fishmike wrote:I also think both Kanter and KOQ would be open to staying long tern without breaking the bank.
Kanter, by circumstances, is basically in a "contract year" He does have a player option. However his style of game won't age well, and his next long term contract, if he gets one, will encompass elements of his decline phase. With more and more teams cap locked and/or in the tax zone in the coming offseason, he wants to lock in a long term deal as soon as possible, not wait one more year, albeit at a nice AAV, and then enter the landscape with teams resource strapped across the board two offseasons from now.
You have to weigh out his back half stretch with OKC and a few games now to the rest of his time in the NBA, which isn't good. I'm happy he cares now and is productive now, but he was a sulker and gave inconsistent effort in Utah. He also torched his own fanbase on the way out. The danger is him being the next Greg Ostertag and/or Erick Dampier. Cares enough to get that next big deal, then surfs the rest of the way by just not giving a ****. This is basically a chick move. Get on your knees and blow and cook some steaks until you get a ring, then get fat, stay home and watch reality TV and nag and cheat with the mailman. If Kanter was simply a hard working good soldier the entire time, that's different, but he's got red flags on his track record.
Short contract on a lower AAV. If he can do better than that, let him walk. Two year deal, with a team option for the 2nd year, no more than 10 million AAV.
I'm sure someone will say, that's basically like letting the guy walk for nothing. OK, walk for nothing. You can't defend the rim, you can't space the floor, just walk then.
He's not making Zinger better, Zinger is HIDING many of Kanter's flaws right now, and it's unclear if that's even sustainable. The only guys who can shade Kanter's flaws are Zinger and/or Draymond Green. That's about it. Warriors are not signing Kanter, so he needs the Knicks a ton more in a capped out environment than they need him.
Hernangomez needs minutes. He actually has room to grow into a better player. Kanter and KOQ, for better or worse, have established their baseline abilities in this league. While it sucks to let a player walk for nothing, the Knicks simply need the cap space and roster space and positional elements elsewhere.
Sure, she's blowing you and cooking you steaks now, but you think that's gonna stay consistent once you ring her up for good?