Knicks' Plan B in case we can't sign Novak = Anthony Tolliver
The Post is reporting that the Knicks have interest in Anthony Tolliver as a possible backup plan in case Novak gets too expensive to re-sign.
Tolliver is an intriguing low cost plan B option. He's a much more physical & better rebounder/defender than Novak is, & he can also knock down an open 3. Any thoughts on this guy?
Novak isn't exactly a banger in the paint either. Don't get me wrong I would much rather have Novak, but if some team offers him the full MLE we're probably not going to match it (because of the luxury tax ramifications & what other moves the Knicks are trying to pull off right now).
Grunwald is starting to piss me off .... Lin, Fields, and Novak contract negotiation shouldve been ready to sign at 9 o'clock am July 1st.
Letting the next NBA team tell us our players worth remind me of a movie where a Billionair offered a man a million dollars to sleep with his wife.
Miami Heat had to put Lebron or D.Wade to defend Steve Novak throughout the playoff series to keep Novak from lighting a fire in both stadium. The Miami Heat would give us 3 players (Cole, Miller, and Anthony) for just Steve Novak.
Is Grunwald a IDIOT?
How the hell can u not know the worth of 3 players that co-exist well on both ends of the court 100 times better than Tyson/Stat/Melo???
We suppose to keep Lin/Fields/Novak together...
SF-Novak is a peremeter KEEPER who boxout well for defensive-rebound .... Jorts, Jordan, Stat, and Tyson are our BANGERS....
Novak performance graded a B+ in regular season, and a B in the playoffs .. Novak passed the ball when defended tight by Lebron/D.Wade rather than shoot 3-15 like JR.Smith being defended by Charmers in the playoffs.
I'm not sure about Tolliver. Yeah he's serviceable but he had a subpar season last yr for the Wolves -- shot only 39% overall, 25% from 3 and is only a 32% 3-pt shooter for his career. That ain't great considering the one thing this guy's known for is his 3-pt shooting. I think we could do better.
The best veteran 'stretch 4' guys out there appear to be Ilyasova, Ryan Anderson, Boris Diaw and Donte Greene. Not sure if any of these guys are in our price range though. Of these 4 Greene intrigues me the most -- youth, upside, and he might come the cheapest.
If they're willing to think outside the box a little, I'd look at some of the cheap/undiscovered talent that's out there. First and foremost, if Novak bolts, I'd look to get the most consistent 3-pt shooter out there to replace him. It'll be hard considering Novak was the NBA's best 3-pt shooter last year percentage-wise, but that should be the goal. What further complicates the situation is that we don't have a helluva lot of money to spend on a replacement. A couple of guys I'd look at if I were Grunwald and co. are former Cornell star Ryan Wittman and former VCU PF Jamie Skeen. At 6'7" 210 Wittman's a SF not a 4 but regardless, I believe he's every bit the shooter Novak is, he just needs an NBA team to finally give him a shot to start proving it (my bet is it'll be the Wizards -- his father Randy's the head coach there). This guy might be the best outside shooter in the world not currently playing in the NBA. I think he's that good. And Skeen's an interesting PF prospect that went undrafted outta VCU the season before last. 6'9" 240, he can score in the post, rebound a little bit (much better than Novak) and he really improved his 3-pt shooting his senior yr at VCU (over 40%). He looks a little slow, is definitely not that explosive and doesn't appear to be the most athletic guy out there (it might be a conditioning issue--he looks a little on the thick side) but I think he could be effective off our bench in a reserve role. The man's got a lot of versatility to him, esp. offensively. He's got requisite PF size and a fairly complete inside/outside scoring game..We should invite this guy to summer league.
Some other hidden gems I'd look at to fill a 'stretch 4' role: DaJuan Summers, DeShawn Sims, Brandon Costner, Adrian Thomas (he's pretty much a 3 not a 4 but he's a great shooter--I could picture him filling a Shawne Williams role here for us--better shooter than Shawne probably), Wayne Chism...I'd also continue to encourage and work with Josh Harrellson with his 3-pt shooting. There's some nice untapped potential there with this guy as a perimeter threat. He showed enough of it last yr where I think it's for real. Now it's up to the Knicks to develop that aspect of his game to the fullest.
Last edited by finestrg; Jul 03, 2012 at 16:06.
For the right price -- i.e., our minnie exception contract -- he would be great.
Has some upside, and he actually played very well last year when he got more minutes and was filling in for injured players.
Can defend three positions, versatile. Given the health concerns of both Amare and Chandler, and that Novak is really a SF....be a shrewd move.
Ryan Anderson will garner a full MLE offer somewhere at least, we won't be able to match it. Boris Diaw is a guy I would welcome too & is a good plan B option if we miss out on Novak. I think he could probably be had for the mini MLE, but the Knicks seem determined to find either a fill in for Shump or a backup PG with that money. We might be stuck looking at veteran's minimum candidates if some team comes in & steals Novak away from us with a crazy offer. Donte Green is a worse 3 pt shooter than Tolliver is statistically.
I'm aware of the type of player Novak is. Like I said the Knicks are letting the market dictate Novak & Lin's pricetags, & they both might be priced out of our range depending on what other teams offer them (backloaded contracts & such). We all love both those guys & everyone including me hopes we can hold onto both, but we have to be smart about this, can't just match any ridiculous offer they get with no thought whatsoever of the future ramifications of doing so.
Tolliver is a serviceable player. I know he's not nearly the 3 pt shooter that Novak is but he also brings other things to the table. Even as an addition to Novak, I wouldn't mind signing this guy to our roster. Would be sort of a poor man's JYD. Do a little of all the dirty work & isn't afraid to mix it up with guys on defense (that poster of Amar'e on him was simply nasty, but guys like Novak don't get posterized because they don't stick their nose in on defense to even be in that position either).
Lol I don't think Tolliver would want to be on the same team as STAT. Probably still has nightmares.
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