doug McDermott (pick 11) was traded for Nurkic (pick 16) and Garry Harris (pick 19)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NBA_draft

continuation of Noel trade
=============================
So that 2014 1st round pick was top 5 protected, became (pick 10) that New Orleans traded for Jrue Holiday became Elfrid Payton which Sixers traded for

• The 76ers used the 10th overall pick to select Payton. The Magic used the 12th overall pick to select Croatian forward Dario Saric (in which was stashed as a future SF/PF)

• Philly sent Payton to Orlando for three assets: Saric, the Magic’s 2015 second-round pick and a conditional 2017 first-round pick that the Magic had received from the 76ers two years ago in the Dwight Howard trade

My point is

If you are going to build a 35 win team, build a team that can collect assets and allow us to develop possible STARS, while it also enables us to have cap space in 2017 and 2018 to sign TOP TIER TALENTS
I illustrate this with and without CA, Phil Jackson needs to invite talent all over the board to scout them and in work outs to future evaluate their ceilings/fit etc and then determine which route he should go, even undrafted talents that we could stash with 2nd rounders or sign as undrafted FA's

Then maybe we can acquire Frank Kaminski, Bobby Portis, Stanley Johnson, Kelly Obre, Kevin Looney, Miles Turner, or whoever, in addition to 2nd round steals/stash players, and have the assets needed to trade for players/talents when they present the opporutunity to do so without overpaying

Even consider trading Calderon for Pekovic for their early 2nd rounders and future #1 draft picks, as we could use a post presence and they could use a mentor to Rubio/Lavine that makes less than Pekovic
With Dieng, Towns/OK4, Justin Hamilton, Adreian Payne, they have a rotation of young BIGS to develop already, while Calderon's contract is 1year shorter and about 4m -4.5m less
Again, I totally expect an amnesty in 2017, in which we could use, hopefully CA doesn't turn in to the next STAT or H20, though with the cap rising 20m every season in 2017, Pekovic/Calderon's contract wouldn't be impossible to make up for

And I do not expect ALL NBA teams willing to use all of their cap space, especially the small market teams, just cause the cap allows them to, as it would cut in to their profits and in the end it is a business
In which Dolan would have no problem spending money in order to win and using every single dollar available to acquire talent just as he did with the 2000 to 2008 years with over 100m payrolls and 100% tax penalties

RonRon i think you have more creativity in your brain than the entire knicks organization. their thought process is very simple: phil is probably marketing to agents (notice i didnt say free agents - i said agents). to beg oops i mean convince them to come to ny. phil is trying to make his mark with acquiring players via free agency; not the draft. other factors are: will it make dolan happy? will it make melo happy?