Skybox wrote:R-DAWG wrote:Skybox wrote:
Pretty close to a dream summer for me...I'd probably explore the FA market for a solid bench vet before I re-up Ingles...I love the guy, but he's really not contributing much at this point and he won't be any younger next season. Magic might have the mojo to be attractive to one of those guys who, historically, run to LAL, etc.
What numbers are you projecting on Hartenstein? I don't see him leaving the Knicks unless it's an overpay in the $20MM per year range.
My understanding is...(Katz on KFS) “The Knicks are allowed to offer Hartenstein up to 175% of his current salary [$14.3M base + $1.8M in bonuses], but…if someone offers 3Y $65M, the Knicks can’t match it.”...so, imo, we may not be talking about an overpay - more like fair market value: Plus, ORL has enough cap space to front-load it and have a descending deal that gets even better right around the time the rookie extensions kick in....I would think 4yrs x $18m would get him away from NY, but I'm not sure who else might be bidding. I think I like Claxton as a better fit - but he's likely getting overpaid or SnT. NYK can't even do a SnT, since they can't sign him to a fair deal....ORL could, conceivably get Monk and Hartenstein on straight-up free agent signings without giving up any assets or existing players. Having WCJ as a backup at 5/4 would be a great luxury and, maybe at some point, a trade chip. Monk's not my favorite, but he's a really good fit too...all of this is dependent on which cap teams might be in the running for Hartenstein and create a bidding war. I don't see the fit for other cap space teams for Monk.
ORL should have plenty of explorable directions for significant improvement. The FO should be commended for putting themselves in such a strong offseason position...they should also be run out of town if they sit on their thumbs and wave the "organic internal development flag" while ORL falls off of the elevator and onto the treadmill.
Can NY still offer I-Hart 7.5% annual raises and/or a 5th year - things you can only offer your own free agents. If that's the case, NY can offer a 4 year, $72MM deal which averages $18MM per year. Sure they can't front load it but, coming from a Knicks fan, as good as I-Hart has been i'm not sure how excited I am paying him $20MM per year. Feels like the kind of guy at those numbers where you can replace 75% of his production for 50% of the cost.