NY Knicks

[NYG]

I would give it a full off-season cycle to get an actual bench before blowing up the starting 5

[R-DAWG]

I would give it a full off-season cycle to get an actual bench before blowing up the starting 5

Sure, but how are you improving this roster?

The Knicks have 1 draft pick - the better for Bos/Mem which is currently #55.

In terms of room below the 2nd apron, NY has about 11.5MM of space with 10 players on the roster. Assuming they sign their 2nd rd pick to a minimum contract, they can offer 5.6mm out of the 5.65mm taxpayer MLE, then round the roster out with 2 vet minimums, and basically be sitting at the 2nd apron. I’d love Malcom Brogdon or Clint Capela for the taxpayer MLE - just not sure if that’s realistic.

If your not trading one of the starters, there is very little moveable salary, no real tradable 1’s (the WAS pick is almost guaranteed to be 2 2nds) and most of the 6 future 2nds they own are “least favorable of” picks. So the cupboard is close to bare.

That’s the problem with this team, they don’t have the ways to improve the roster - either by trading for a superstar or adding necessary depth - and they are not a contender as currently constructed. They also don’t have an opportunity to hit the reset button for anther 6 seasons.

It’s as bad a future outlook as their is in the league, even if they are currently a solid 50 win team that should make the 2nd round of the playoffs for the third straight year

[NYG]

Something along these lines...

Sign Bruce Brown to Tax MLE

Dadiet and 3 second rounders for Duop Reath

Mitchell Robinson for Maxi Kleber and Shake Milton

Sign a minimum guy like Jaxson Hayes

Suddenly there's some more depth that we don't currently have.

[R-DAWG]

Something along these lines...

Sign Bruce Brown to Tax MLE

Dadiet and 3 second rounders for Duop Reath

Mitchell Robinson for Maxi Kleber and Shake Milton

Sign a minimum guy like Jaxson Hayes

Suddenly there's some more depth that we don't currently have.

This doesn’t make the team a contender.

[Astaluego]

Something along these lines...

Sign Bruce Brown to Tax MLE

Dadiet and 3 second rounders for Duop Reath

Mitchell Robinson for Maxi Kleber and Shake Milton

Sign a minimum guy like Jaxson Hayes

Suddenly there's some more depth that we don't currently have.

I like Robinson's bet for the Lakers, but the Knicks should get a better return.. (I think Hayes stays in LA at the very least..he's the current starter)
I've also read that NOP wants to keep Brown...you'll have to offer something better.

Robinson/Dadiet(Knicks)to LAKERS
Vandervilt to KING
Valanciunas/Knecht to KNICKS ..

I think this wouldn't move the needle much anyway... they should move OG if they can diversify their salary into 2 good players... (I'll create a thread on trade and transactions, see what the board thinks...)

Maybe the Lakers would also keep OG in exchange for DFS/Maxi/Vincent..
with Vincent+2 SRP(1 from Lakers + 1 from Knicks) for Clarksson?
Maxi+Dadiet for Thybulle..?

Towns/Jonas
DFS/Achiuwa?
Hart /Thybulle
Bridges /Clarkson
Brunson/Mcbride

Robinson/Hayes*
Lebron/Hachimura
OG/FA
Reaves/Godwin
Luka/Bronny

[cgf]

I would give it a full off-season cycle to get an actual bench before blowing up the starting 5

Sure, but how are you improving this roster?

The Knicks have 1 draft pick - the better for Bos/Mem which is currently #55.

In terms of room below the 2nd apron, NY has about 11.5MM of space with 10 players on the roster. Assuming they sign their 2nd rd pick to a minimum contract, they can offer 5.6mm out of the 5.65mm taxpayer MLE, then round the roster out with 2 vet minimums, and basically be sitting at the 2nd apron. I’d love Malcom Brogdon or Clint Capela for the taxpayer MLE - just not sure if that’s realistic.

If your not trading one of the starters, there is very little moveable salary, no real tradable 1’s (the WAS pick is almost guaranteed to be 2 2nds) and most of the 6 future 2nds they own are “least favorable of” picks. So the cupboard is close to bare.

That’s the problem with this team, they don’t have the ways to improve the roster - either by trading for a superstar or adding necessary depth - and they are not a contender as currently constructed. They also don’t have an opportunity to hit the reset button for anther 6 seasons.

It’s as bad a future outlook as their is in the league, even if they are currently a solid 50 win team that should make the 2nd round of the playoffs for the third straight year

Just going to quote myself from another thread where this same question came up:

Idk how you're rebuilding the bench when you'll be a 2nd apron team.

Is spotrac lying to me or wouldn't we need to bring in someone more expensive than Achiuwa to hit the 2nd apron? Unless I'm reading it wrong we could bring Precious back for 6M and still have the 1st-apron MLE for another fringe rotation guy to upgrade on Shamet, or replace Precious with someone making almost double what he currently is.

So far this season Deuce McBride has been our only starting caliber bench player. Once Robinson is back in action that'll bump that up to two whether he or Hart is starting. So a precious upgrade would make that 3 guys that could give us a good 24mpg or more even if we didn't get any progress from our kids, find any new bargains, or do anything with our SRPs / Dadiet.

And with 8 guys who can give us 24+ minutes a game, or 7 + Precious and another Precious caliber pure bench guy, we should stay a lot fresher...which should help us maintain the kind of defensive intensity we had while storming back, even if going big with both Robinson & Towns doesn't level us up.

Plus I think Kolek will be able to upgrade upon Payne by next postseason, if not the start of the regular season, because the kid is really crafty...and if Dadiet doesn't take a big step, I suspect he'll be paired with some of our SRPs for another bench upgrade, whether that's upgrading on Shamet's role or Hukporti's.

So there's the potential for 3-4 upgrades to our current bench...Hart/Robinson, Kolek, Achiuwa-upgrade or Apron MLE, and Dadiet+picks trade...even without our FO snagging whoever turns out to be this summer's best vet min bargain, or taking advantage of their better understanding of the CBA to find more wiggle room than everyone thought they had, like they did last summer.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/new-york-knicks/overview/_/year/2025/sort/cap_total

Whether bolstering our bench and getting Mitch back will be enough to move us from the top of tier 2 into tier 1, we won't know until we see, but the FO has avenues to improve the bench even without any cap-shenanigans that we lack the CBA-knowledge to predict or landing someone like Yabusele with a vet min, like Philly did.

[cgf]

Something along these lines...

Sign Bruce Brown to Tax MLE

Dadiet and 3 second rounders for Duop Reath

Mitchell Robinson for Maxi Kleber and Shake Milton

Sign a minimum guy like Jaxson Hayes

Suddenly there's some more depth that we don't currently have.

This doesn’t make the team a contender.

That Robinson trade would be brutal, but we won't know whether rebuilding our depth will turn us into contenders until we see. We're already the 4th best team in the league...sure Denver & Memphis have the same record, but we're 3-0 against those teams, winning each game handily...without Mitch having played a game yet. So this team is already a lot better than you thought they'd be

[cgf]

If we do want to talk about wild ideas that could dramatically change things, but our FO probably wouldn't ever actually consider, how about:

Davis <--> Towns +
Turner + Nesmith + Walker <---> Robinson + Bridges
Gafford + PJ Washinton <---> Achiuwa + Bridges


Davis | Robinson | Hukporti
Anunoby | Achiuwa | Dadiet
Hart
Bridges | McBride | Shamet
Brunson | Payne/Kolek

Turner | Achiuwa | Hukporti
Towns | Walker
Anunoby | Nesmith | Dadiet
Hart | McBride | Shamet
Brunson | Payne/Kolek

Robinson | Gafford | Hukporti
Towns | Washington | Dadiet
Anunoby
Hart | McBride | Shamet
Brunson | Payne/Kolek

[ReggiesKnicks]

If we do want to talk about wild ideas that could dramatically change things, but our FO probably wouldn't ever actually consider, how about:

Davis <--> Towns +
Turner + Nesmith + Walker <---> Robinson + Bridges
Gafford + PJ Washinton <---> Achiuwa + Bridges

Hmm...Turner is a Free Agent.

We already are relatively thin at Center, so trading for Robinson is the last thing we would do considering how reliable Turner has been.

[Lost Angel]

I could see OG + Robinson for Wiggins, Ke’Lel Ware, Davison Mitchell, and maybe a future heavy protected first rounder being appealing to both sides…OG seems like a Miami Heat type of guy

[taikibansei]

I could see OG + Robinson for Wiggins, Ke’Lel Ware, Davison Mitchell, and maybe a future heavy protected first rounder being appealing to both sides…OG seems like a Miami Heat type of guy

So, we give up two starters--and our two best defenders--for two bench players and...Wiggins? Seriously? How does that help the Knicks?

Robinson is expected to return next week:

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDnKSPQ4Eq4AcbEiK6CAPNCQSqgGKstRu?si=u42jSBKE2ul0Mjhr

Hopefully, OG and Hart will be fully recovered by then as well. And then finally, we'll have the full team together--for the first time this season--and maybe, just maybe, these crazy "Knicks trade two starters to get back bench players" proposals will stop.

[cgf]

I could see OG + Robinson for Wiggins, Ke’Lel Ware, Davison Mitchell, and maybe a future heavy protected first rounder being appealing to both sides…OG seems like a Miami Heat type of guy

So, we give up two starters--and our two best defenders--for two bench players and...Wiggins? Seriously? How does that help the Knicks?

Robinson is expected to return next week:

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDnKSPQ4Eq4AcbEiK6CAPNCQSqgGKstRu?si=u42jSBKE2ul0Mjhr

Hopefully, OG and Hart will be fully recovered by then as well. And then finally, we'll have the full team together--for the first time this season--and maybe, just maybe, these crazy "Knicks trade two starters to get back bench players" proposals will stop.

I like Ware a lot...he has really exciting potential as a defensive anchor and can already shoot a bit...so I don't think calling him a bench players is fair, but yeah, that would be rough for us. Even if Mitch's new approach to recovery doesn't guarantee that we get '59+ game a year Mitch' moving forward.

[taikibansei]

I could see OG + Robinson for Wiggins, Ke’Lel Ware, Davison Mitchell, and maybe a future heavy protected first rounder being appealing to both sides…OG seems like a Miami Heat type of guy

So, we give up two starters--and our two best defenders--for two bench players and...Wiggins? Seriously? How does that help the Knicks?

Robinson is expected to return next week:

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDnKSPQ4Eq4AcbEiK6CAPNCQSqgGKstRu?si=u42jSBKE2ul0Mjhr

Hopefully, OG and Hart will be fully recovered by then as well. And then finally, we'll have the full team together--for the first time this season--and maybe, just maybe, these crazy "Knicks trade two starters to get back bench players" proposals will stop.

I like Ware a lot so don't think calling him a bench players is fair, but yeah, that would be rough for us.

Did I say I dislike Ware? Nope. He's slightly better than Precious--who I also really like (and who was a prominent bench player for us until the injuries to Robinson, OG and Hart made him a starter).

So, we'd be giving up OG and Robinson--both better than Ware--for a guy (Ware) who would be our sixth or seventh man if we were fully healthy. Oh, and we'd get Davison--who'd never play for us ever--and Wiggins--who should never play for us (but who we'd need to start as we'd have to replace OG somehow...).

Hard pass.

[cgf]

If we do want to talk about wild ideas that could dramatically change things, but our FO probably wouldn't ever actually consider, how about:

Davis <--> Towns +
Turner + Nesmith + Walker <---> Robinson + Bridges
Gafford + PJ Washinton <---> Achiuwa + Bridges

Hmm...Turner is a Free Agent.

We already are relatively thin at Center, so trading for Robinson is the last thing we would do considering how reliable Turner has been.

You'd definitely want to get a better backup center with Mitch...aka why I spent all season hoping we could turn Dadiet + WSH FRP + Sims into Kessler lol...but the flipside to Rob's frailty is Mikal's ironman status and how well nicely he'd fit with Hali, Nembhard, and Pascal.

You'd need to snag a starting center prospect with your pick this year to groom behind Mitch, or find an up-n-comer in FA like ORL did with Goga and we did with iHart...but when mitch was healthy, I do think your starting 5 would be better with him & Mikal, even if you lost that spacing from the 5.

But again, I don't think our FO would even consider moving Bridges or Towns until next deadline/offseason at the earlier...unless it was a stupid steal, like if Denver called us about a Towns-Jokic swap.

[cgf]

So, we give up two starters--and our two best defenders--for two bench players and...Wiggins? Seriously? How does that help the Knicks?

Robinson is expected to return next week:

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDnKSPQ4Eq4AcbEiK6CAPNCQSqgGKstRu?si=u42jSBKE2ul0Mjhr

Hopefully, OG and Hart will be fully recovered by then as well. And then finally, we'll have the full team together--for the first time this season--and maybe, just maybe, these crazy "Knicks trade two starters to get back bench players" proposals will stop.

I like Ware a lot so don't think calling him a bench players is fair, but yeah, that would be rough for us.

Did I say I dislike Ware? Nope. He's slightly better than Precious--who I also really like (and who was a prominent bench player for us until the injuries to Robinson, OG and Hart made him a starter).

So, we'd be giving up OG and Robinson--both better than Ware--for a guy (Ware) who would be our sixth or seventh man if we were fully healthy. Oh, and we'd get Davison--who'd never play for us ever--and Wiggins--who should never play for us (but who we'd need to start as we'd have to replace OG somehow...).

Hard pass.

Wasn't arguing for the trade was just saying Ware's a rookie who has already begun to start for Miami, and by next season could be ready to start next to Towns if he was on our team. So calling him a bench player seemed overly harsh...even if that proposal on the whole deserved a harsh response.

[NYG]

Honestly... I think we do 3 things in the off-season mostly...

1. Hope for better health in 2025-26
2. Use the Tax MLE on the best player possible
3. Trade Dadiet and the conditional Wizards 1st for some kind of upgrade

As fun as it is to think up more exciting trades, this is probably what actually happens.

[cgf]

Honestly... I think we do 3 things in the off-season mostly...

1. Hope for better health in 2025-26
2. Use the Tax MLE on the best player possible
3. Trade Dadiet and the conditional Wizards 1st for some kind of upgrade

As fun as it is to think up more exciting trades, this is probably what actually happens.

Yeah. Maybe instead of using the MLE, we trade Achiuwa + Dadiet + WSH FRP for a third bench guy we'd be happy to start. But otherwise, that's what I expect to see as well.

[NYG]

Honestly... I think we do 3 things in the off-season mostly...

1. Hope for better health in 2025-26
2. Use the Tax MLE on the best player possible
3. Trade Dadiet and the conditional Wizards 1st for some kind of upgrade

As fun as it is to think up more exciting trades, this is probably what actually happens.

Yeah. Maybe instead of using the MLE, we trade Achiuwa + Dadiet + WSH FRP for a third bench guy we'd be happy to start. But otherwise, that's what I expect to see as well.

I kind of like LaRavia as a Tax MLE target and Sasser as a Dadiet trade target given how limited the 2025 free agency class is and how few players make close to Dadiet.

Maybe use 55th Overall on best center and sign a vet like Steven Adams to a minimum...

I run with Mitch/Towns/OG/Bridges/Brunson with Deuce/Hart/Adams/Sasser/LaRavia off the bench and see if it improves next season health-wise and consistency-wise

[cgf]

Honestly... I think we do 3 things in the off-season mostly...

1. Hope for better health in 2025-26
2. Use the Tax MLE on the best player possible
3. Trade Dadiet and the conditional Wizards 1st for some kind of upgrade

As fun as it is to think up more exciting trades, this is probably what actually happens.

Yeah. Maybe instead of using the MLE, we trade Achiuwa + Dadiet + WSH FRP for a third bench guy we'd be happy to start. But otherwise, that's what I expect to see as well.

I kind of like LaRavia as a Tax MLE target and Sasser as a Dadiet trade target given how limited the 2025 free agency class is and how few players make close to Dadiet.

Maybe use 55th Overall on best center and sign a vet like Steven Adams to a minimum...

I run with Mitch/Towns/OG/Bridges/Brunson with Deuce/Hart/Adams/Sasser/LaRavia off the bench and see if it improves next season health-wise and consistency-wise

Sasser leaves a good impression in general, but I think we're good with Payne & Kolek fighting it out for the non-Brunson PG minutes. Would rather see Dadiet+ used to bolster our Mitch-insurance even if Ainge won't give us Kessler, or get a bench wing if we can't get one with that mini-MLE

[R-DAWG]

I would give it a full off-season cycle to get an actual bench before blowing up the starting 5

Sure, but how are you improving this roster?

The Knicks have 1 draft pick - the better for Bos/Mem which is currently #55.

In terms of room below the 2nd apron, NY has about 11.5MM of space with 10 players on the roster. Assuming they sign their 2nd rd pick to a minimum contract, they can offer 5.6mm out of the 5.65mm taxpayer MLE, then round the roster out with 2 vet minimums, and basically be sitting at the 2nd apron. I’d love Malcom Brogdon or Clint Capela for the taxpayer MLE - just not sure if that’s realistic.

If your not trading one of the starters, there is very little moveable salary, no real tradable 1’s (the WAS pick is almost guaranteed to be 2 2nds) and most of the 6 future 2nds they own are “least favorable of” picks. So the cupboard is close to bare.

That’s the problem with this team, they don’t have the ways to improve the roster - either by trading for a superstar or adding necessary depth - and they are not a contender as currently constructed. They also don’t have an opportunity to hit the reset button for anther 6 seasons.

It’s as bad a future outlook as their is in the league, even if they are currently a solid 50 win team that should make the 2nd round of the playoffs for the third straight year

Just going to quote myself from another thread where this same question came up:

Idk how you're rebuilding the bench when you'll be a 2nd apron team.

Is spotrac lying to me or wouldn't we need to bring in someone more expensive than Achiuwa to hit the 2nd apron? Unless I'm reading it wrong we could bring Precious back for 6M and still have the 1st-apron MLE for another fringe rotation guy to upgrade on Shamet, or replace Precious with someone making almost double what he currently is.

So far this season Deuce McBride has been our only starting caliber bench player. Once Robinson is back in action that'll bump that up to two whether he or Hart is starting. So a precious upgrade would make that 3 guys that could give us a good 24mpg or more even if we didn't get any progress from our kids, find any new bargains, or do anything with our SRPs / Dadiet.

And with 8 guys who can give us 24+ minutes a game, or 7 + Precious and another Precious caliber pure bench guy, we should stay a lot fresher...which should help us maintain the kind of defensive intensity we had while storming back, even if going big with both Robinson & Towns doesn't level us up.

Plus I think Kolek will be able to upgrade upon Payne by next postseason, if not the start of the regular season, because the kid is really crafty...and if Dadiet doesn't take a big step, I suspect he'll be paired with some of our SRPs for another bench upgrade, whether that's upgrading on Shamet's role or Hukporti's.

So there's the potential for 3-4 upgrades to our current bench...Hart/Robinson, Kolek, Achiuwa-upgrade or Apron MLE, and Dadiet+picks trade...even without our FO snagging whoever turns out to be this summer's best vet min bargain, or taking advantage of their better understanding of the CBA to find more wiggle room than everyone thought they had, like they did last summer.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/new-york-knicks/overview/_/year/2025/sort/cap_total

Whether bolstering our bench and getting Mitch back will be enough to move us from the top of tier 2 into tier 1, we won't know until we see, but the FO has avenues to improve the bench even without any cap-shenanigans that we lack the CBA-knowledge to predict or landing someone like Yabusele with a vet min, like Philly did.

According to Spotrac the Knicks are about 11.5mm below the 2nd apron next year with 10 guys on the roster. Need to get to 14. The way to do it is signing our 2nd rd pick to a minimum deal - 1.3mm and 2 vet min slots - 2.3mm each. NY can then use up to 5.6mm of the taxpayer MLE, but would be up against the apron with no room for a buyout guy. So it’s Precious or taxpayer MLE

Also important to note - this will be the last time the Knicks have access to the taxpayer MLE for a while.