Knicks Free Agency Thread - Non-Melo

With free agency on the verge of being in full swing, I thought we could do a thread for all the non-Melo free agency rumors and news (I didn't see one already).

I'm sure a lot of people read the rumors about the Knicks pursuing Pau Gasol with their paltry 3 million plus available for a deal. If this is true, this seems like a zen master heat check for PJ. If he can get Gasol to come here for pennies on the dollar, then he pretty much can do almost anything based on his personal pull. If this somehow happened, I can't see Melo leaving. We'd have an ideal (but also old) perfect foundation for the triangle with Gasol and Calderon as the anchors. A lineup of Melo, Gasol, and Calderon along with some combination of Dalembert, Stat, Shump, and THJ is formidable, although injury prone.

Ric Bucher tweeted a story about the Raptors and Heat agreeing on a SnT deal for Kyle Lowry and then retracted it on Twitter.

That Gasol rumor is another bogus story though I think we could give him a full MLE deal if we waive Dalembert and the cap goes to 63.2M in July as expected and we don't resign Melo. If we gave Pau a multi year MLE deal he might come but 3M for a guy that scored 17ppg and got 10rpg is ridiculous.

Going to be a lot of rumors with the most exciting off-season in quite a while but the rule should be if Woj of Yahoo doesn't Tweet or write about it, it's not official.

tiger0330 said:

Ric Bucher tweeted a story about the Raptors and Heat agreeing on a SnT deal for Kyle Lowry and then retracted it on Twitter.

Going to be a lot of rumors with the most exciting off-season in quite a while but the rule should be if Woj of Yahoo doesn't Tweet or write about it, it's not official.

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Rich Bucher has been a total debacle of a reporter since the Kobe-Laker "I'm Not Playing Another Game For The Lakers Ever" saga. He's never recovered and has whiffed on so many reports since then. Now we're in the Twitterverse and he's even more exposed than ever. Hence he's no longer a true ESPN staple anymore and works as an affiliate of the GSW and Bleacher I believe. Dude's a major hack and 1

I see no harm in discussing rumors, even if they are clearly premature or predominately bogus. I think Kyle Lowry going to the Heat would overall be good for us because it would be a major blow to the Raptors, even if it helps the Heat and they retain Lebron. We have to focus on being the best team in the Atlantic before we worry too much about becoming a top team in the East overall. Now that we've gotten a taste of what PJ can do in the draft, I'm glad we didn't blow a 1st round pick and/or Shump or THJ trying to get Lowry ourselves as a half-year rental for a no-go team.

htr10 said:

I see no harm in discussing rumors, even if they are clearly premature or predominately bogus. I think Kyle Lowry going to the Heat would overall be good for us because it would be a major blow to the Raptors, even if it helps the Heat and they retain Lebron. We have to focus on being the best team in the Atlantic before we worry too much about becoming a top team in the East overall. Now that we've gotten a taste of what PJ can do in the draft, I'm glad we didn't blow a 1st round pick and/or Shump or THJ trying to get Lowry ourselves as a half-year rental for a no-go team.

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It may end up being true...at the same time there's no need for Bucher to be premature when it's his job to have air tight sources. I actually believe it has a strong chance of happening but let's keep in mind Bucher wasn't the first to break potential interest between the 2 parties.

Bucher also stated in the same instance that by the Heat trio opting out it would allow for Bosh's return to Toronto? So are you going to believe that part of his premature story too? Would Bosh's return hurt the Raptors or help? Raptors are also rumored to be interested in Trevor Ariza with or without Lowry, would that hurt or help the Raptors? They have almost $20mil in cap space without resigning Lowry and are major players in the mix this summer's FA coup.

We can't pick and choose what we want to believe or what we hope happens....ignoring other potential variables out there. Back to the main point Bucher along with other members of the media need to do a better job presenting/breaking stories bottom line.

3G4G said:

It may end up being true...at the same time there's no need for Bucher to be premature when it's his job to have air tight sources. I actually believe it has a strong chance of happening but let's keep in mind Bucher wasn't the first to break potential interest between the 2 parties.

Bucher also stated in the same instance that by the Heat trio opting out it would allow for Bosh's return to Toronto? So are you going to believe that part of his premature story too? Would Bosh's return hurt the Raptors or help? Raptors are also rumored to be interested in Trevor Ariza with or without Lowry, would that hurt or help the Raptors? They have almost $20mil in cap space without resigning Lowry and are major players in the mix this summer's FA coup.

We can't pick and choose what we want to believe or what we hope happens....ignoring other potential variables out there. Back to the main point Bucher along with other member of the media need to do a better job presenting/breaking stories bottom line.

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Sorry, should clarify my comment. I meant no real harm for US to discuss rumors as if they are real news. There's lots of harm for the media to do it. Completely agree with what you said above.

So Phil wants to court Pau Gasol and pair him up with Melo but Pau released his team list today and it doesn't include the Knicks...

OKC
Chicago
GSW

and maybe the Lakers....Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!

3G4G said:

So Phil wants to court Pau Gasol and pair him up with Melo but Pau released his team list today and it doesn't include the Knicks...

OKC
Chicago
GSW

and maybe the Lakers....Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!

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Yeah, sounds like a no go from the start for Gasol. Latest Knicks free agency news I read today was that Toure Murry does NOT get a qualifying offer. Knicks can still sign him, but he seems like he is not a priority. I'm a bit disappointed, but I get that you can't go too crazy for a guy like him.

htr10 said:

Yeah, sounds like a no go from the start for Gasol. Latest Knicks free agency news I read today was that Toure Murry does NOT get a qualifying offer. Knicks can still sign him, but he seems like he is not a priority. I'm a bit disappointed, but I get that you can't go too crazy for a guy like him.

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I'd wager Masai would have extended the QO to Murry had he been on their roster. Then S&T if an offer were too rich and got back like a future 2nd round pick for him. I can understand letting Cole go but not Toure when you know there's potential interest out there. Phil's kind of fumblin stumblin a little. I think he did alright on the Dalls trade but he could have done a little more on draft night via trade. Chumpert should be gone end of story.

gmf1369 said:

Still head scratching, we are just above the hard cap: $3.4 M, which puts us just outside the chance to offer the Full MLE...

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Have to renounce Melo or trade Amar'e in order for us to take advantage of such luxury. What we do have is a TPE from the Dallas trade which should be right around this amount maybe slightly more. Of course we have to execute a trade(give up a pick more than likely) in order for it to be absorbed into player contract coming in.

Masai cutting off his nose to spite Riley's face.....lol

3G4G said:

I'd wager Masai would have extended the QO to Murry had he been on their roster. Then S&T if an offer were too rich and got back like a future 2nd round pick for him. I can understand letting Cole go but not Toure when you know there's potential interest out there. Phil's kind of fumblin stumblin a little. I think he did alright on the Dalls trade but he could have done a little more on draft night via trade. Chumpert should be gone end of story.

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Phil better have one or two block buster trades coming up soon that include a young PG and center.
To not let Toure' Murry challenge Shane Larkin for minutes at the point in the summer games are a bad decision on Phil's part.
I gave all 3 young-players "Toure', Tyler, and Cole" a pass to try-out in next seasons preseason games.

Question???
WTF!!!
Why none of the sports writers and none of the basketball analyst ever mention the Miami Heats salary-cap will become $2M, if the BIG-3 opt-out in the offseason?
The Heats 15-man roster are all free-agents in 2014! Except for PG-Norris Cole $2M per.
This offseason Pat Riley and D.Wade's recruiting crew will restructure the Miami Heats salary-cap for the next four to five years.
Pat Riley gets the NBA executive award!

WOW! there's about a hundred unrestricted FA on the market this offseason.
There's a lot of winning talent on the FA market.

Longtime stars Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol also are free agents, along with players such as Toronto's Kyle Lowry and Indiana's Lance Stephenson, who are coming off their best seasons in the league.
Players such as Cleveland's Luol Deng and Washington's Trevor Ariza could be good fallback options for teams who can't get James or Anthony.
Brooklyn has Pierce and Shaun Livingston among its key players who are free agents.

Gortat / Ariza / and restricted Isaiah Thomas

The FA

Just read that we're one of the teams that is going to talk with Wizards free agent PF Trevor Booker. Not actually the kind of move that makes a big splash, but he is probably in our price range. Likely someone else will grab him though instead of us.

Wade and Bosh just resigned for 12M (4 years) and 11M (5 years) respectively for 2014-15, with LeBron looking at 2-year deal at max money. W&B just gave up approx 10M each to keep the Big 3 alive, with possibility of acquiring a Big 4th. amazing how those cHeaters collude to allow Riley to pick up another big money player... Melo? Deng? Dong?

meanwhile back at the ranch, Amar'e and Bargnani said "show me the money", opted in for all they were due, and will let the chips fall where they may. what a difference. ce la vie with the stupid deals Grunwaldo and Dolan set up to keep Knicks' hands tied. How long ago was it Zeke Thomas tied the Knicks hands for years with stupid Eddy Curry deal? over and over, deja vu, lame players costing the Knicks half the salary cap.

Please Phil get us out of this rut. looks like 2014-15 will be last year of money woes and stupid deals, trades, etc. we can only hope and pray while the rest of the league gets better by leaps and bounds.

CoolClyde said:

Wade and Bosh just resigned for 12M (4 years) and 11M (5 years) respectively for 2014-15, with LeBron looking at 2-year deal at max money. W&B just gave up approx 10M each to keep the Big 3 alive, with possibility of acquiring a Big 4th. amazing how those cHeaters collude to allow Riley to pick up another big money player... Melo? Deng? Dong?

meanwhile back at the ranch, Amar'e and Bargnani said "show me the money", opted in for all they were due, and will let the chips fall where they may. what a difference. ce la vie with the stupid deals Grunwaldo and Dolan set up to keep Knicks' hands tied. How long ago was it Zeke Thomas tied the Knicks hands for years with stupid Eddy Curry deal? over and over, deja vu, lame players costing the Knicks half the salary cap.

Please Phil get us out of this rut. looks like 2014-15 will be last year of money woes and stupid deals, trades, etc. we can only hope and pray while the rest of the league gets better by leaps and bounds.

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Actually if you look at what Amar'e and Barg's did with a neutral hat on...had they opted out in good faith by us no way shape or form would I want them signed long term on cheaper deals. In our case which creates such a stark contrast to the Heat, the Heat have a proven formula that works except it was on a renewal cycle. They know if their top dogs take paycuts they can prolong their success.

Amar'e/Bargs/Melo will never win you anything even if they were all paid $35mil collectively.

Also if they opted out and we wouldn't resign them, well there's your answer as to why they didn't opt out. The onus is really on Carmelo and our organization.....under no circumstance to max him out and quite honestly we need to severe ties. We'll never win with him here especially if the Heat are going to take this route. Unless Melo was to take on a massive paycut, it has no shot of working irregardless.

The Heat/Bulls/Pacers are unfortunately in too great of position of strength to overcome right now, with others gaining rapidly. This is why Bosh/Wade are willing to take it there because even they have accurately assessed the rest of the landscape.


Here's hoping though, Lowry and Deng shove their nose up at the Heat in the meantime. Would love for those guys to get locked into deals cheap without an out while they get spurned in free agency. I'm sure there is some threshhold on timing.

CoolClyde said:

amazing how those cHeaters collude to allow Riley to pick up another big money player... Melo? Deng? Dong?.

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please explain how are they 'cheating'... enquiring minds want to know....

paris401 said:

please explain how are they 'cheating'... enquiring minds want to know....

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There is some cloudy merky language in the CBA touching on coercing players to act on a contract with a promise to provide future benefits, all for the gain of cap flexibility. Can it be proven what they are doing, have done...no but we all know it's bullcrap how they got together and the bullcrap will continue in order for them to stay together.

I'm hoping the Heat get Burned in the end.

lol @ Jodie Meeks and the Pistons deal

There are rumors Isiah Thomas may be offered 3yrs $24mil? YOWZA! There are rumors Lowry may receive $14.5mil first year starting salary from the Raptors.

This is just another reason I want to get younger and not have money tied up into a Relic such as Melo. A lockout is sure to come if this kind of stuff keeps up. Can you imagine if we had a lockout in 2017 and this dude is on the hook for $28mil? You all remember what happened the last lockout right? We had to be saved from a disastrous season by a waived player and a coach firing.

Here's a small excerpt from the deal that was agreed to in 2011

• Term of the contract is 10 years, with both the NBA and NBPA holding the ability to opt out after the sixth year.

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You best believe the owners and players are gonna exercise the opt out at this rate