Despite the impressive, necessary, risky and costly steps taken by Donnie to clear enough cap space this summer for 2 max guys, I’m still not one for thinking that Lebron is coming to New York. Still don’t think Wade is coming. Bosh, maybe. Joe Johnson, maybe.
Are Bosh and Johnson max players? I don’t think so. Maybe they are 4/5th’s of a max contract, but not totally maxed out guys. It’s taken a heck of a surrounding cast to get either Bosh or Johnson to really shine this season, and the Knicks being maxed out would make surrounding them with a solid cast next to impossible.
Will all 4 of these guys get max money? Probably. There are a lot of teams that cleared a lot of cap room, and after these 4 guys there aren’t too many good players to spend the money on. This might be the last time for a team to splurge before the lockout happens.
Is it a disaster if the Knicks don’t sign one of these 4 dudes? My initial feeling was yes, but the more I think about it, I’m inclined to say no because there is some incredible flexibility to be had with $32 mil to spend. Next year we’ll have Gallinari, Chandler, Douglas as potential core players returning. To be optimistic for once, lets say Spanish Chocolate fits in really well, and lets say McGrady shines. We can pay Chocolate $3 mil, and McGrady $7 mil. Clearly we need a center. Looking over this list, maybe Jermaine O’Neal or Camby at $5 mil per is reasonable. Also, while I’ve soured on Lee big time, we could bring him back at $9 mil per. That’s $24 mil spent on 4 solid players that actually fit the roster. Why not pick up Manu Ginobili for $6 mil, too?
Our roster could look like this next year: Gallo, Chandler, Lee, Douglas, McGrady, Sergio, JO, Gino. Pretty solid. But, maybe not what Walsh or Knicks fans have in mind.
#1 by AY on February 20, 2010 - 12:47 pm
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Bosh and Johnson will get the max for sure. With both of them we’d be pretty good.
If we strike out with the top 4, I think that we’re going to roll over and try for 2011 (Carmelo, Tony Parker, Chris Paul I think). Maybe we overpay a couple guys on mega-sized one-year deals. T-Mac and Camby for 1-year each at 10 million. Sort of like the Duhon short-term deal. I think we’d use some of the room on a building block or two (like Sergio) and then rent some dudes and try again. The big problem is that we’d have Houston’s pick, so we wouldn’t have the draft going for us.
The only way we really screw ourselves is if we go Dumars and overpay for guys like Lee and Gay and proceed to suck for years and years.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the back-up plan roster would be playoff-caliber Miik. There isn’t much of a back-up plan, that’s why this is so risky!
#2 by AY on February 21, 2010 - 9:04 pm
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The 1st game with T-Mac, Sergio, and House was awesome (except for the result)!
T-Mac looks pretty freakin’ great! Maybe lacks a bit of explosion, but he’s so big and smooth. If he keeps playing like this, some team would give him a short-term deal for some serious money. It sounds like he’d stay for a discount. I hope he sticks with that after some team offers him the mid-level or whatever. Very promising!
Sergio is exactly what I’d hoped for – a penetrating quick tricky point guard with a great handle and passing skills. He’ll put up sick numbers in D’antoni’s system. I can even see him as the starter next year, certainly as a back-up. We’ve found our pg, and he’s fun as hell to watch!
House fits in great. I was never a fan of his game but he really does flourish in D’antoni ball. He should stick around for the minimum or close to it next year.
If House is around though, does Douglas fit in? I think we’ll keep him, as he ought not to make that big a difference salary-wise. I wish we’d stop playing Duhon and give his mins to Douglas.
Overall, this trade looks like it might become the beginning of a great new era! Even before July!
#3 by AY on February 23, 2010 - 5:26 pm
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I was at the game last night and it was atrocious. The highlight was the sound effect “Oh-oh, Sergio-o!” on the two baskets Rodriguez scored. That was about it. On the bright side, Duhon didn’t see a single minute. His time has passed!