Offseason Thread Continued - Atlanta Got Crabbes and We're Panicking

[dakomish23]

I get what you're saying but who on this team do you see rising to the Derozan Lowry levels? These were two of probably the top 25 players in the NBA last year.

Frank Ntlikina. This is going to be his breakout year! IT REALLY IS!

That's a joke right? haha. Frank is trash.

[sol537]

Let's say we don't get any big free agents.

Let's then say Perry can swing a deal or two (similar to Atlanta) to take on salary for assets.

At that point, I'm willing to keep Mitch, Knox, RJ, and Frank as the young core. Dotson and Trier can be kept around, sure. Mario on a 1-year deal is fine too. Vonleh on a 1-year too. I'm not a huge DSJr fan so I'd look to deal him for a better fitting piece (PG or PF).

We could sign additional 1-year guys and try to find some steals in the draft again. It's not a bad process at all. Fight for the playoffs while the young guys develop and continue to add assets ala salary dumps. I wouldn't hate it. Could be fun.

[K_ick_God]

Not sure but him going to NY seems like big news. Means either the MRI is not clear or he will get surgery in NY.

Maybe the latter but then I expect to hear that the MRI shows a tear soon.

[Capn'O]

I get what you're saying but who on this team do you see rising to the Derozan Lowry levels? These were two of probably the top 25 players in the NBA last year.

Also helps when your GM fleeces everyone, then uses the winnings in previous fleeces to fleece other teams for a bigger piece.

DeRozan is the comp that people throw around for Barrett all the time. Hard to say yet without seeing him in the NBA but he can get to that level. We can look to next year's draft for our Lowry as it is another one with a lot of points. Mitch is a very good piece. VERY good. Just a few weeks ago he was untouchable. Now that people came to accept the AD trade, he's basura again? Nah. And we still have our picks + others going forward. We can acquire others.

And yes - we need management that doesn't get reamed time and time again. That would help a lot. Somebody who understands the mechanics of incremental building like Masai. Perry... may...

I've seen the RJ Derozan comps. Let's hope that's the floor.

How long have we waited for a PG? We finally draft one then barely play him

Folks here saying Mitch is trash? That's seems crazy even for a Knicks fan.

I know I've said it a few times so don't mean to be that guy, but I really think the FO did the best they could considering the situation, even if the are responsible for creating the problem. That gives me some. Players get injured. Lottery picks are generated by a machine. But if you can agree that they're taking the right approach, there's reason for optimism that things will go in your favor.

I had absolutely no confidence in Mills but yes - Perry has played his chips well so far. There are going to be a lot of voices deciding what to do now and we just have to hope the ones that prevail continue the level headed approach we've seen recently.

[Stannis]

we can still accomplish acquiring future assets and rebuilding why letting KD rehab. I still think this is a possibility. And a risk that might be worth taking.

But there is no rehabbing this type of injury. We are not signing 'KD'. That 'KD' doesn't exist anymore. What you're signing is a washed up player who you hope can give you 50% of what that old player was. I don't think most realize how bad this injury is what it means. Would you give Bogdanovic the max? Cause that's the level of player KD is now.

If this comes out that it’s a strained Achilles or partial tear then you need to woosah cuz that KD would still be able to come back.

Did you see that zoomed-in slowmo? It really looked like you could see his whole achillies roll up to his calf.

[taj2133]

Not sure but him going to NY seems like big news. Means either the MRI is not clear or he will get surgery in NY.

Maybe the latter but then I expect to hear that the MRI shows a tear soon.

Probably he wants to hangout kyrie irving in nyc after the mri.

[N8isScofield]

I get people looking at the Raptors as a model for where we want to get to but I feel like everyone is ignoring just how fortunate they've been. If LeBron were still in the East there's no guarantee they'd be in the Finals. If KD and the rest of the injured Warriors were healthy they'd be a footnote to a three peat. The idea that they're some extraordinary feat of team building is a bit of a stretch. They're the convergence of some good moves and a whole bunch of luck in one season.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

If I were king of the forest, I would have been taking on salary with draft picks a long time ago with this team. I am not.

[..]

Yes - the FO decisions all appear so disconnected.


Vonleh, Mudiay & Hezonja for $12m. You could have used that space to try to do something. Kanter 18m. Maybe tradeable?

[Noah 18m. I still don't understand why/how the FO have fallen out so badly with 4 centres over the past year and a half, and why they couldn't salvage something from Noah. But that's a different and much discussed story.]

I can't buy the happy lovey get in good with agents and players stuff. How does it help? You give some guys a contract - but if not them then someone else gets them.

So, one way to paint the story is that maybe last off-season the FO thought that the team would be a lot better than they in fact turned out to be - that they'd be a few games out of the playoff spots come late-February/early-March and KP would come back and pull them in to 7th/8th seed. Then him and (a better version of) Hardaway could get some playoff experience - with the help of Kanter, Lee and some of the one year guys actually playing significantly, and then this summer sign a FA into the cap space created by stretching Noah to get a partner for KP and have (the better) Hardaway at a 3rd string - and maybe have space to resign Kanter or one of the one year players - or some other intermediate level player. And all the while develop Knox & Frank and hope something came of Dotson, Trier and Mitch.

But then they had a much worse team than they thought/hoped they would have and so those decisions, particularly over Vonleh, Mudiah, Hezonja and Kanter don't seem to make much sense.

So then the question would be why was the team so much worse than anticipated? Obviously that's some mixture of players not performing as well as expected/hoped, the coaching and the evaluations of the FO not being accurate?realistic? But seeing how that whole story could fit together is tricky.

[thebuzzardman]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Knicks need to hire the entire Grant Hill era Phoenix Sun medical team and training staff

[ADeP7]

So if Durant were to get the max 4 years from Knicks. And we go and grab a couple 1 year deals. You keep the youth going. You keep a max slot open for 2020. You get to develop young guys and potentially strike gold in the lotto.

Depending on what comes out about the Achilles. It’s not the worst idea

[thebuzzardman]

Some really sad Knicks fans on this board. We committed to a rebuild last year all of sudden it KD or bust, it busted and now we're trashing our young talent.

Yes the Knicks won't be good but they will improve. We have a solid front office.

We should build to be good enough where free agent will help us as oppose to saving us.

To be fair, there's a contingent on here that bashes some, or all of the young players, all the time, anyway.

Like, it's a default setting.

[F N 11]

Read on Twitter

Say it louder for the people in the back Jalen

Exactly what I said

[Traveyknicks23]

Some really sad Knicks fans on this board. We committed to a rebuild last year all of sudden it KD or bust, it busted and now we're trashing our young talent.

Yes the Knicks won't be good but they will improve. We have a solid front office.

We should build to be good enough where free agent will help us as oppose to saving us.

To be fair, there's a contingent on here that bashes some, or all of the young players, all the time, anyway.

Like, it's a default setting.

Nah they get rightly criticized

[Blockwatcher]

Knicks rob Nets , Sign D Rus and RHJ

[WargamesX]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Knicks need to hire the entire Grant Hill era Phoenix Sun medical team and training staff

Or you know not sight a player coming off an Achilles tear to a Max contract.....

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

Durant mom is mad at the warriors look at her tweet.

Read on Twitter

Notice the W is capitalized in Warrior

It's pretty clear that what she is really saying is "ALL DON'T LOVE ALL" (the block caps words written backwards). That's obviously saying the rest of the Warriors don't love her brave warrior.

[K_ick_God]

Hear me out, I just had a thought. Minor epihany or just some food for thought.

One of the reasons that AD apparently has the Knicks on his list over Boston is that we take care of players and are pro-player.

So if all 3 guys are still inclined to come, maybe you do go forward with it on the following:

1. You build on the pro-player rep and keep the plan of the Big 3 in place exactly as is.
2. KD gets the Max even with his tear.
3. Kyrie comes with AD and KD and with the first two, KD can do much less. You may have enough scoring with just those 2.
4. Sure it limits your cap flexibility for other pieces, but that's the price you pay.
5. KD comes back on his own timetable and maybe for the 2020 playoffs.
6. KD can be a complementary piece and come back slowly as the Knicks win some games, which they will.
7. Even more so, you have to keep some of the young guys now in an AD trade. Maybe even angle to keep Knox and instead give up other pieces if possible.
8. If you can't you still go ahead with KD and Kyrie and then just wait out AD and figure out how to sign him in 2020. AD will want to join now even more, because we're doing a solid to Kyrie and KD (you know what I mean). You basically put your eggs in the 2020-21 championship run. But you'll win games in 2019-20 and wait on KD.

[Dave DaButcher]

We cannot bemoan that which we never had.

Alas, now shifting focus from the 2019 free agent class to the 2020 draft class...

[JBreezeNY]

But there is no rehabbing this type of injury. We are not signing 'KD'. That 'KD' doesn't exist anymore. What you're signing is a washed up player who you hope can give you 50% of what that old player was. I don't think most realize how bad this injury is what it means. Would you give Bogdanovic the max? Cause that's the level of player KD is now.

If this comes out that it’s a strained Achilles or partial tear then you need to woosah cuz that KD would still be able to come back.

Did you see that zoomed-in slowmo? It really looked like you could see his whole achillies roll up to his calf.

Yea I peeped, the one thing giving me hope is he was able to flex his ankle. You can’t do that if your Achilles is torn.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

Lottery picks are generated by a machine.

Incorrect. Lottery picks are hand-crafted by the Silver Lord. taj told us so and, for once, I absolutely believe him.