Time to talk about 2015 FA market for the famous ZEN TANKING Knicks

In the 2015 offseason the Knicks will have half of this season 2014 salary cap ($62M), tied up in two contracts in the 2015-16 season: Melo $24M and Calderon $7M = $31M
(foolish move by the ZEN in 2014 offseason).
Knicks management are hoping the 2015-16 salary-cap increase to above $72M, to give the Knicks $40M to spend in the FA market to spend on 12 new players.

I don't know all the walking 2015 FA like Dalembert, Ray Allen, Nate Robinson, ect.
Here are a list of 2015 FA from NBA teams ....
Select the FA u like?

NEW YORK KNICKS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Quincy Acy
Alexey Shved
Travis Wear

Unrestricted
Cole Aldrich .. center
Lou Amundson .. SF
Andrea Bargnani
Shane Larkin
Jason Smith
Lance Thomas

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Carlos Boozer
Ed Davis (P)
Wayne Ellington
Jordan Hill (T) .. BIG
Wesley Johnson
Jeremy Lin
Steve Nash
Ronnie Price

ATLANTA HAWKS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Pero Antic

Unrestricted
Elton Brand
DeMarre Carroll
John Jenkins
Paul Millsap .. No chance

BOSTON CELTICS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Jae Crowder
Luigi Datome

Unrestricted
Brandon Bass
Jonas Jerebko
Shavlik Randolph

BROOKLYN NETS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Jerome Jordan
Mirza Teletovic

Unrestricted
Alan Anderson (P)
Brook Lopez (P)
Thaddeus Young (ETO) .. Big

CHARLOTTE HORNETS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Bismack Biyombo
Jeff Taylor

Unrestricted
Gerald Henderson (P)
Al Jefferson (P) .. Center
Jason Maxiell
Mo Williams .. PG

CHICAGO BULLS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Jimmy Butler .... SG

Unrestricted
Aaron Brooks .. PG
Mike Dunleavy
Kirk Hinrich (P)
Nazr Mohammed

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Matthew Dellavedova
Tristan Thompson
Iman Shumpert .. No chance

Unrestricted
LeBron James (P) .. No chance
James Jones
Kevin Love (P) .... dont want!
Shawn Marion
Mike Miller (P)
Timofey Mozgov (T) .. Center
Kendrick Perkins
J.R. Smith (P)

DALLAS MAVERICKS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Al-Farouq Aminu (P)
J.J. Barea .. PG
Tyson Chandler .... NO CHANCE
Monta Ellis (P) .... SG
Raymond Felton (P)
Richard Jefferson
Rajon Rondo .. PG
Greg Smith
Amar'e Stoudemire .... NO CHANCE
Charlie Villanueva

DENVER NUGGETS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Will Barton

Unrestricted
Darrell Arthur
Jameer Nelson (P)

DETROIT PISTONS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Reggie Jackson .. PG

Unrestricted
Joel Anthony
John Lucas III
Cartier Martin (P)
Greg Monroe .. Big
Tayshaun Prince
Shawne Williams

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Draymond Green .... BIG
Justin Holiday
Ognjen Kuzmic

Unrestricted
Leandro Barbosa
Brandon Rush (P)
Marreese Speights (T)

HOUSTON ROCKETS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Patrick Beverley ..PG
K.J. McDaniels

Unrestricted
Corey Brewer (P)
Josh Smith
Jason Terry

INDIANA PACERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Chris Copeland

Unrestricted
Lavoy Allen
Roy Hibbert (P) No chance
Luis Scola
Donald Sloan
Rodney Stuckey
C.J. Watson .. PG
David West (P) .. No chance

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Glen Davis
Dahntay Jones
DeAndre Jordan .. No chance
Hedo Turkoglu
Ekpe Udoh
Austin Rivers

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Nick Calathes

Unrestricted
Marc Gasol .. No chance
Jeff Green (P) .. SF
Kosta Koufos
Beno Udrih (P) .. No chance

MIAMI HEAT
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Goran Dragic (P)
Luol Deng (P)
Dwyane Wade (P) .. No Chance

MILWAUKEE BUCKS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Khris Middleton

Unrestricted
Jared Dudley (ETO)

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Robbie Hummel
Glenn Robinson III

Unrestricted
Chase Budinger (P)
Kevin Garnett
Gary Neal

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Norris Cole
Justin Hamilton
Jeff Withey

Unrestricted
Alexis Ajinca
Omer Asik .. Center
Luke Babbitt
Jimmer Fredette
Eric Gordon (P)

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Enes Kanter .. Big
Kyle Singler

Unrestricted
None

ORLANDO MAGIC
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Tobias Harris
Kyle O'Quinn

Unrestricted
Willie Green

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Henry Sims

Unrestricted
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
JaVale McGee
Jason Richardson
Thomas Robinson
Ish Smith

PHOENIX SUNS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Brandon Knight

Unrestricted
Danny Granger (P)
Gerald Green
Marcus Thornton
Brandan Wright

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Joel Freeland

Unrestricted
Arron Afflalo (P) .. SG
LaMarcus Aldridge .. No Chance
Steve Blake (P)
Alonzo Gee
Robin Lopez .. Rebounding BIG
Wesley Matthews .. SG
Dorell Wright

SACRAMENTO KINGS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Derrick Williams

Unrestricted
Omri Casspi
Reggie Evans
Rudy Gay
Ryan Hollins
Andre Miller

SAN ANTONIO SPURS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Aron Baynes
Cory Joseph
Kawhi Leonard

Unrestricted
Jeff Ayres
Marco Belinelli .. SG
Matt Bonner
Tim Duncan
Manu Ginobili
Danny Green

TORONTO RAPTORS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Landry Fields
Tyler Hansbrough .. Big
Chuck Hayes
Amir Johnson
Greg Stiemsma
Louis Williams

UTAH JAZZ
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
Ian Clark
Joe Ingles

Unrestricted
Jeremy Evans

WASHINGTON WIZARDS
2015 Free Agents
Restricted
None

Unrestricted
Rasual Butler
Drew Gooden
Paul Pierce (P)
Kevin Seraphin
Garrett Temple (P)

While I think you could throw a dart and hit a free agent that would be an upgrade to our current roster, I don't think any of the franchise-changing stars would be willing to come here this offseason. If we could get a couple young guys like Greg Monroe and Tobias Harris for reasonable contracts, then that would certainly make things more interesting to watch next year, however I think overpaying for any of those caliber guys is a huge mistake. Heck, maybe we just sign Jeremy Lin to a huge one year deal to make Dolan happy and then try again next offseason when maybe we aren't coming off a historical bad season and we have, hopefully, a lottery pick who just had a great rookie season.

Nice list Kiya. Thanks for putting in the work compiling it.

Cross Wes Matthews off the list. Season ending torn Achilles tendon, he was an often mentioned FA that could help the Knicks.

tiger0330 said:

Cross Wes Matthews off the list. Season ending torn Achilles tendon, he was an often mentioned FA that could help the Knicks.

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Yeah, tough luck for Matthews who probably had a chance to get overpaid this offseason because of teams like us. Personally, I'm glad he now should be off the table for us since I think a 2-guard whose primary skillset is to shoot a lot of 3-pointers at less than 40% is something you should be able to get for cheap in the current NBA.

I've given this a lot of thought... I'm at the point where I throw the money at Jimmy Butler.

1) The triangle most have that 2-way STUD at SG (MJ/Kobe).
2) About time we stick it to CHI (MJ owned us, the Curry trade, they tried to steal Melo).

It boiled down to Matthews, Leonard, or Butler. The injury to Wesley removes him from consideration. I preferred WM, b/c he was cheapest option. I would consider him a 5-7 mil a year... I do not think KL leaves SA. So, this leaves Butler.

I target Butler, B-Knight, then Al Jefferson (or Asik or Monroe).

Chicago holds all the cards on Butler. They can give him one more year, have the right to match and have said they would offer him a max deal. I don't see him leaving Chicago esp. with DRose's latest knee injury.

Let's see what Phil does, the team needs so many pieces that they may go for a number of 2nd tier players instead of marquee names but they need to bring in defensive players like Patrick Beverly.

Sam Spiegelman wrote we should be looking at these 5 PGs

1. Reggie Jackson
2. Rajon Rondo
3. Goran Dragic
4. Patrick Beverly
5. Emanuel Mudiay

htr10 said:

While I think you could throw a dart and hit a free agent that would be an upgrade to our current roster, I don't think any of the franchise-changing stars would be willing to come here this offseason. If we could get a couple young guys like Greg Monroe and Tobias Harris for reasonable contracts, then that would certainly make things more interesting to watch next year, however I think overpaying for any of those caliber guys is a huge mistake. Heck, maybe we just sign Jeremy Lin to a huge one year deal to make Dolan happy and then try again next offseason when maybe we aren't coming off a historical bad season and we have, hopefully, a lottery pick who just had a great rookie season.

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I did mark a few upgrades that showed consistency each season in the past 3 seasons.
Phil has a 50-50 chance of signing the FA names I mark their playing position/spot.

The players name & position/spot i marked are mostly cheap role-players.
I dont see the Chicago Bulls giving Butler above $8M per in a new contract.
So Phil should look at handing Butler a $10M per offer-sheet July 1st.
Greg Monroe skills need an old-vet-big teammate to show him the ropes each game to be worth $10M per.

The Knicks team can-not afford to pay any of the 2015 FA above $10M per. BECAUSE of Phil's foolish 2014 offseason moves .. by adding Melo & Calderon salary.
Phil has to look to sign players for $5M per and under like SG Belinelli, SG Affalo, SG Ellis

Here are some of the 2015 FA Phil Jackson has a 70-30 chance at signing for $10M and under in the offseason. Phil can not give any individual FA above $10M per
.... because of the Knicks foolish moves in the 2014 offseason of trading for Calderon, and signing Melo to twice his worth.

The FA with 4 dots .... may be expensive, the FA with 2 dots .. are well performing cheap role-players that showed consistency.
There are 9 FA PG which Phil must sign 2 (Calderon is the 15th man BUM).
There are 4 FA SG which Phil must sign a starter (The Bulls will not pay Butler over $8M per).
There are 4 FA SF which Phil mus sign one.
There are 5 FA PF, and 8 FA centers, the best BIG FA to me are "Draymond Green", Green has the (Barkley) skills to win with teammate Melo's ego, flaws, and weakness.
Phil must find away to sign 2 PF (4-spot), and 2 centers (5-spot).
Phil Jackson are expecting a huge increase in the 2015-16 team salary-cap, after the big billion $$$ increase in the NBA network contracts. The increase would give Phil over $40M to spend in the 2015 FA market.

Phil must sign at least 8 of the 2015 FA names below to have success in 2015-16

Rajon Rondo .... PG
Mo Williams .. PG
Reggie Jackson .. PG
Nate Robinson .. PG
Patrick Beverley .. PG
Aaron Brooks .. PG
C.J. Watson .. PG
J.J. Barea .. PG
Ish Smith .. PG

Jimmy Butler .... SG
Monta Ellis .... SG
Arron Afflalo .. SG
Marco Belinelli .. SG

Jeff Green .... SF
Lou Amundson .. SF
Thaddeus Young .. SF
Tobias Harris .. SF/PF

Draymond Green .... PF
Jordan Hill .. PF
Tyler Hansbrough .. PF

Greg Monroe .... PF/C
Enes Kanter .. PF/C

Nazr Mohammed .. Old-Head Big-Man Player/Coach very valuable.

Al Jefferson .... Center
Timofey Mozgov .. Center
Robin Lopez .. Center
Brook Lopez .. Center
Omer Asik .. Center
Matt Bonner .. Center
Brandan Wright .. Center
Cole Aldrich .. center

tiger0330 said:

Sam Spiegelman wrote we should be looking at these 5 PGs

1. Reggie Jackson
2. Rajon Rondo
3. Goran Dragic
4. Patrick Beverly
5. Emanuel Mudiay

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Knicks fans should be expecting Phil Jackson to draft Guards "Emanuel Mudiay or D’Angelo Russell" by any means necessary on draft night. WHY???

For the same reason why Phil Jackson was suppose to trade Tyson Chandler to Boston for Raja Rondo.
A valuable tradeable star role-player (Tyson) traded for another valuable tradeable star role-player (Rondo).
Plus ....

Current Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl teamed up with Melo in Denver for seven consecutive playoff seasons.
If anybody knows what Anthony needs to succeed, it's him.

"I would go get a great point guard and then find some good big guys," Karl told Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. "I think you have a stud scorer (in Anthony)—get me a brain, get me a quarterback and then fill in the pieces with maybe second-tier big guys."

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I would take coach George Karl comment seriously when it comes to Carmelo Anthony.
The Denver Nuggets would not have had any great regular season success without the brains n quarterback of Allen Iverson or Chauncey Billups.

Signing a top 2015 FA PG would go nice for the growth of draft picks Russell or Mudiay
Dragic is not a PG, a combo-guard yeah.

tiger0330 said:

Chicago holds all the cards on Butler. They can give him one more year, have the right to match and have said they would offer him a max deal. I don't see him leaving Chicago esp. with DRose's latest knee injury.

Let's see what Phil does, the team needs so many pieces that they may go for a number of 2nd tier players instead of marquee names but they need to bring in defensive players like Patrick Beverly.

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What the Knicks need for their (max Flawed-$124M) are a starter SG "Butler", and a starter SF/PF "Draymond Green", a starter center Rubin Lopez, plus PG Reggie Jackson .. whom Derek Fisher tutored for 2 seasons in OKC.

The Bulls would be very foolish to give Butler a higher pay-day than Gasol, Gibson, or Noah.
We watched consecutive seasons of the Bulls playing .600 b.ball from the leadership of Noah, without various star teammates.
Phil would actually look foolish giving Butler above $10M per, when the Bulls max salary for Butler will be five yr $45M contract LOL
Phil would look Foolish giving above $10M per offer-sheet to a slow improve performance Greg Monroe.
Greg Monroe does not play enough defense to win games as Melo frontline teammate.
The Knicks need frontline BIGS that has the defensive experience as Camby, Nene, Birdman, and Kenyon Martin.

They are now officially talking about bringing back Bargnani. Phil Jackson seems to love the guy, makes me wonder about PJ when he thinks that guys like Calderon and Bargs can be vital cogs in this Knicks rebuilding.

tiger0330 said:

They are now officially talking about bringing back Bargnani. Phil Jackson seems to love the guy, makes me wonder about PJ when he thinks that guys like Calderon and Bargs can be vital cogs in this Knicks rebuilding.

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I saw the story online today too about Bargs. That may just be the Knicks being politically correct since it said "for the right price". My guess is that Bargs will not be a Knick under any circumstances next season and PJ will continue to pursue moving Calderon by any viable means. The other online rumor I read today was that Basketball Insiders said that the Magic wanted Acy, who barely plays most games, at the trade deadline but PJ refused to take absolutely any salary back in return. I think PJ is going to preserve cap space for stars only until he somehow gets one.

htr10 said:

I saw the story online today too about Bargs. That may just be the Knicks being politically correct since it said "for the right price". My guess is that Bargs will not be a Knick under any circumstances next season and PJ will continue to pursue moving Calderon by any viable means. The other online rumor I read today was that Basketball Insiders said that the Magic wanted Acy, who barely plays most games, at the trade deadline but PJ refused to take absolutely any salary back in return. I think PJ is going to preserve cap space for stars only until he somehow gets one.

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I hope you're right, I have seen enough guys playing for contracts that have a great couple of months or a season that turn out not to be worth it. Bargnani has proved to be a disappointment his whole career and PJ should not expect that to change.

Phil could resign Bargani, and dont put any effort into trading Calderon contract if Phil meet up to my expectation.

Being the Zen Master, having a $60M contract, plus TANKING ur first season contract .... my expectation of the Knicks 2015 offseason are these 6 moves, or something that simulates these 6 moves ....

1) Select Russell or Mundiay out of draft

Then sign young leadership FA:
2) PG-Reggie Jackson
3) SG-Jimmy Butler
4) SF/PF-Draymond Green
5) PF-Jordan Hill
6) and center-Robin Lopez

In 2010-11 GM Walsh TANK two previous seasons, gave away Zach/Lee/Nate, plus 1st n 2nd round draft picks for what? Stat & Felton!
In 2011-12 owner James Dolan invested in BIGS having a Big-3 Tyson, Stat, Melo...D.League PG LinSanity saved the 2011-12 season.

Should Phil Jackson invest the majority of the 2015 FA $$$ in 2 prime starter guards, and a starter center?

Maybe getting a glimpse at possibly what PJ wants to do. He spoke to the press in LA and said he doesn't think it's likely that you sign 10 new players so expect that he'll bring back some of the guys on the roster who are FA's.

Also, projecting what these 19 year old draft picks are going to be like 3 or 4 years down the road is guess work and rebuilding through FA is what the Knicks have to do. Seems like Phil would trade the Knicks pick at the draft.

Kiyaman said:

Phil could resign Bargani, and dont put any effort into trading Calderon contract if Phil meet up to my expectation.

Being the Zen Master, having a $60M contract, plus TANKING ur first season contract .... my expectation of the Knicks 2015 offseason are these 6 moves, or something that simulates these 6 moves ....

1) Select Russell or Mundiay out of draft

Then sign young leadership FA:
2) PG-Reggie Jackson
3) SG-Jimmy Butler
4) SF/PF-Draymond Green
5) PF-Jordan Hill
6) and center-Robin Lopez

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We are not getting 3 Marquee free agents and definitely not Butler or Green. You also don't waste cap space on Jackson when you draft Mudiay or Russell.

We probably should draft Okafor although if not him Mudiay is my target. Then go after 1 big name and then defenders and dirty work lunch pail guys who can score if needed....

Knight(Big Name) will have to pay Max
Afflalo(Not sexy at all but solid) or similar caliber players
Amir Johnson(Not sexy at all but solid) or similar caliber players

If money remains find skill players-shooters, then fill out roster with good vet min deals

Broadway said:

We are not getting 3 Marquee free agents and definitely not Butler or Green. You also don't waste cap space on Jackson when you draft Mudiay or Russell.

We probably should draft Okafor although if not him Mudiay is my target. Then go after 1 big name and then defenders and dirty work lunch pail guys who can score if needed....

Knight(Big Name) will have to pay Max
Afflalo(Not sexy at all but solid) or similar caliber players
Amir Johnson(Not sexy at all but solid) or similar caliber players

If money remains find skill players-shooters, then fill out roster with good vet min deals

Click to expand...

PG-Reggie Jackson - $6M
SG-Jimmy Butler - $10 to $12M
SF/PF-Draymond Green - $10 to $12M
PF-Jordan Hill -$5M
C-Robin Lopez - $8M
The salary-cap will increase tremendously for the 2015-16 season.

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The 5 FA players I mention (above) are complimentary role-players,
ok 2 FA role-players may have contender qualitities.
None of the FA players i mention are star marquee players, nor are any worth max $$$, or above $12M per