JR Smith's Player Option

[seren]

He'd be a fool to take the option. He should be able to land a multi year deal at 4-5 million per year.

I think it depends. If a team offers him 4 years / 32 million - he might be wise to take that.

if he takes the 1 year deal with NY, he'd be an early bird player and he could get a bit more than the MLE with NY next year - so he mgiht get more if he takes it than if he leaves, so, I think it depends on what offers he gets in the off-season.

I think he is happy here.

His decision has to come before June 30, so he would not know.

[xsaberx]

Tomorrow is never promised to us. Lets worry about the offseason as it comes, but until then? Lets just enjoy this current Knicks roster.

-+- An excellent 6th man off the bench in J.R Smith.

-+- The NBA's best 3 point shooting sniper in Steve Novak.

-+- A defensive minded, high energy, grind it out, die for his team type type of role player in Jared Jeffries.

-+- An up and coming, young developing talent in Landry Fields.

-+- Last but not least... A veteran leader at the PG position in Baron Davis.

We may lose each and every one of these guys through free agency during the offseason. Jeremy Lin is a guaranteed Knick moving forward. Lets just enjoy these special Knick talents while we have them. We're on the verge of heading into the playoffs with a loaded roster.

Lets enjoy it. We'll worry about these contract situations when the time is right. Now is not the time.

fields is a restricted free agent and we can resign him without using our mle or lle - he is easy to keep

unfortunately he's the guy in the list above that I care about the least - although if he can get a good jumper under H20, he could be really important

novak, smith, and jefries are all so important to this team actually making a championship run - I wish it was likely that we would be able to keep them all, but it is not

[JBravo7777]

JR should be the very first guy the Knicks need to keep if they want to make a run with Melo and Amare these next 4 years. His ball handling and outside shooting too take pressure off Melo is key. He also is one of our best defenders. I could care less about keeping Fields. We wouldnt be in the playofffs if Fields was in there finishing games in the clutch instead of JR. 17-6 since Woodson took over with JR finishing games and playing more mins. 18-24 with Fields finishing most games under Dantoni. If we still had that clown MDA coaching JR would still be on the bench. Im hoping if we bring back Mike Woodson it will play a big part in keeping his man JR next year.

[seren]

JR should be the very first guy the Knicks need to keep if they want to make a run with Melo and Amare these next 4 years. His ball handling and outside shooting too take pressure off Melo is key. He also is one of our best defenders. I could care less about keeping Fields. We wouldnt be in the playofffs if Fields was in there finishing games in the clutch instead of JR. 17-6 since Woodson took over with JR finishing games and playing more mins. 18-24 with Fields finishing most games under Dantoni. If we still had that clown MDA coaching JR would still be on the bench. Im hoping if we bring back Mike Woodson it will play a big part in keeping his man JR next year.

He might stay for mid-level if we are letting Lin go.

[DE FENSE]

JR should be the very first guy the Knicks need to keep if they want to make a run with Melo and Amare these next 4 years. His ball handling and outside shooting too take pressure off Melo is key. He also is one of our best defenders. I could care less about keeping Fields. We wouldnt be in the playofffs if Fields was in there finishing games in the clutch instead of JR. 17-6 since Woodson took over with JR finishing games and playing more mins. 18-24 with Fields finishing most games under Dantoni. If we still had that clown MDA coaching JR would still be on the bench. Im hoping if we bring back Mike Woodson it will play a big part in keeping his man JR next year.

Really? More than Lin? I like JR and all, and he has stepped up this year, but let's not act like Lin is more dispensable.

[sol537]

1. Lin will be back 100%
2. Jeffries will most likely be back for the same one-year deal (min)
3. Fields will most likely be retained OR traded for another similar piece.
4. Davis may return for 1 more year.
5. Both Novak and JR are unlikely to return, but out of the two, I could see Novak taking a pay cut to stay. Unlikely, though.

That's why we have to make the most of our 2nd rounder and perhaps deal for another 2nd rounder and go for a couple more vet min guys that hopefully pan out. We've been lucky lately...

[JBravo7777]

JR should be the very first guy the Knicks need to keep if they want to make a run with Melo and Amare these next 4 years. His ball handling and outside shooting too take pressure off Melo is key. He also is one of our best defenders. I could care less about keeping Fields. We wouldnt be in the playofffs if Fields was in there finishing games in the clutch instead of JR. 17-6 since Woodson took over with JR finishing games and playing more mins. 18-24 with Fields finishing most games under Dantoni. If we still had that clown MDA coaching JR would still be on the bench. Im hoping if we bring back Mike Woodson it will play a big part in keeping his man JR next year.

Really? More than Lin? I like JR and all, and he has stepped up this year, but let's not act like Lin is more dispensable.

Shooting guard is one of the most important positions in the NBA. Jason Terry came off the bench like JR and played a huge role in Dallas winning a title. Kobe and Jordan the two best shooting guards in the NBA of all time have 11 rings. Wade has a ring . Boston didn't win a ring until Ray Allen came. You have to have a legit 2 guard in this league if you want to win a Championship. Bulls lost last year to Miami in ECF because they didn't have a shooting guard. JR has made over 25 million in his last 7 years in the NBA so its not like he is broke. Hopefully if we keep Mike Woodson it will influence JR to stay.

[Woodsanity]

JR should be the very first guy the Knicks need to keep if they want to make a run with Melo and Amare these next 4 years. His ball handling and outside shooting too take pressure off Melo is key. He also is one of our best defenders. I could care less about keeping Fields. We wouldnt be in the playofffs if Fields was in there finishing games in the clutch instead of JR. 17-6 since Woodson took over with JR finishing games and playing more mins. 18-24 with Fields finishing most games under Dantoni. If we still had that clown MDA coaching JR would still be on the bench. Im hoping if we bring back Mike Woodson it will play a big part in keeping his man JR next year.

Really? More than Lin? I like JR and all, and he has stepped up this year, but let's not act like Lin is more dispensable.

Shooting guard is one of the most important positions in the NBA. Jason Terry came off the bench like JR and played a huge role in Dallas winning a title. Kobe and Jordan the two best shooting guards in the NBA of all time have 11 rings. Wade has a ring . Boston didn't win a ring until Ray Allen came. You have to have a legit 2 guard in this league if you want to win a Championship. Bulls lost last year to Miami in ECF because they didn't have a shooting guard. JR has made over 25 million in his last 7 years in the NBA so its not like he is broke. Hopefully if we keep Mike Woodson it will influence JR to stay.

Point guard is also one of the most important positions in the NBA....

[Imfamus]

Novak, Lin, Fields, Jeffries staying


JR Smith is a tossup

[xsaberx]

Maybe some team will sign and trade JR to us for Fields (yeah right)

A PG is more important than JR - Lin is more important, but JR is a major piece, 2nd only to Lin

If we lose JR, Novak, and Jeffries our team will be:

Lin
Shump/Fields
Melo/Fields
Stat
Tyson

Shump will get a better and I believe is a great starting shooting guard next year

If H2O can help fields get his jumper even back to last year, he will be really good as a backup 2 and 3


I really hope Novak will take the LLE but he can get more

I hope Jeffries will take the 120% raise but he can get more

and I really hope JR will stay on with the promise that we will sign him to a max early bird deal the year after - the problem is that that is still only 3 years at a little over five million per year - he could make 7 million per year this summer

[suicidedeuce]

Point guard is also one of the most important positions in the NBA....

Center is of course one of the most important positions in the NBA.

Come to think of it, many of the top scorers/dominant all around players are small forwards.

Rebounding and spacing the floor is very important making power forward a very important position.

Wait.

What was the point here?

[suicidedeuce]

Maybe some team will sign and trade JR to us for Fields (yeah right)

Well, considering it's against the rules, "yeah right" pretty much nails is.

[GONYK]

Shooting guard is one of the most important positions in the NBA. Jason Terry came off the bench like JR and played a huge role in Dallas winning a title. Kobe and Jordan the two best shooting guards in the NBA of all time have 11 rings. Wade has a ring . Boston didn't win a ring until Ray Allen came. You have to have a legit 2 guard in this league if you want to win a Championship. Bulls lost last year to Miami in ECF because they didn't have a shooting guard. JR has made over 25 million in his last 7 years in the NBA so its not like he is broke. Hopefully if we keep Mike Woodson it will influence JR to stay.

No you don't. You just need a scorer on the wing. We have Melo already. JR is good, and a 6th man is important, but not more important than a starting PG on a team that has no PG's.

And the position is irrelevant. It's the players. JR is no Kobe, Jordan, Ray Allen, or Wade.

The Bulls lost because they had no consistent second scorer who could create his own offense, not because they didn't have an SG specifically. If Boozer was Al Jefferson or Zach Randolph, they wouldn't have had that problem.

[seren]

People are too worried about JR. Next year they will completely forget about him when Ahmad Nivins and Giorgos Printezis come.

[Pharmcat]

next year when he leaves folks will see how much he meant to this team

sure you could sign a 3 pt shooter like parker
or a good defender like bogans
or a scorer in nate/tmac

but no one will bring the total package that JR brings (3 pt shot, defense, passing, dynamic factor)

enjoy him for the remaining games