Two day free agent tryout camp.

NYKnicks15

Starter
The Knicks just ended their two day free agent tryout camp and despite itnot being ground breaking news.. still a story of interest.

According to reports Javaris Crittenton and Joe Alexander looked impressive. but the most impressive was an in shape and mature bonzi Wells.

Do you think this is the way the Knicks should go? Hiring cheap help until a real star talent comes along? should we build up young talent in the form of draft and other cheap signees (Alexander)?

I know there is a couple free agent threads. This is more to discuss if you could give a contract or two to fill out this roster to a cheap player who needs a chance.. who would it be? Thoughts?
 
I'm not sure what to think about a camp where the most impressive player is a 34-year-old Bonzi Wells. Joe Alexander and Crittenton are intriguing young options and probably are worth a good long look as cheap options.
 

finestrg

Rotation player
I've been discussing this very topic on various threads for weeks. I really think it's the way to go for us. Bring in some guys on the cheap to either develop as salary-controlled keepers for the immediate future that we move forward with ourselves OR bring in inexpensive talent on the short-term that we actually give meaningful playing time to right away and establish --- when they show they can produce at the NBA level, they then automatically become low-cost/high yield assets other teams would love to get their hands on; guys we can then flip in a big impactful trade for the 3rd big-name player we seek, like a Chris Paul.

Either way would be win-win as far as I'm concerned and most importantly, we wouldn't bog down the salary cap with a player(s) that may not be the right fit long-term. If that ever happened, it'd be Scott Laden & Isiah Thomas all over again. I don't wanna see that happen again. Time to make the right decisions, esp. with the way these CBA negotiations appear to be going, where the owners are expecting all sorts of unreasonable givebacks, i.e. the owners pushing for a $45M hard cap, possibly no more MLE, franchise tags, etc...It's gonna be damn hard to build a complete team to compete with Miami if even some of these things come to pass...I've said it before and I'll say it again: the last thing I wanna see happen is for us to put all our eggs in Marc Gasol's basket, lock into that particular team and then not have any money left over to keep improving. If we make a big move it's gotta be for a 3rd STAR -- I gotta believe that's the goal with any and all of our cap flexibility...Target a Chris Paul; not a Marc Gasol. I fear adding a Marc Gasol-type just won't cut it and it'll hamper our maneuverability/flexibility moving forward. I know the clock is ticking on Amar'e and now Melo but both guys are right in their prime -- there's still time to get the RIGHT players to put around them, not just the first average to above-average player with a hefty price tag to come along. Much bigger fish to shoot for in the summer of 2012 as opposed to this summer if you ask me (there may not even be a MLE anymore which would make acquiring a Marc Gasol/DeAndre Jordan a moot point anyway). I believe Donnie realized this but now that he won't be in charge anymore, who knows what the new guy will feel and what his goals will be. Here's hoping Donnie, in his consultant role, will continue preaching this approach. It's completely sound..It's a philosophy the Knicks need to live by from now on.

Having said that, hell yeah, come up with as many low-cost/solid potential assets as humanly possible. There are several I wouldn't mind seeing us add:

• Draft Marshon Brooks at 17.

• Target Nikola Vucevic with a mid first round pick we acquire using any combination of the following assets: $3M in cash, TD, Rautins, Jordan, Walker, maybe even Fields. Fields should get us a pick in that range but obviously you try and acquire that level of pick w/o including Fields. Wouldn't be against it though -- if someone told me I could get Nikola Vucevic and then also add Marshon Brooks AND Matt Bouldin to replace Landry Fields, I sign up for that right now.. And I LOVE Fields.

• Select Ben Hansbrough with a 2nd rounder we acquire.

• Sign Curtis Jerrells, Curtis Stinson or Javaris Crittenton if we can't get or don't want Hansbrough. To me, Curtis Jerrells is just as talented as Brandon Jennings; Stinson just as talented as Ramon Sessions (only minus the $4-4.5M a yr price tag Sessions would come with), a guy so many Knick fans have such a man crush on and Crittenton still has a load of potential -- this guy could be the player Shaun Livingston was supposed to be in the NBA, only quicker with more athleticism, a flashier handle and better hands on defense...He might have more raw talent than Livingston..

• Sign either Joe Alexander or DeShawn Sims as a skill SF/PF behind Amar'e/Melo. Alexander may have a leg up having just participated at the Knicks FA mini-camp.

• Sign 6'11" FA C Dwayne Jones for size and rebounding. Nothing flashy but a hard worker that would solve the rebounding problem for us. If given a chance in the NBA, this guy would put up similar numbers to Tyson Chandler. No doubt in my mind. Very similar players. Jones has an outside chance to be even more productive. As we've seen, Chandler was a very instumental piece to the championship puzzle for the Dallas Mavericks..

• Sign Jeff Adrien if he's cut by the GS Warriors. The deadline to pick up his contract is 6/20/11, 3 days before the draft. Another guy that would help solve the rebounding problem.

• Sign SG Matt Bouldin. D'Antoni could definitely make good use of this guy. He's 6'5", tough, strong, heady, can shoot, rebound, drive and pass. EXCELLENT passer for an off-guard as a matter of fact.

• Sign SF Tim Abromaitis. He probably goes undrafted but if I could acquire a late 2 in order to secure him, I would. Wouldn't even wait for him to go undrafted. Lights-out 3pt shooter that D'Antoni could definitely utilize. Best shooter in this draft class that nobody's ever heard of. I'd take him over Billy Walker any day and twice on Sunday (Bouldin over Walker too btw) and as decent as Shawne Williams was for us last year, I think Abromaitis could be better...Similar players only Abro's a better shooter (much more consistent over a longer period of time --- I mean how do we really know Williams' 3-pt shooting wasn't some fluke last year? Has he ever shot it like that before in his life? Abromaitis has) and just as versatile in other areas. Abromaitis is just as big, rebounds just as well and puts it on the floor better than Shawne Williams to be honest. Would come much cheaper too -- despite what Williams has said, I doubt he comes back for the league minimum. Commendable thing to say at the time but we'll see what Williams' agent ultimately has to say about that..
 
Last edited:
Top