chad fraud's chat today.

Chad!! Please throw a loyal Nets fan a bone in this season of our discontent. You seem to have a good handle on what the front office's mindset is. Can you elaborate on your comments yesterday that the Nets would move Harris in the right deal? What type of return would we be looking at? Thanks!
Chad Ford (1:17 PM)




The gist of what I wrote about yesterday in True Hoop is that the Nets are seriously rethinking their 2010 summer free agent rebuilding strategy. If they can't land LeBron, Wade or Bosh (and I think the odds are pretty long) they could end up in a bad place having to overpay for a player or two who won't put them over the top. So, they're looking at all of their expiring contracts and beginning to explore whether they could get good players or prospects now for them. In addition, I think they'll move Harris if the right deal comes along. Brook Lopez is the only untouchable right now. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nets and Knicks end up reversing course and using their expiring contracts now instead of this summer.

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Mitch (LA)




Chad what are you hearing about the Knicks? any moves coming up or do they wait for the summer?
Chad Ford (1:19 PM)




They've been trying to find a home for Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries, but so far, no luck. I think the plan is still to go into the summer of 2010 with lots of $$. But it could change. Knicks are in the same boat as the Nets. No LeBron, no Wade and no Bosh = no savior. Yes, players like Joe Johnson or Amare Stoudemire would be nice additions. But they wouldn't put the Knicks over the top in the East.

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Neil (Agoura Hills)



Please answer this question @chadfordinsider. Why wouldn't a team like the Wizards or T-Wolves, that is rebuilding and isn't landing a top FA this summer, rent out its cap space for next year and steal prospects? The Knicks would give Jordan Hill, Tony Douglas, AND Danilo Gallonari if someone took Jeffries AND Curry in a heartbeat. Sounds like a steal for one extra year of salary.
Chad Ford (1:22 PM)




I'm not sure the Knicks will go that far. Yes, it would put them WAY under the cap. But cap space isn't a guarantee that they'd land good players. In fact, if you were LeBron, would you really come to a team that has NO talent. The cap adds up pretty quickly if you start signing max players. But the strategy for the Wolves and Wizards is sound. It's a way to level the playing field a bit with teams like the Bulls and Heat which are huge free agent draws.

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They've been trying to find a home for Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries, but so far, no luck. I think the plan is still to go into the summer of 2010 with lots of $$. But it could change. Knicks are in the same boat as the Nets. No LeBron, no Wade and no Bosh = no savior. Yes, players like Joe Johnson or Amare Stoudemire would be nice additions. But they wouldn't put the Knicks over the top in the East.

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I wouldn't be surprised if the Nets and Knicks end up reversing course and using their expiring contracts now instead of this summer.

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Scribbles said:

What does Devin Harris contract look like?

We're gonna need a PG next season, if it isn't a bloated contract, it might be something to shoot for....

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LJ4ptplay said:

I hope he's right about this and knows something we don't. I just have the feeling Donnie has a one-track mind right now.

There are benefits of scrapping the 2010 plan. We have many very valuable expiring contracts right now. Players like Kirk Hinrich, Monta Ellis, Caron Butler, Antwan Jamison, Kevin Martin, Emeka Okafor, Al Jefferson and others are available to us if we commit to the fact that Lebron is not coming.

Plus, with this strategy, we can retain the Bird Rights of Lee and Harrignton and resign them without worrying about the cap. Also, the MLE and Bi-Annual would be available to us to sign other players (JJ Reddick, Jason Kapono or others) to complete the roster.

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ANU said:

i gotta disagree with alot of those players lj.the only guy i'd be willing to get is butler, everybody else makes us subpar, with no end in sight for another decade.if we're not getting young talent in return that we could build on, there is no sense in making deals just to make deals.we'll just have to wait it out.as far as I'm concerned nobody is untouchable.not even gallinari, i'd trade him for griffin right now.and i love his game.

donnie has to get busy acquire more young players with upside with the likes of lee and harrington.we have no business giving 2nd options 1st option money.we gotta be loyal to success.these dudes get paid to play a game, so when you're getting millions there should be no hard feelings.

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LJ4ptplay said:

Really?? I kind of like a lineup of:

PG-Hinrich
SG-Kevin Martin
SF-Gallo
PF-Antwan Jamison
C-Tyrus Thomas

w/ Reddick, Harrington, Chandler, Douglas, and Jeffries on the bench. Especially in D'Antoni's system.


This roster could be easily put together. If we accept the fact that Lebron and the other max agents are not coming to the Knicks and act now.

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ANU said:

i really don't like the idea of getting players based on the notion of fitting them into mike's system.we have to get the best players we can in order to be successful.that 5 is not bad, but it looks soft as hell.

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NYKnuniversity said:

Any ideas for Plan B? LOL

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LJ4ptplay said:

That lineup I put up is a Plan B idea and based on Lebron and the other max free agents not coming to the Knicks. That entire roster could be easily put together if the 2010 plan is thrown away and we give up trying to maximize cap space.

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NYKnuniversity said:

I don't particularly like the team as a whole. I think that we are much better off going after Caron Butler and McGee if we cannot sign LeBron or Dwayne Wade. With your "plan B" the Knicks are at best a 6 or 7 seed in the playoffs. With the kind of cap space we have and the years of being indifferent and a non-factor in the Eastern Conference, I think the Knick's fans deserve Walsh's best attempt at putting a top-notch squad together.

Plan B?:

PG Kyle Lowry
SG- Caron Butler
SF- Gallo
PF- Lee
C- McGee/Hill

I like that lineup significantly better than the one you suggested. Butler is an All-Star caliber player and would be an excellent fit. He would do a nice job slashing in Wils's spot.

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LJ4ptplay said:

Really?? I kind of like a lineup of:

PG-Hinrich
SG-Kevin Martin
SF-Gallo
PF-Antwan Jamison
C-Tyrus Thomas

w/ Reddick, Harrington, Chandler, Douglas, and Jeffries on the bench. Especially in D'Antoni's system.


This roster could be easily put together. If we accept the fact that Lebron and the other max agents are not coming to the Knicks and act now.

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GetRealistic said:

Honestly the only players i'd touch that you mention above are Hinrich and Ty Thomas. I like Hinrich as a player but i hate his contract. He's deffinately an improvement over Duhon but like Duhon he tends to go into long shooting slumps.

I would have no interest in Kevin Martin unless it was part of a bigger deal where we landed something of more substance. Kevin Martin is a scorer who would make Nate Robinson look like a good defender. Not to mention the fact that Martin is always hurt.

While i do think Jamison would fit the system, I again just am not a fan of his game. If we wanted to talk with the Wizards i'd be much more interested in players like Butler, or even Randy Foye.

Ty Thomas has alot of potential and in the right system with the right coach could be a 20 and 10 player. I believe he is like David Lee and his contract expires after the season and unofortunately for us he'll get paid big bucks due to his huge potential.

Again i'm not looking at the salary cap but if we decided to go with plan B i'd really be interested in bringing in Al Jefferson. Jefferson is one of like 10 players in the league that command a double team in the post. He has a resonable contract.

If we go plan B i'd like to shoot for Caron Butler and Al Jefferson while resigning David Lee. I'd also rather not trade Jordan Hill (right deal coems around i'd change my mind) but trading Toney Douglas is a no brainer to me. You can find another Toney Douglas in next years draft. Even though we have only a second round pick i'm conifident we could find a player of his calibar in the second round. Douglas is a defensive minded combo guard that could easily be replaced.

Some 2nd round canidates for that job would be: Sharon Collins, Kalin Lucas, or Jerome Dyson.

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Osiris80 said:

^

Neither do I. But I do know it won't be Heinrich.

Sergio Rodriguez could be a nice fit. He's playing in Evans' shadow now. He's no wonder kid, but he plays a decent enough game. Nice to have both him and Portland's Fernandez team up again.

As much as I want to get a new PG, there seems to be a shortage of any really decent ones available, much like centers.

As to be expected, they're the Knicks 2 biggest voids.

I was plugging for Denver's rookie PG Ty Lawson in the draft.... Wish he were here now.

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NYKnuniversity said:

I really like the Hinrich fit. But it would be hard to get him. His contract isn't expiring this year and it's almost completely safe to say that Donnie will not take on more salary before 2010 on a guy like Hinrich. He would fit in VERY nicely though.

Besides that, I'm going to have to agree with the previous poster. We should get players that are the best available and Mike D will have to work them in accordingly. I really think that if we move either Jeffries or Curry that we can make a legitimate move at LeBron. If neither are traded before the deadline, then I think it's time to look towards Plan B.

Any ideas for Plan B? LOL

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