We already know he wanted NY going into the 2009 draft. GS just picked him first. He's made the most of his experience out there since -- 2014/15 championship and league MVP, good chance for the same this year, maybe next year too. If he gets another championship or two, another MVP or two, what else is there to play for out there? I get the building a dynasty aspect and I'm sure he and his family are comfortable out there in the Bay area, but what if he wanted more--maybe to be known as the guy who saved the NY Knicks? Again, remote chance I understand, but what if, man, you know? Did LeBron James leave his home town to pursue other things? Yes, and it worked out well for him--and he left Cleveland w/o accomplishing a thing. Curry, by the time he's a FA in the summer of 2017, could very well have 3 championships and 3 MVP awards under his belt. Big difference. If that's the case by then, I wonder how hungry he'd be for a new challenge?

Regardless of who's coming here, it's up to us to improve the team and continue to make strides between now and then. Maintaining some cap flexibility while doing so should also be a big consideration. Hopefully Melo stays near top form, KP should be much improved by next yr/end of next yr and hopefully we have a much better supporting cast in place by then. That may be all we need to do now -- improve the supporting cast.

Maybe for this summer we don't go for broke for one of these "top" FAs: Rondo, Conley, etc.. Even Batum--nice player but he's gonna cost an arm and a leg and I don't think he makes us that much better.

I think I prefer going for more cost-effective improvements, younger guys still with some upside, while maintaining some cap flexibility in the process.

I'd be very happy with the following improvements this offseason:

• Jerryd Bayless
• PJ Hairston
• Solomon Hill
• Terrico White
• Yogi Ferrell late in the draft somehow (Marcus Paige or Russ Smith are also possibilities--looking for a young/quick/skilled PG who we actually have a shot at getting somehow)
• Willy Hernangomez comes over from Europe
• Keep Derrick Williams?

Then add a new coach (Tom Thibodeau? Luke Walton? Curry's sure familiar with Walton--they're both on top of the NBA world out in GS right now). That's my offseason plan right there. Maybe we even play it cheaper than that by passing on Bayless (even though he's quite talented and shouldn't cost too much--a lot less than Conley Jr. and Rondo; less than Jeremy Lin too probably but you figure the bidding will start at $5mm/yr) and let D-Will walk (even if we choose to pass but D-Will opts in, there's only 1 yr. left on his deal--wouldn't impact 2017 FA. Same with AA, who Marc Berman thinks will opt out and walk if we offer him a reserve role for next season.. Solomon Hill, meanwhile, could double for us next year filling both the D-Will the LT roles (Hairston/Terrico White could also absorb some of LT's mins. as well) -- Hill could get plenty of mins to show what he can do--offering ample PT could also help us beat out Indiana or another team in a bidding war. Same with Jerryd Bayless if we decided he did indeed make sense). But passing on Bayless & D-Will could save $10mm give or take right there. That's $10mm we can conserve for Curry. All these improvements shouldn't be too expensive and unlike a max long-term deal for Rondo, Conley Jr., Batum, (once we sign any of these 3, that's it--that's the team and I fear it won't be nearly enough--we'll be stuck in NBA purgatory once again waiting for Melo & Rondo or whoever to expire and start over), we should be able to move any of these players if need be. Goal would be for everyone on the team to gel together/play well hoping at least a couple of these newcomers flourish with the expanded usage (I'd expect 40+ wins from this group with room for even more growth) and have favorable contracts (sans Melo, RoLo) that could be moved in a deal at any time. We establish all these players for next year to go along with Melo, an improved KP, hopefully a healthy Wroten, Grant if he's still here, Calderon comes off the cap after next season, we have our 1st round pick next yr...That's an interesting club with potential and some flexibility moving forward -- I think that supporting cast could come close to what Curry's working with out in GS right now. All we'd need now is Curry himself.

This would obviously need to be fleshed out further. Might need to come up with more cap space for Curry -- might have to eventually find a taker for KOQ to free up another $4.25mm/yr, maybe we could get Melo/RoLo to defer a little money when the time comes, etc., but I like this plan. Smartly building up the underbelly (esp. that backcourt) while setting our sights on Steph Curry in 2017 (maybe Russell Westbrook as a plan B).

mreinman wrote:we have a better chance of reversing the axis of the earth and losing some of the stupid stupid stupid games that we won at the end of that season.

I still can't get over that!

I mean, our FO actually wanted to pick him - its not like times where we pass on better players that others did - we knew the guy had great shooting skills and we wanted to pick him.

And this is what I mean about our current franchise, and where we could end up next year in terms of standings/draft position - just good enough to not be in a position to pick a true impact player.

franco12 wrote:

mreinman wrote:we have a better chance of reversing the axis of the earth and losing some of the stupid stupid stupid games that we won at the end of that season.

I still can't get over that!

I mean, our FO actually wanted to pick him - its not like times where we pass on better players that others did - we knew the guy had great shooting skills and we wanted to pick him.

And this is what I mean about our current franchise, and where we could end up next year in terms of standings/draft position - just good enough to not be in a position to pick a true impact player.

I remember some of those wins to close that season. UGH!!!!!!

I do like this line though "[Curry] definitely works here, man, there's no question about that. Perfect fit." And there's a team were Curry isn't a good fit? :)

Curry wanted to come to Knicks because Mike d'Antoni was coaching and he and his father thought that Curry stood a chance of being the Knicks's Steve Nash. The attraction was not the Knicks, the attraction was MDA.