Post#152 » by B8RcDeMktfxC » Sun Sep 20, 2020 9:45 pm
What should happen: Burn the boats at the beach
Frank, #27=a SG who can play some point (36, 12 or split 12 with one of the prospects or give RJ some of these minutes if you are feeling frisky)
Dot, Bullock (split the 48 between them together with the #27)
RJ, Iggy (32, 16)
Poku (#8 or trade down to where you can get him if that's possible), Knox (24,24 - depends on development)
Mitch, Wooten? (dgaf, could be Taj) (36,12)
5 best G-league prospects/2nd rounders you can find.
[important edit] Of course, if some other team will ship the bad contract of a player to whom you do not have to (morally speaking) give playing time along with picks of sufficient worth, then reduce the number of speculative prospects you employ.
Trade Jules for as much draft assets and no non-flippable contracts as you can and cut the rest. (obv trade Dennis for draft assets if someone will give you anything.)
Doesn't make 90% of the cap? Doesn't matter within the CBA rules. Everyone on the roster gets told this is the time to step up and show you can play in the NBA and a nice pay bump as a sign the management has confidence that they will.*
Thibs makes them work like hell. You tell them all you'll cut/ship them without remorse if they slack & there goes that nice salaryx2 or whatever. (But really that's only to give Kev the stick at the same time as the carrot.)
No one cares what the results are. Frank (groin permitting), Dot and RJ are bloody-minded enough to keep on fighting however bad the storm. The team wins 27 which is good enough for the #5 pick and moves up to #3 in the lottery.
* Teams with a team salary below the minimum are surcharged for their shortfall, with the money distributed among the players on that team. The determination of how the money is distributed is up to the players union. Most recently they have distributed a full share to players who had spent at least 41 games on the team's roster, and a half share to players who had spent 20 to 40 games on the team's roster.
But ... neither Thibbs nor Rose came here to do that.
So what will happen is something very akin to Frank+Jules for CP3 and some random small number of picks going in an arbitrary direction. Bertans or Gallo or .. some other stretch 4 signed in FA. #8 will be a shooting guard. Some higgledy-piggledy collection of vet FAs (possibly including Taj or Portis or .. basically almost any of last year) and the only young ones who get consistent minutes are RJ, #8 (probably) and Mitch (when not in foul trouble). The Knicks stagger to 34 wins and draft #11. CP3 tears his Achillesduring the last 3 games of the year, at a point far to late to help a tank, and spends 2021-2022 receiving $44m whilst in a sedentary position.
[edit] Also, sorry, I forgot, but I'm predicting the return of Melo. And him playing significant minutes off the bench.