It's All About July for P-Jax: Here's how NYK become contenders in 2015

The Knicks will have 30 million in cap space... Toss in trade exemptions and MLE and all the other cap-avoidance kinks... I envision the following scenario:

Trade Jose Calderon + 2.5 mil trade exemption for Lance Stephenson.

Sign Greg Monroe and Wesley Matthews outright for 10-12 mil a year.

Sign RFA Draymond Green for 10-12 a year (work out trade, sending THjr and trade exemption to GSW). Or PG Brandon Knight (another RFA)

Sign Mo Williams, or Rodney Stuckey, or Eric Gordon to MLE.

Look LONG and HARD at Okafor, Towns, Emmanual Mudaiy, DeAngelo Russell... The PG might be the way to go (will be more impactful in 2015-2016 seasons, this is a G-driven league, and free agency might solve the PF/C situation). For example, if we sign Monroe/Asik/Jefferson and a Green/Love/Milsap and then add an Amir Johnson with MLE... there you go.

Stephenson
Matthews
Melo
Green
Monroe

or

Knight
Stephenson
Matthews
Melo
Monroe

* Lottery Pick (it's simple... if we get D-Green then we draft a PG; if we get B-Knight we go C).

* Mo Williams or Eric Gordon (MLE)

* If I can't get D-Green (I go for Al Jefferson, Omar Asik, or Amir Johnson).

* If I can't get Knight add Gerald Henderson, Gary Neal, Alan Anderson.

* Vet min is another option for a Boozer-type

Take your pick: (Langston Galloway, Early, Greek freek 2, Acy, Wear, Thomas, Aldrich, Amundson)


AGAIN... looking at the PG position: not much out there (if we don't get Brandon Knight). So, either we go with MO & Lance as our defacto PGs... understanding PG is unnecessary in the triangle... and we can survive with combo of MO, LANCE, Gordon, Galloway... If we really covet a PG for the future... then we should draft Mudiay or Russell.

Our Bench could be (plus a bunch of the young current NYK holdovers):

Mo Williams, Alan Anderson, vet min guy

or

Eric Gordon, Amir Johnson, vet min gut

ALSO... There's another route: GO HARD AFTER JIMMY BUTLER.

He's a RFA. Currently on books for about 3 mil (QO). BULLS already above 60 mil. Sign Butler to 15-20 mil... stick it to CHI! Maybe force them into a position to trade Butler & Mirotic for 'Melo.

Imagine getting Brandon Knight and D-Green or G-Monroe in free agency, and then trading for Butler & Mirotic!

Knight
Butler
Mirotic
Green/Monroe

Toss in our lottery pick!

That's a roster loaded with young talent.

Mafra love the plan, you ought to e-mail it to Phil. I'm sure he won't tell you "root for the Nets" but may send you a couple of courtside tickets.

Mafra's plan just isn't realistic at all, although has some nice additions

We have those trade exceptions from the JR trade. I thought we used one of them to get Shved but it turns out that was from the Felton trade

Knicks fans can dream and even its not realistic because we don't seem to have the cap space to sign 3 impact players but it would be a very successful off season to to sign Green, Monroe and Matthews. Those guys are my top 3 guys not named Gasol, Aldrich, Butler and Leonard. We'll see what happens and Phil said he wasn't happy with the cap space for what he needs to do with the roster but he better earn some of that 60M this off season.

tiger0330 said:

We have those trade exceptions from the JR trade. I thought we used one of them to get Shved but it turns out that was from the Felton trade

Knicks fans can dream and even its not realistic because we don't seem to have the cap space to sign 3 impact players but it would be a very successful off season to to sign Green, Monroe and Matthews. Those guys are my top 3 guys not named Gasol, Aldrich, Butler and Leonard. We'll see what happens and Phil said he wasn't happy with the cap space for what he needs to do with the roster but he better earn some of that 60M this off season.

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We're not getting 3 marquee free agents. We might have a shot to land 2 and it's iffy. Monroe unofficially turned down $60mil extension from Detroit this past summer. He's a dud and IMO closer to an empty stat player, but whatever.

Green(he'd be a nice pickup) is said to want to go back home to Michigan and play for Detroit close to a max deal if they let Monroe walk and GSW doesn't pony up. This could be Matthews last chance at a big pay day, he's gonna want pretty much $50mil minimum.

Keep in mind Gordon Hayward got 4yrs $63mil from Utah this past summer. Alec Burks got like $45mil. 3-4 point guards got like $50-70mil contracts(Kemba-Lowry-Rubio-Bledsoe) this past summer. New money is coming into the league. These guys are gonna ask for absolute maximums or close to, with potential opt outs in a few seasons to dip again.

Phil had to give Jason Smith every penny of our Tax Payer MLE($3.5mil) to get him to play here. What happened the last time we had cap space?

Last but not least no one ever plays on the cheap in New York and we showed as an organization this past summer compared to any other season, we'll overpay by leaps and bounds. Phil $60mil, Fisher $25mil, and Melo $125mil.

I'm not always trying to be Negative Nance but we simply have to be realistic in our expectations. I would go hardcore after...Brandon Knight and Draymond Green. You pretty much have to offer them Max contracts unfortunately and hope they love the idea of playing here.

I agree with the idea that no one is coming here this offseason for fair market value. PJ is going to have to decide whether it is worth overpaying for a few guys who will eat up our cap without making us a top 4 team in the East or standing pat for another season.

htr10 said:

I agree with the idea that no one is coming here this offseason for fair market value. PJ is going to have to decide whether it is worth overpaying for a few guys who will eat up our cap without making us a top 4 team in the East or standing pat for another season.

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Max contracts go as follows...


0-6..yrs of service = 25% of Cap
7-9..yrs of service = 30% of Cap
10+ yrs of service = 35% of Cap


25% of $66-68mil(cap) = 1yr starting salary of $16.5-17mil

30% of $66-68mil(cap) = 1yr starting salary of $19.8-20.4mil

35% of $66-68mil(cap) = 1yr starting salary of $23.1-23.8mil


No way these guys who will enter their prime or be in their prime take $4-6mil/yr paycuts on average to play here. Not gonna happen under any circumstance

Broadway said:

We're not getting 3 marquee free agents. We might have a shot to land 2 and it's iffy. Monroe unofficially turned down $60mil extension from Detroit this past summer. He's a dud and IMO closer to an empty stat player, but whatever.

Green(he'd be a nice pickup) is said to want to go back home to Michigan and play for Detroit close to a max deal if they let Monroe walk and GSW doesn't pony up. This could be Matthews last chance at a big pay day, he's gonna want pretty much $50mil minimum.

Keep in mind Gordon Hayward got 4yrs $63mil from Utah this past summer. Alec Burks got like $45mil. 3-4 point guards got like $50-70mil contracts(Kemba-Lowry-Rubio-Bledsoe) this past summer. New money is coming into the league. These guys are gonna ask for absolute maximums or close to, with potential opt outs in a few seasons to dip again.

Phil had to give Jason Smith every penny of our Tax Payer MLE($3.5mil) to get him to play here. What happened the last time we had cap space?

Last but not least no one ever plays on the cheap in New York and we showed as an organization this past summer compared to any other season, we'll overpay by leaps and bounds. Phil $60mil, Fisher $25mil, and Melo $125mil.

I'm not always trying to be Negative Nance but we simply have to be realistic in our expectations. I would go hardcore after...Brandon Knight and Draymond Green. You pretty much have to offer them Max contracts unfortunately and hope they love the idea of playing here.

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i agree that Knight and Monroe and Green will get near max money. Look at Parsons last year. If the Knicks grab 2 of those young guys... Outstanding. I prefer that to just Gasol. And, it's possible team accepts a S&T to get something (Calderon and THjr plus trade exemption for Matthews or Butler)... This means we could sign 2 15 mil players... Then swing that deal...

This free agency different than last time... We have Melo and Phil. Last time we had no stars and a hobbled Walsh.

tiger0330 said:

Mafra love the plan, you ought to e-mail it to Phil. I'm sure he won't tell you "root for the Nets"

but may send you a couple of courtside tickets.

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Fire the imposter Phil Jackson, and hire Mafra
MJ is not a SUCKER like Phil to trade Lance Stephenson 1 yr $9M contract for Jose 2 yr $15M contract in offseason.

Phil Jackson has to select the 6.5 PG Emmanual Mudiay in the 2015 draft to try and cover for all his foolish decision-making as a president.
Calderon presence in NY will always remind Knicks fans that the Zen Master is a coach, not a president.
Its going to be hard for Phil to sign a consistent win-win PG like Rondo or Reggie Jackson.
We could blame PF Carmelo Anthony ballhogging, and always want to play the point (sorry!)

The 2015 FA SG Butler, Monta Ellis, Wesley Matthews, Arron Afflalo, will look for $8M to $15M per to join the LOSER Knicks.
Phil has a great bench player in (combo-guard) Galloway.
At SG Lance Stephenson and Butler are equal in hustle-talent, both play SF/SG spot.
Phil could've traded JR smith 2 yr $12M contract for Lance Stephenson 2 yr $18M contract anytime this season.

The 2015 FA SF & PF .. Aldrige, Mills, Amir Johnson, Luol Deng, and Pierce are not signing with LOSER Knicks.
Phil Jackson has a 50-50 chance at signing Greg Monroe/DeMarre Carroll/Tobias Harris/Thaddeus Young/Ruby Gay/Josh Smith

Phil will have to wait till mid July to sign a FA center, or sign early July by paying twice the worth of the center.
The list of 2015 FA centers are long .. Marc Gasol, Andre Jordan, Al Jefferson, Roy Hibbert, Omer Asik, or the Lopez brothers.

Everyone should know that every move Phil Jackson did since signing on as Knicks president ..
Any IDIOT could've did for the price of coffee n donuts.
All Phil Jackson moves are what u expect from a IDIOT!

I expected 100% better from the ZEN master ..
I expected to start TANKING in midseason, not the first week of the season.
I expected 60% of the Knicks roster skills improve within the first 3 months under Phil watch.
I expected to have 21-20 record in January the time teams start to trade.

How can I expect a quick 360 change in Phil Jackson decision making in 2015 offseason ..
after last offseason signing of $124M ..
It's hard to trust phil with $30M in cap space to spend in offseason?

When Phil traded Shumpert the Knicks were in full tank-mode.
Dont a TANKING team suppose to gather as many first round draft picks as posible?

Recall our situation before Phil took the job ....
The Knicks winning future depended on the 2014 offseason and the 2015 offseason ..
In the 2015 offseason the Knicks would have over $70M cap space coming off the books in ..
Melo, Amare, Tyson, Barg, Felton, Shumpert ending contracts.
20+20+15+12+4+3=$74M

mafra said:

i agree that Knight and Monroe and Green will get near max money. Look at Parsons last year. If the Knicks grab 2 of those young guys... Outstanding. I prefer that to just Gasol. And, it's possible team accepts a S&T to get something (Calderon and THjr plus trade exemption for Matthews or Butler)... This means we could sign 2 15 mil players... Then swing that deal...

This free agency different than last time... We have Melo and Phil. Last time we had no stars and a hobbled Walsh.

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Monroe isn't needed. He's too slow and operates in the same vicinities as Melo. If the targets would be a defensive point guard and versatile wing for free agency, then you fill the interior with the draft pick(Okafor-Towns-Turner-Stein) who'll come cheaper.

Phil already showed he doesn't have much juice hence Pau said no as did a few others who were higher on his list targeted last summer. No one cares about Melo, one of the biggest myths going in basketball that guys want to come here to play with him. We also are having a horrific season with a gutted roster devoid of talent!


Really the only thing we have going for us right now is MONEY! The sad thing, we're not the only team with MONEY.

Just read online that from somewhere a rumor has surfaced that Jimmy Butler has only 2 teams in mind and one of them is the Knicks. Super suspicious, as usual, of this kind of rumor, but if that is the case it would be an interesting development this offseason for PJ to have any kind of opportunity to attract a top free agent.

htr10 said:

Just read online that from somewhere a rumor has surfaced that Jimmy Butler has only 2 teams in mind and one of them is the Knicks. Super suspicious, as usual, of this kind of rumor, but if that is the case it would be an interesting development this offseason for PJ to have any kind of opportunity to attract a top free agent.

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All of these top FA's are going to use other teams for negotiating leverage. He's restricted and with DRose going down with another knee injury does Phil really want to bother pursuing him? The Bulls can pay him more money than anyone, why would they not match for a young 2 way player like Butler. Did they say who the other team was?

Draymon Green on the other hand is on a team full of good players and the Warriors have a tough decision with him

tiger0330 said:

All of these top FA's are going to use other teams for negotiating leverage. He's restricted and with DRose going down with another knee injury does Phil really want to bother pursuing him? The Bulls can pay him more money than anyone, why would they not match for a young 2 way player like Butler. Did they say who the other team was?

Draymon Green on the other hand is on a team full of good players and the Warriors have a tough decision with him

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Yeah, it's the wording with Jimmy Butler that caught my attention. The Knicks and one other team he's looking at rather than the usual current team, Knicks, Heat, and Lakers that pending free agents list. Granted this is just some random internet rumor. Are the Bulls a team that goes into the luxury tax? They already have close to 60 million in salary for next year. I could see a scenario where they won't match a max deal for Butler. It's highly unlikely, but Chicago may screw this one up.

htr10 said:

Yeah, it's the wording with Jimmy Butler that caught my attention. The Knicks and one other team he's looking at rather than the usual current team, Knicks, Heat, and Lakers that pending free agents list. Granted this is just some random internet rumor. Are the Bulls a team that goes into the luxury tax? They already have close to 60 million in salary for next year. I could see a scenario where they won't match a max deal for Butler. It's highly unlikely, but Chicago may screw this one up.

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They are cheap but it was reported a while ago that they were prepared to offer him a max deal. I think this rumor is just to ensure they get 5 years out of them because they offered him a 44M/4yr deal that he turned down.