Frankie and Dotson are the long tail of that. Payton, Bullock, Gibson, MR, RJ are more recent additions to that stockpile.

Disappointments abound.

Dolan smartly followed Hahn's advice likely echoed by MSG consultants to rebuild the FO with money being no object. The pattern they acknowledged was that high profile agents and shakers were directing traffic in winning cultures. Dolan didn't throw Perry or Mills under the bus, he took the heat off of them.

*At some point*, and it will likely not be this year, stars will align. But given the covid situation, why buy into a starphuck roster when the season itself is in such dubious condition? There's enough of a team in hand that can make the playoffs with minor tweaking. That's all anyone really expects and given the drought of such appearances will be welcomed like rain in California. A Thibs monument will replace a Confederate statue.

Once the Covid dust clears, I think the star chasing exercise begins in earnest to prune a playoff roster and harden it to compete for a ring.

But, then you have a 35 year old Chris Paul. Rumors are Houston may seek to trade a 31 year old Westbrook. Those are closer to starphuchs. Westbrook being something that has to make you stop and think. But if they have a chance to obtain a Top 10 player that is 25-27 years old, I’d be all in.

I think a lot of teams must be looking at cap considerations. I think they will work capology free agent overhaul to bring in some names if there is a few stars aligning.

I see our most valuable contracts as

1) Robinson
2) Barrett
3) Randle
4) Ntlikina
5) Knox
6) Smith
7) Bullock?

All other contracts only really have value in their non-guaranteed money/ termination options.

But, after that they have a number of draft picks to sweeten any deal.

TripleThreat wrote:

Nalod wrote: Let’s face it, Isiah never planned on Eddy being available.

I don't think Zeke was a bad GM. Saying he's a bad GM is saying he sucked at every last aspect of being a GM. And that's not true. I think Zeke did a pretty good job as a drafter considering his entire career arc. He didn't hit hard on every pick, but the returns were actually pretty good most of the time. To be fair, he had some pretty high picks at times so that helped.

He was bad at resource management and he didn't understand the cap.

Something to consider is part of Zekes tenure came before major shifts in how rookie slotting changed. Part of this is on Zeke for not forecasting with the changing league structure. But this is part of the problem of hiring someone not formally trained for the job.

Trading for veterans in their decline phase is not always a bad trade. Making that a universal statement is not realistic if the market changes.

Right now middle class contracts are the problem.

Think about it, when a superstar gets traded, usually by his own force, what do teams want? Expirings, draft picks, cash and young players on rookie deals. They don't want middle class contracts with years left. Max contracts to the wrong guys is still ****ty, but at least it will scale in proportion to a drop in the cap. So will rookie contracts, MLE, Room, etc, etc.

The Warriors trading Monta Ellis for Bogut was actually panned by many at the time. Trading for Igoudala and sending draft capital to shed bad contracts was actually a bit of a risk for the Warriors at the time. Not resigning Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack were also moves not loved by everyone.

There is no master plan.

The Nets had no idea Durant and Irving would want to go there. Not in the years and years before it happened to set that pathway.

Every potential move needs to be evaluated on it's own merit given the time and place.

Maybe Zeke as GM was not 100% bloody awful.
IF you factor in the Cap, that it was 40% above the second highest team, and his last season won 23 game as President, GM, and coach.
The Chaney embarrassment? The Wilkens hire and how that came to happen? The Marbles trade? The Larry Brown thing? Has there ever been such a dysfunctional hire and fire over one season like that in any sport?
Then Anucha?
I think he qualifies as the perhaps the worst exec ever for any pro team in this history of pro sports. $ to win ratio? The picks that were sent out vs. What came in?
Shyt show? Dumpster fire? That we can only say Ariza and Chandler were the best part of his tenure says little.

franco12 wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:The term starphuch to me is adding a Steve Francis past his prime or a past his prime Tracy McGrady. Office seems intent on creating value contracts. With the assets they have on hand, they have to be looking at trying to pull 2 or 3 stars together. They were in the bidding on Anthony Davis. Got to imagine they will make him a pitch. If Giannis is unhappy, you have to imagine they will be bidding aggressively.

But, then you have a 35 year old Chris Paul. Rumors are Houston may seek to trade a 31 year old Westbrook. Those are closer to starphuchs. Westbrook being something that has to make you stop and think. But if they have a chance to obtain a Top 10 player that is 25-27 years old, I’d be all in.

I think a lot of teams must be looking at cap considerations. I think they will work capology free agent overhaul to bring in some names if there is a few stars aligning.

I see our most valuable contracts as

1) Robinson
2) Barrett
3) Randle
4) Ntlikina
5) Knox
6) Smith
7) Bullock?

All other contracts only really have value in their non-guaranteed money/ termination options.

But, after that they have a number of draft picks to sweeten any deal.

to me, Starphuch is misjudging talent. It's thinking we're one piece away, and trading Nene & Camby for McDyess. We should have been rebuilding and retaining youth, not trying to find established talent.

We still lack talent, we lack depth of talent- what, we have like 2 players worth anything? Is any franchise that badly off?h
So any deal where we trade picks and youth- even questionable youth like Knox & DSjr- for an established 'star' will be, in book, a starphuch.

I could even argue that maxing out FVV is a starphuch move. We're just not that good to be locking up that kind of money into a questionable talent.

Starphuch has many sides. You are correct on most levels. The team can starphuch by overstating its view a certain player can be. Fans can also.
To see so much hope that FVV at a premium price would a premium upgrade without acknowledging what the rest of the roster composition is would be a starphuch potential. Even at age 33 Kyle Lowery is an allstar talent and is the Alpha. Knicks problems for a long time is taking guys like Eisley, Anderson, Randle, Hardaway and Mook Morris and making them no. 1 option. They can produce empty stats but they are not cornerstones.
I’m stating the obvious. RJ Barrett is a future cornerstone POTENTIAL.
My hope is we build a FO and coaching staff to support the expectation that was KNox, Frank, Mitch and DSjr. That was failed at having a supporting culture to build talent. Dolan spend a lot of money assembling a new group. We have Iggy, and we have 4 first round picks in the next two drafts. We have a cap space and potential for making deals. And to get here we have had a lot of heartache. I hope we use those assets wisely.