Knixkik wrote:C Lopez
PF Porzingis
SF Anthony
SG Afflalo
PG Grant

I'm not talking about this year, i'm talking about 2-3 years down the road when the rookies are starting to mature and Melo and Afflalo haven't declined too much. Just thinking hypothetically if we are unable to add a star in the next couple of off-seasons, but see Porzingis and Grant develop quicker than expected and show great potential. What is the upside of this group, assuming we improve the depth and bench talent over the next couple of years?

It all depends on the development of KP if he becomes a superstar the sky is the limit
If not they can be good for playoff but not more than that

To start the 2017/2018 season, this is the STARTING LINEUP I would like see

Westbrook UFA in 2years

Thanasis or another Guard/Forward or PG/SG, possibly Grant with Westbrook playing SG

Shabazz Muhammad

KP

Whiteside or Pau Gasol/Noah, MosGoV, Al Horford *especially if KP shows he can play Center*

=======================

Such a team as with the talent above,
would allow us to be contenders for a core good for over a 5-6year window to compete just like Boston Celtics when they acquired KG when he was still young, along with Rasheed Wallace when Detroit acquired him....
By then Lebron will be too old to contribute at a high level and that is when Phil Jackson will try to make us LEGIT contenders
We need to add the talent prior to KP and Grant's are eligible for a HUGE extension, especially with KP who will eligible for a Anthony Davis like extension

1- PG, PG/SG
Westbrook
As shown last season with Durant, he needs to have his own team and playing in a system that features his abilities like it did for Kobe Bryant and Jordan, would be ideal for him and his "branding"
Basically make sure we have the money to sign him to a MAX contract, with Calderon's contract expired by then and possibly could use his expiring to trade for Muhammad and other pieces with 1 1st rounder
and he could be a realistic ALL STAR to target if we can offer him the MAX with a player option on 4th year, he loves attention/the spot light on him, so whether Durant stays or goes, it would give him a reason to leave OKC

2- SG, or SG/SF, or PG/SG, basically almost any position can fit in with this roster easily if we can get these versatile talents
Thanasis
if he can develop in to a 3pt shooter and in to a lock down defender, use him at times to harrass PG's at times
With other players that are HIGH IQ, athletic, quick/mobile, to play passing lanes as Westbrook/Thanasis look to initiate our DEFENSE to apply pressure and cause TO's, similar to how Iman Shumpert was utilized in his rookie year before he hurt his knee

3- SF
Shabazz Muhammad
Similar to why OKC was unable to keep Harden with Westbrook, Durant, with Ibaka *who took a discount*, they simply could have amnestied Kendrick Perkins and that move could be the factor with Durant/Westbrook questioning the franchise
eventually trading for him as Twolves simply can not afford to pay Lavine/Wiggons, KAT, and Dieng BIG MONEY on top of Pekovic and Rubio, would even take back Kevin Martin in such a deal to help Twolves save money

RFA for 2017/18 season and would look to trade for him while extending him after we sign other players like Kawaii Leanard did with Spurs this summer, with Westbrook and Muhammad, it would give us 2 players that could penetrate and post up to initiate our OFFENSE through, in 2 positions teams generally are not accustomed to that could play PG, SG, SF, in addition to our PF and Center able to post up so we can take advantage of match ups with the Triangle continuing to evolve and being interchangeable

He is a LEFTY and while Westbrook loves to penetrate and goes right, Shabazz can stay on the left side
Both would have much room to penetrate with as we have KP to pull out ONE SHOT BLOCKER and The Center in Whiteside can easily finish 1v1, especially if the Center is forced to help with both Westbrook/Muhammads ability to finish through contract and create/facilitate

4- PF
KP, whether he will be closer to KG, Pau Gasol, Dirk, Kevin Durant, AK47, Anthony Davis, Gallanari, and AB, he will show where his potential will be or if he is the EURO we fear in AB *which I do not think he will be*
He should be ready for a BIGGER role in the 2017/18 season, similar to how Anthony Davis and Vucevic improved from their rookie seasons, as KP will be in his 3rd season
KP will be effective on both sides of the floor and stay engaged, whether as the 2nd or 4th option on the team and he can pull the PF/C out to defend him or get wide open shots
I think he will be a combination of all the players listed above but as a student of the game with his HIGH WORK ETHIC and WILLINGNESS to get better, he will be able to mimic a lot of the moves that those guys did successfully with his physical abilities that can not be taught, which he will be naturally stronger by then

5- Center or PF/C
Whiteside
Whiteside or Pau Gasol/Noah, MosGoV, Al Horford *especially if KP shows he can play Center*

Miami only has Whiteside's EARLY BIRD RIGHTS, which will be useless considering he will be signing for way above that as he has never earned a salary of over 1m yet and could be one of the TOP YOUNG CENTERS in the league on both ends of the floor that would fit right in The Triangle and New York's endorsements, while both KP and Whiteside fully compliment each other skill sets, in addition to The Triangle and Whiteside complimenting each other abilities/skill sets, and New York being a perfect opportunity for Whiteside to build "his branding/marketing and endorsements for Whitesides career

He is going to be UFA next summer, while he will be a player with only 4years of experience, so his "MAX" is much lower than other players, ALL THESE players signed MAX deals and with the cap going up, their years of experience dictates how much money they could make with a "max" salary...

However, since no one has Whiteside's FULL BIRD RIGHTS, the max he can sign for is 4years at a MAX salary, with a player option for 4th year...

Greg Monroe 5years experience and signed a 3year deal with The Bucks
Ernes Kanter/ Draymond Green *5years*/ Triston Thompson *4 or 5years* all had 4years experience
Reggie Jackson/Jimmy Butler had 4 years of experience, with 4/5year deals

With Robin Lopez or anyone on our roster besides KP and Grant, we should look to build up their trade value and could package them out for assets/draft picks, and young players
Even Calderon if he does well could become tradeable when he becomes closer to an expiring, which I would use to acquire Shabazz Muhammad along with possibly Nemanja Bjelica and Kevin Martin *if needed* for Twovles to save money, with the depth they already have as their young guys develop, and eventually will make much more money that they can not afford to all keep/resign

Currently our roster is looking to first DEVELOP players and THE TRIANGLE SYSTEM, believing once we are able to develop the system, we will be able to play much better to attract FA's with the development of our young guys and role players
With the comments and attacks that Phil Jackson have used the media, I believe he is looking to force CA to waiver his NO TRADE CLAUSE
Instead of looking to acquire talents that could help us contend, he is looking to develop the system with HIGH CHARACTER players with HIGH WORK ETHIC and BB IQ
Whether Affalo/Derrick Williams or other talents, they will be "role players" if they are kept/signed to long term deals once we get their early bird rights with cap friendly contracts depending on their performance/fit
The 2year deals with Affalo and Derrick Williams (at best with player options, tells me that Phil Jackson is looking to acquire the talent needed to contend 2years later
While our improvements will fix itself with the Triangle with talents that would be able to gain experience and learn how to execute in the system, moving our role players to the bench and majority of our roster experienced Triangle Vets by then that will know how to execute the system and play both on and off the ball with HIGH IQ talents
In the end, we will need TOP TIER talents though in order to contend as Phil Jackson fully understands with all of his teams, however, in the mean time, Fisher will need to mold/develop the system and gain coaching experience, with HIGH CHARACTER/HIGH WORK ETHIC/ WITH HIGH BB IQ talents to work with that will not undermine him like JR Smith did

For next season, 2016/20017
=============================

With the 20m in cap space next summer,
We may look to sign 1year rentals or cap friendly talents such as

Kobe, Pau Gasol/Noah, or another PF/C if we miss out on Whiteside, and possibly David Lee/Battum, DMO, and other then lower tier role players on cap friendly contracts like James Johnson *I would like to trade for him with this year with Early/Lance Thomas/Lou Amundson* Randy Foye/DJ Augustine/Evan Turner *with all the GUARDS that Boston has, he becomes expendable*, Speights/Hickson *I think majority of the Euro BIGS and the backup PG would fit very well in the Triangle with Jovic/Joffrey Lauvergne and Nurkic, along with guards like Nikola Radicevic, Randy Foye, Will Barton, Eric Green, and maybe Garry Harris

For 2 seasons later, 2017/2018
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Till Westbrook becomes a FA and Calderon's contract expires
Other FA's with Westbrook include, Ibaka, Blake Griffen and CP3, along with Derrick Rose

For some loopholes trading for players with low cap holds, similar to what Jimmy Butler/Kawaii Leanard did with Chicago/Spurs... keep their cap holds with qualifying offers and extending them AFTER we used the cap space to target TOP TIER players,

Talents such as Russ Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie, Mike Muscula, and their low cap holds on to our roster in trades, while we can extend them AFTER we sign Westbrook

In the meantime this season
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In the mean time, use our room exemption to sign Ndour *especially if CA will be traded at some point* and Thanasis *SG/SF* to 3 to 4year deals with the final season being a team option to prevent poison pills
With KJ McDaniels who bet on himself as a rookie with 0years of experience, players will follow that will not sign multiyear deals as they have in the past, especially with New York at the high cost of living with property and STATE TAX

Even after that we need to sign 2year vet min deals to talents such as

Jeff Taylor
Justin Hamilton
Ognjen Kuzmic

Jeremy Tyler/Jerome Jordan

undrafted FA Alan Williams

Andray Blatche/ Larry Sanders *doubt the vet min would be enough for them and don't really want to have them for a 1year deal with player option on us either*

D League talents
Jerrelle Benimon SF/PF/C to play a role similar to Odom which I think David Lee could also provide similar traits as VET point/forward with Pau Gasol at a point/Center or/and other players that could develop to be part of our rotation on cap friendly contracts with early bird rights/full bird rights to resign them

Other D League players or/and players waived/amnestied, a reason why Phil Jackson is staying below the salary cap to be eligible to claim waivers
Though he give promises to N Dour, Thanasis, or/and whoever that we will sign them this season, but may need some time to look to trade Early or choose between him or Ledo to decide
While saving the room exemption for N Dour and Thanasis, we may look to sign 2year vet min deals to the talents above...

Once Lou Amundson and Lance Thomas help us get going with their 1/2 year of experience in the Triangle, they become expendable, and Thanasis's potential, esp. at SG and DEF >>> Early's potential
Some minor trades I would like to do include getting rid of Early, possibly Lou Amundson *I hope his deal is unguaranteed or partial guaranteed* and Lance Thomas at the trade deadline for players listed above or lower talents such as
Would try to avoid giving up picks, these guys are all buried on their respective teams and a contract to help them save money is about it
However, I feel all these guys could help our roster moving forward and would NOT cost much to keep for future contracts

- Troy Daniels
- James Johnson
- Dorell Wright (UFA with good size to play SG/SF at 6-9)
- Evan Turner

Don't know how Anthony holds up physically, and who knows how he will react to a diminished role in the offense.

Aflalo is going into the part of his career where anything can happen in terms of a drop-off.

Don't know how KP and Grant develop...I'm high on both of them, but who knows how good they can be? I figure that Lopez will still be a workmanlike player, but what if KP is really best at the 5?

O'Quinn is in the mix, and you have to look at the guys around now who might play a role- Early, Galloway, maybe Ndour and Thanasis. You also have Hernangomez coming over next year after playing a year with Barcelona- Will he be a rotation quality player, a potential starter, or just an end of the bench 10MPG guy who hangs out with KP at the Latvian nightclubs?

And as someone said- who knows what we can get in FA next year?

For development coaches, we want some former players that will already have the respect of these young guys and WILL LISTEN,
We also would prefer former players that understood how to defend certain players and had experience playing against them but NOT to a point where they may be undermined
As part of the requirement, we are looking for traits that will be effective in The Triangle with possible experience in it or skill that would translate
Now we must also credit the development of ALL STARS with development staff, assistant coach/head coach, trainers both on and off the court whether in the gym or with drills to improve hand eye coordination/foot work/ and ANALYZING/THINKING at the same time, as the Triangle needs good decision makers and for the TEAM to communicate together to expose the match ups and work together as one unit on DEFENSE as well as OFFENSE

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=51201

If a trainer/development coach consistently develops high quality basketball players, we must give them credit, however, we must also give them similar skill played with physical attributes to work with
For instance, you cannot give Shaq's trainer to KP and expect KP to be similar to Shaq...

The Sports Science and the amount of money that the sports generate now are incredible, with a lot of different work out regimes/philosophies to implement since Phil Jackson and Derek Fishers days

Usually ROLE PLAYERS that understand HARD WORK, are better coaches as they do not have the skills as ALL STARS and had to work much harder to stay in the NBA, some are very good development coaches/assistant coaches

Not sure if Fisher and Shaw would get along, however, if they would, demote Kurt Rambis and make Brian Shaw the leading official with a HIGH salary as there are salary caps for management/coaches
Brian Shaw was rumored to replace Alvin Gentry however, haven't heard any official news, if possible steal him, as he helped develop Lance Stephenson along with much of the then YOUNG PACERS to implement some Triangle Sets
He also did very well for The Pacers, perhaps once he left, the team struggled to keep BIG MAN, ROY HIBBERT engaged consistently, as well as getting majority of the young guys developed early and able to contribute, Ledo could certainly use a coach like him

There are exercises to added flexibility, get stronger, and prevent injuries as well with equipment

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1929258-secrets-of-an-nba-trainer-behind-closed-doors-with-micah-lancaster

For equipment, get the FREEZER with nitrogen for the body to heal/recovery, that Lebron James uses and Floyed Money Mayweather in our Weschester training facility and in MSG after games to help recovery
KP already got a house new Weschester so he can go the gym and work out whenever he wants

http://aplus.com/a/floyd-mayweather-cryogenic-freezing-chamber