ramtour420 wrote:Yeah, I have been a Knicks fan for a while. What I have recently noticed ( hello PJ) is that we have some contracts that are below market value. This is very exciting to me for a couple of reasons. First of , it's something that's a necessity for competitive teams to possess. Let's not forget how Dwayne Wade and more recently KD have accepted such deals in order to make their teams more competitive.
The second thing about such deals , and thus one is so much more " my precious " than what the Knicks are notorious for signing players to are exactly the opposite. CL and KOQ are very special in my mind for that exact reason. We have had a history of signing players to the opposite- bad deals. So it's like a unicorn in my mind. Now it's not a surprise that other teams want such players, my only gripe is that I want it to continue. I understand that in order to sign RFA it's a required that is e give them such deals( hello THJ) but I just wish we could continue to sign players to such deals.
In theory, you are correct, of course. All team want to do this.
In application, this is where it will get fuzzy. The Knicks are not shopping at the Tier 1-Tier 3 stage of any free agency, not for the near future sadly. They are going to shop in the Tier 4 and Tier 5 range. Which are players who want to get max AAV possible and max years possible, and the push/pull of more years and more money means more than a chance to win or contend.
Players might take less to start versus not. Or if they feel the franchise in place has a positive reputation of developing players ( Hawks, Mavericks are examples)
Bad teams sign bad players to bad deals because GMs and the front office want to say something, ANYTHING, when a owner asks what the team is doing to get better. The GM in place isn't thinking 5 years from now, but a year and change maybe. When the personnel decision maker is more worried about keeping his job, he's likely not actually doing his job.
D'Antoni, Nash, the Suns and Seven Seconds Or Less were not going to win a championship. But they had fun. The fans had fun. They were enjoyable to watch. No one wants to watch someone who doesn't give a ****. And that's the hard part, knowing you'd rather lose without Player X than win sometimes with them. In that regard, for culture building, it means Zinger and Melo have to go. Jackson had to go too, but he's already gone.
You can't build on a weak foundation. The Knicks need to start from scratch. A positive team culture that rewards effort and unity and punishes selfish and anti team behavior. Even if it costs in the short term. That's the irony, no matter what you do, you have to pay that price anyway, you might as well pay it on your terms playing the game the right way.
Build the culture first. Have your moves be aligned to that vision and to that discipline. And then the players and talent will take care of itself over time. Sean Marks inherited a horrible situation in NJ, but you can see it, they are changing the culture there and little by little, good things are happening for that team.
