KnicksNext wrote:stuporman wrote:KnicksNext wrote:So many people think the Knicks are the team with the leverage here. That's completely false. The Knicks are not the team holding a 25 year star. Ainge will wait it out until he gets the trade he wants. They have Mitchell locked in for four years and won't give in and give him up for less that whatever Ainge's asking price is.
It's the Knicks who are desperate (the front office, not the fans). Can you imagine if this deal doesn't get done, and Mitchell goes to say, the Heat, Rose and Co. will get crucified by all media, local and national. And the majority of fans will be pissed as well. Utah knows this and will wait until Rose can't take the pressure anymore and caves. I don't want this to happen, but it's funny to see so many Knicks fans think the Knicks somehow have any leverage.
Mitchell has stayed quiet as well. It's not like he's out there demanding this or that. I'm sure they communicate every little detail with him, and have told him if he's patient he'll get what he wants. Rose will cave eventually because he has to. At this point he has no choice but the close this deal.
There's more than one leverage in any negotiation so your assertion that Ainge has it but fail to recognize the other party having leverage is flawed analysis.
Ainge can't get what no team in the league is offering, right now the Knicks have what Ainge wants and no other team has that. This is called leverage, it's not an either/or, all one none for the other type of scenario, there's multiple forms of it and different parties at the negotiating table have certain aspects of it so it just depends on who can leverage their own to get a better deal.
Sure Ainge has the 'star' but he doesn't have the luxury of time, Mitchell isn't locked in for 4 years, it's 3 and then Mitchell can leave and Ainge loses him for nothing. Well, he can just trade him before then you may say. If Mitchell tells the media and other teams he's only signing with the Knicks, which is possible, then teams won't give up the offer Ainge craves...he lost value by waiting.
What if Mitchell blows out a knee half way through the season? There goes most of the contract time Ainge thought he had to peddle right after DM helped the team win too many games to be in the running for Wemby. Not to mention a undersized SG who's game is predicated on athleticism now has health question marks. I don't wish injury on anyone but it's a risk Ainge is taking.
Mitchell has been quiet? There already was a report he was concerned about the direction of the franchise and what do you think Ainge told him? If Ainge said we're dealing you then goes back on that promise he's a snake and Mitchell might not be as silent anymore. If Mitchell gets noisy calling out Ainge publicly he now has a messier situation while trying to work a deal.
Do you think the Jazz told Mitchell when he was negotiating the extension that they were going trade for assets, cut his best friend and tank for the duration of his contract right as he's entering his prime years? I doubt it, so if they said one thing and are doing another they lied to him and he might get noisy about that. How would that look to other players if they treat their 'star' this way? Not a good look at all.
Right now his value is at an all time high and the market is ripe for him to get a nice haul because there's a team that wants him that he wants and that team has the assets Ainge desires. But it's not an open ended time frame, it's this summer, as soon as the season begins some of that ripe market starts to rot away and it can get worse from here, it's unlikely to get better for offers.
So Ainge has pressure on him to make a deal before the season meaning the Knicks have another leverage to ply knowing he doesn't want to let this drag out with the potential for decreasing value much higher than they would probably admit publicly but know privately....and the Knicks know it, too. If he gets too greedy he might wind up costing the franchise assets because he's getting too cute.
We can ask who has more pressure to get the deal done and that's matter of opinion. The media will tell us it's the Knicks because they are the ones putting pressure on them but you think Rose give a crap what the media says or thinks? Bah! The fans will be upset if the media tells them nonstop for months the Knicks are getting Mitchell and it doesn't happen but the Garden will be packed opening night anyway.
So you may want to reassess your simplistic view that Ainge has all the leverage because he has the star and the Knicks have none because they don't. It's not that simple.
Surprises me that so many people think that no one else wants a 25 year old star. There are many possibilities for Utah to get the draft picks they want by involving additional teams in the trade. It's still July. Ainge really doesn't have any pressure on him at all right now. Who is pressuring him? Jazz fans? No. Ownership? I can't imagine they are. Who else is putting pressure on Ainge? He's chillin knowing he has a very valuable piece that's going to land him a boatload of assets when he finds the right deal. He still has three months to negotiate with teams. Anyone and everyone associated with the Jazz are not putting pressure on Ainge at all. It's the exact opposite. They're all telling him to hold out until he gets the best deal. Take a look at the KD situation. That one is actually bad, because the player demanded out (which Mitchell has never said anything at all about wanting to leave). There is a huge difference, and yet Brooklyn is still in the drivers seat with KD. They can wait it out until they get the right deal (which is exactly what they're doing). Does Phx or Mia have the leverage in the KD talks? Obviously not. And that situation is 10 times worse than Mitchell, as Mitchell has been a good soldier. Until he comes out and says 'I want a trade to Knicks only, the Knicks don't have leverage.
Otoh, Rose has a TON of pressure on him to get Mitchell to NY. The media frenzy about this move is out of control. The fallout will be huge if Rose doesn't get this done. Most people around the Knicks are already assuming a deal is coming, and we're getting a young star. If we don't get him, the media and most of the NY fans are not going to be happy with a Brunson led team, after almost getting a 25 year old star who is from NY. Rose would get killed if this doesn't happen now.
If the trade talk and analysis of the potential trade didn't blow up to ridiculous proportions, Rose would have been okay if we didn't land DMitch. But now he MUST land him. I don't know how people can't see this.
I'm really struggling to understand the concept that the Knicks are the ones in the driver's seat here. Ainge doesn't even have to trade him at all. They can let this go into the season by telling everyone that they're going to wait it out until the get the best offer. Why in the F would anyone in Utah have an issue with that? If RJ wanted out, would you want the Knicks to take the fastest deal just to get rid of him fast, or hold out until you get the best offer? It's common sense to me.
Are you intentionally being obtuse or thinking that others don't see you constructing a straw man to argue against? Who said nobody wants Mitchell? I sure didn't, I haven't seen others say it, maybe it's the voices on your head you are arguing with.
What people are saying is the Knicks have what Ainge wants, more than anyone else has and there aren't a bunch of teams rushing around trying to offload assets to get picks to try to trade for him if it were even possible to get the unprotected first round picks that are what Ainge wants.
The Knicks can one up just about any offer right now and even down the road, there aren't teams with the draft capital the Knicks have and few can even get it in hopes to compete with the Knicks offers. How many teams will gut their roster just for a hope and a prayer at a chance for a trade?
The Jazz mislead or blatantly lied to Mitchell when he signed that contract and Ainge probably told him he'd trade him so if he doesn't he's misleading him, too. You think Mitchell's camp won't get this out to the public? You think he won't publicly demand a trade if it doesn't happen this summer?
The offers won't magically go up for Ainge out of nowhere, they aren't there and doesn't look like they ever will come so if he doesn't move Mitchell the likelihood is the opportunity to get the most he possibly could probably evaporates, not increases.
Rose won't have 'fallout' for not caving into Ainge's every whim, the voice in your head is mistaken. The media doesn't enforce their narrative on reality so their frenzy to loknicks will come no matter what Rose does and he will not panic into making a franchise crippling deal just to placate a toxic media.
If some other team does gut their roster or by whatever means gets the 6-7 picks most unprotected, group of young players and no bad contracts to land Mitchell good for them and good luck trying to compete after sending so much in assets just to get the deal done. I'll be glad the Knicks didn't do it.
It really does seem like the voices in your head and the media are saying the same exact thing...you may want to stop listening to both of them because neither are accurate.
But how many times do we have to keep repeating the same thing?
