Post#345 » by Mush Man » Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:47 pm
It's so easy to let a little bit of hope change your whole plan.
We had a plan. We should not let this short 500 streak change it.
if we have any long term thinking at all we will be trying to sell high(wish) right now on
Lee, O'Quinn and Thomas
Don't get me wrong, I really like all three players. I especially have been impressed with how good Lee is this year.
But all three need to go while they will bring something back. We're a surprise 500 team. All three of these guys have played well. There value can only go down from here.
There is a contest running on the trade board. There have been a number of trades that have scored points (5 people vote yes for both teams before 5 vote no) with the Knicks involved. Here are two I would pull the trigger on right now. Both of them scored solid yes's with voters including fans of the other team.
TRADE 1
Knicks - Courtney Lee, Kyle O'Quinn
New Orleans - Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, Frank Jackson, 2018 1st (Top 8 Protected)
Lands us a good 1st, plus an almost first (Jackson was the first pick of the second round this past draft) and saves us 8M with Asik's final year 3M buy out. Ask and Ajinca never see the floor opening up time for Hernangomez and even Noah (who we are never getting rid of, so we might as well let him teach hustle and smart unselfish play by example. Jackson and Frank get to grow together to be a decade long combo at PG. They might even be able to play a few minutes together once they are in their prime depending on their shooting.
TRADE 2
Knicks - Lance Thomas
Timberwolves: Cole Aldrich, 2018 MIN 2nd and right to swap Mia 2019 2nd with Least favorable of Orl/Cle/Hou 2019 2nd
We clear another 5M with Aldrich final year 2M buy out and get a really good second. Plus we open up even more playing time for young wings.
Yes, these trades end up with a bunch of centers in the 12-15 slots, but who cares - they need to be looked at as contracts, saving money and years, and not as players at this point.
After these two trades, you do everything possible to maximize Kanter's (and to some extent McDermott's) value to see if they might bring something at the trade deadline. Before the season I thought there was no way Kanter would be flippable, but now seeing that he is playing better D than advertised, and more importantly what a strong team guy he is, it gives me some hope that some team looking for a little offense at Center and a shot of team chemistry might make an offer.
Finally, I know this will be a minority opinion given how everyone is falling in love with his play this year, but if Hardaway is playing at all star level at the end of the trade deadline, we should sniff around to see if he can be flipped for a dead contract and a really good first (or someone picked in the lottery the last two seasons). Maybe a team with really poor history of being able to attract free agents (Phoenix, Charlotte, Sacramento, Utah, etc) might look at his deal as a real plus running almost the entire length.