martin wrote:crzymdups wrote:I keep envisioning a team of Conley and Batum in the backcourt - I don't think it'd be possible, but I think that'd be the ideal backcourt for our frontcourt.But looking at the reality of the cap and Lance and Langston up for new deals and Afflalo and DWill able to opt out... cap room could get scarce this coming off-season.
both Conley and Batum are up for contracts THIS year, so that's why I keep suggesting Batum and Westbrook and the impeding cap increases when they hit the market.
As for Afflalo and DWill and their respective opt outs, this is a win-win for NY. They opt-in and they are fairly manageable salaries for this upcoming year and the Knicks still have around $19M to spend. They opt out and you gain $8M and $5M respectively to spend on other not bad options: Horford, Bazemore, Maurice Harkless, Allen Crabbe, etc.
I keep thinking Conley is the perfect PG for this team. I like Batum a lot. I dunno, we'll see, I guess. Say AA and DWill opt out, that gives us $32M to split between Conley and Batum... sort of pie in the sky. If we got one of those guys, I think it takes us up to 50+ win territory with KP/Grant improvement next season.
One thing on Conley having a sort of down year - he seems to be dealing with that same sore achilles that bothered Calderon all last season. It's one of those nagging injuries that is just sort of there as a dull, constant pain in my experience. Hopefully he doesn't blow it out or anything - but that to me explains him having a sort of down year over there. I still question if he'd leave his BFF Marc Gasol in Memphis, but I would love to add him here.