NoDopeOnSundays wrote:Knicksfan1992 wrote:I've been having a sneaking suspicion that Deuce could be on the move for either a real upgrade or a positional re-shuffling of the deck on the bench. Maybe not this transaction cycle but this off season or the following deadline may be a good time to move him.
He's a low-salary younger player on a long term deal. He's inarguably our best young asset. There's no pathway to him starting any time soon unless you think he should start over Hart. He's going to be tough to re-sign because he'll be in a similar situation to Hartenstein I believe. (cap nerds can fact check me there I might be wrong
). We also have plenty of suitable replacements at PG with Cam Payne and Kolek chomping at the bit to get PT.
Deuce, while a nice player, is an undersized 2 guard who can't really operate in pick and roll because he doesn't have the greatest handle nor is he a great passer. Ideally, he's the starting point guard on a team with a jumbo initiator like Detroit with Cade or Dallas with Luka for instance. With the Knicks, I feel like he's in the same quandary that IQ was in. Where he's unquestionably a starter level player in the NBA IMO but, with this team and how it's constructed he's never going to progress passed 6th man. Also he’s not exactly a guy who can just take the reigns of the offense when Brunson is off the floor so you need another halfcourt initiator out there with him hence why the Knicks were after Tyus Jones this summer before settling on Payne.
Deuce and Mitch gets you to approximately 19-20 million. Some targets I find interesting at around that number around the league:
Lonzo Ball
Marcus Smart
Nikola Vucevic
Myles Turner
Norm Powell
Jakob Poeltl
Keldon Johnson
They're not trading Deuce, he's too valuable in terms of contract relative to performance. He's basically giving you Bruce Brown impact for 1/4th the price, with the apron rules that is just too valuable to toss in for a non-starter.
I've come to the conclusion they're going to move Hart to the bench, at which point he becomes the primary playmaker and gives Deuce a larger playmaker to play off of. Also, I just don't see us doing 2 for 1 trade, we don't have enough depth to give up 2 players for 1.
I somewhat agree with the take that Deuce could start for Hart. He brings different elements that the starting lineup lacks. Problem is you may have a rebounding problem without Hart starting and our defense at baseline is probably not good enough to withstand leaking offensive rebounds on top of it. I'm not as high on Deuce's defense as others are either although it probably helps get Mikal and OG guarding the right types of players. I also just think Hart is too good at this point not to start. He, IMO, has been our 3rd best player this season. His impact metrics are off the charts good.
You could also do a 2 for 2 trade too with Deuce and Mitch if we're worried about depth. Just to be clear I'm not necessarily advocating for them but they may make some sense for a shakeup. Some examples that may work (these probably need more proofreading or small salary fillers around the edges):
Kessler + Clarkson (a lot of diff combos work with the Jazz which is why i'm guessing the Knicks were sniffing around this summer)
Stewart + Beasley
Gary Harris + Bitadze
Valanciunas + Bey/Kispert
Deni + Duop Reath
Mann + Dunn
Warriors have a ton of mix/match options (Payton, Moody, Kuminga, Hield, Looney, Slowmo all are in that 5-10 range)
Same with the Sixers although most of their players are trash lol
RIP mags
