2020-2021 NY Knicks

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htr10

GM
mafra said:
The Knicks traded combo guard Austin Rivers. They gave up on 2019 second-round pick Ignas Brazdeikis. They released the players coming back in the deal, opening two roster spots.

According to a source, Tom Thibodeau had hoped for an upgrade, but none ever came. Management still viewed the 2020-21 season as a stepping stone with eyes on a potential $60 million in summer cap space.

The source said Thibodeau was in love with Toronto two-way shooting guard Norman Powell, who was traded to Portland and is excelling in the playoffs vs. Denver.

One of the Knicks? two open roster spots went to third-string center Norvel Pelle, who has not played a minute in the first-round series against Atlanta.

After being routed in the two games in Atlanta, they trail 3-1 in the series. No Knicks team in 13 tries has ever recovered from that deficit, including the last Knicks playoff team in 2012-13 against Indiana, which eventually lost in six.

Those surprised by Atlanta?s playoff domination after the Knicks swept them 3-0 in the regular season should have seen some of this coming. Jeff Van Gundy, Thibodeau?s closest friend, sure did.

The Hawks, who added bench stud Lou Williams at the deadline, were never at full strength in any of the games like now.

Before the series, Van Gundy noted, ?Atlanta has more talent. The Knicks play their best players a lot of minutes. Their guys play. The Knicks don?t take nights off. In the playoffs, that all goes away. Everybody is locked in and everybody plays. There?s no load management. It will be interesting to see if the Knicks have enough in a playoff scenario to hold up.?

NYP - Marc Bermam
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I couldn?t agree more with what Van Gundy said.

Lots of fans are retconning history. If you looked at our ?talent? before the season started, most people would have said ?that?s a bottom 5 team in this league?. Thibodeau coached that roster to a 4 seed in the East.

Now we?re in the playoffs and up there with teams that have Embiid, Simmons, KD, Kyrie, Harden, Ante, Jrue Holiday, Trae Young, Clint Capela.

No one in their right mind would put our roster with those teams. But, because of how we played this season, there was a belief we could compete. Maybe we could if enough guys got hot at the right time, maybe not.

It?s on our front office now. Give Thibodeau a roster that belongs with the elite East teams.
 
H

htr10

GM
Not sure the source about Thibs wanting Norman Powell but front office not wanting to give up any potential cap space (Powell with 11 million player option for next season), but Powell has been great for Portland and if true, this once again paints a bullseye on our front office to land someone in free agency or look bad for passing on a more accessible player.
 
mafra

mafra

Legend
Powell and Jax (MEM) will certainly be 2 guys they target. I am sure they have a PG they like.

What to do with RB/AB?

Will Mitch be dealt?

End of road for Frank and Knox?
 
The Dragon

The Dragon

Benchwarmer
We are still missing our starting center who would've been great help against Capela...... and our Point Guard choose to regress at the end of the season to a point that he should not get any minutes. he wasn't an all star, but he was much better..... when we had decent PG, Rose was great in the second unit, but when you start Rose, the second unit is suffering, and despite his good minutes, Rose is not a solid starting PG in this league....
 
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htr10

GM
Looking at free agent options for 2021 off-season, no doubt in my mind MRob is our best option for starting center for 2021-22, unless we make some crazy out of left field trade.

I hope we don?t get cute. Bring back MRob on his very affordable team option (1.8 million). Keep Randle on the very reasonable contract he has for next season (19 million). Don?t go out of our way to piss them off. Sign them to performance appropriate extensions during the 2021-22 season, unless they get injured or totally flame out.
 
mafra

mafra

Legend
Only reason we may trade MRob, is if he?s in demand, we are comfy with Noel and are making a run at Jax in MEM (his dad with our org). His attitude and injury history may also play into it.

Could Obi be our Draymond G? Small ball C?
 
H

htr10

GM
mafra said:
Only reason we may trade MRob, is if he?s in demand, we are comfy with Noel and are making a run at Jax in MEM (his dad with our org). His attitude and injury history may also play into it.

Could Obi be our Draymond G? Small ball C?
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My biggest takeaways with Obi were that he plays at 100% effort every second he is on the court and that he can jump 15 feet in the air.

If the coaching staff can carve out a role for him as a small ball center, that would make sense. He?ll never be an elite defender or rebounder, but he can definitely exploit other teams with his speed and athleticism.

We need a PG who will throw him the ball when he is open and sprinting towards the hoop. We also need to give him more chances to create his own shot.

Obi was 12 for 23 from the floor in the playoffs and he was 9 for 14 from the floor from inside the 3 point line. Also 5 for 6 from the FT line. He can be an efficient offensive option if we let him take the ball to the hoop.
 
KingCharles34

KingCharles34

All Star
I think Obi proved hes definitely more then Tyrus Thomas was for the Bulls. A good attitude and work ethic can take him a long ways. Hes not just an impressive athlete, he played very hard and gave it all he had

Even against a more skilled Atlanta team we played really physical and made it ugly. If we bring in a few more pieces teams will dread playing us, they already do. The way we play--if i was a fan of another team i would probably hate the Knicks. We just need more talent and im sure a few of the young players will come back next year better prepared
 
K

Kiyaman

Legend
This offseason all-star Randle have great trade value, plus 1 yr remaining on his less than $20M per contract. Trade Randle ASAP !!!
If we add 3rd pick Barrett, and a first round pick along with Randle in a trade we could pull off a dynamite 3 to 4 team trade.
 
K

Kiyaman

Legend
mafra said:
Only reason we may trade MRob, is if he’s in demand, we are comfy with Noel and are making a run at Jax in MEM (his dad with our org). His attitude and injury history may also play into it.

Could Obi be our Draymond G? Small ball C?
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I can't wait till next season to see MitchRob & Obi in the same lineup playing above the rim b.ball.
Next season Noel should be on his 5th NBA team, he's not a Knicks keepers.
The MSG crowd was waiting patiently to stand-up and roar over a Noel dunk, which they never got in 3 games. Plus MitchRob's potential talent are 10 times better on defense/offense than Noel.
Noel performance against Capela was like HS vs NBA Pro ..
The Hawks Capela stopped the Knicks inside scoring throughout the series, cause Noel & Randle had no clue on how to box-out Capela.
Now in the 2nd round of the playoffs of the Hawks vs Philly, we will watch the Embiid-76ers do the same-thing (4-1) they did to the Wizards to the Hawks.
 
H

htr10

GM
mafra said:
Only reason we may trade MRob, is if he?s in demand, we are comfy with Noel and are making a run at Jax in MEM (his dad with our org). His attitude and injury history may also play into it.

Could Obi be our Draymond G? Small ball C?
Click to expand...

Wait, Jaren Jackson isn?t a free agent. We?re going to try to trade for him? Don?t love that unless we get him cheap, which seems unlikely.
 
mafra

mafra

Legend
?The Knicks are excused from the lottery dais for a change, but that doesn?t mean they can?t move up into lottery position on draft night in late July. They have two first-round picks (19 and 21) and two second-rounders (32, 58). Chief strategist Brock Aller will look to deal picks and money to move into the lottery, according to sources. Thibodeau doesn?t want too many more prospects on his roster. Also, the Knicks are one of the few teams who will have some cap space on draft night to make a trade smoother.?

NYP
 
H

htr10

GM
Knicks one of several teams already calling Portland to gauge interest in Damian Lillard trade. Here we go again.
 
H

htr10

GM
Broadway said:
Where do we stand on potentially throwing $20mil/yr at Lonzo Ball?
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I wonder if 20 mil per year even gets it done. I read somewhere it could take as much as 4 years/100 million. I like Lonzo. He?s still a young guy with lots of room to grow, but if he?s our only significant addition, I don?t think it does enough for us to commit that much money to him.
 
H

htr10

GM
Something I did not know previously, but just read online, is that because of collective bargaining agreement rules the most the Knicks can pay Randle in 2022-23 is 23.8 million if they sign him to a 4 year extension this summer. This is because you can only give a 20% bump from the amount a player is getting paid in the final year of their prior deal.

Compare that with the 33.8 million KP is going to make in 2022-23.

If that number is right, we should definitely extend Randle this summer. 23.8 million in 2022-23 is a bargain for an all-star.
 
J

jimkcchief88

All Star
htr10 said:
Something I did not know previously, but just read online, is that because of collective bargaining agreement rules the most the Knicks can pay Randle in 2022-23 is 23.8 million if they sign him to a 4 year extension this summer. This is because you can only give a 20% bump from the amount a player is getting paid in the final year of their prior deal.

Compare that with the 33.8 million KP is going to make in 2022-23.

If that number is right, we should definitely extend Randle this summer. 23.8 million in 2022-23 is a bargain for an all-star.
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Good find JR is definitely worth those $$$$
 
mafra

mafra

Legend
Broadway said:
Where do we stand on potentially throwing $20mil/yr at Lonzo Ball?
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Ball wouldn?t be my plan A,B,orC, but if things didn?t work out on the trade front, I think I prefer Ball at 3/65 than Paul or Lowry at 3/100.

Ball, then trading for JJax in MEM might be their Plan-D?

I imagine trading for Lillard and having Kawhi opt-out and sign with us is Plan-A.

Lillard, Kawhi, Randle and RJ would be fun.
 
H

htr10

GM
Lillard wants Jason Kidd to coach in Portland. That situation seems bad.

I don?t see any realistic routes by which we get Lillard or Kawhi.

I was laughing to myself last night how we might be best served using our cap space to absorb a contract and get picks we could then turn into a future trade, but, the player who a team is most likely going to want to dump is Porzingis. Not likely we?ll have any part of that.
 
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