China players

I know that apparently the players playing in China have signed contracts that don't have an out-clause but I also heard that Chinese teams would not actually stop their players returning to play in America. I guess we would have seen them leave already though if they were able to?

I know Wilson Chandler tweeted how badly he wants to gtfo of China and he would be an absolute perfect fit for our team right now.

smokes said:

I know that apparently the players playing in China have signed contracts that don't have an out-clause but I also heard that Chinese teams would not actually stop their players returning to play in America. I guess we would have seen them leave already though if they were able to?

I know Wilson Chandler tweeted how badly he wants to gtfo of China and he would be an absolute perfect fit for our team right now.

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He is a rfa with denver they may bring him over since theu still have open spots on their roster. Bill simmons was saying something like this with aaron Brooks but half the time he is trying to be more entertaining than factual.

I agree with you. Chandler is exactly the type of player we need coming off the bench. But I wouldn't mind his team not letting him go as we don't really have anything to offer but the 2.5 exception. Let him play there this season and he will definitely become more attainable when we have the MLE to use again.

Yeah, they were supposed to release their NBA players the same way they released Earl Clark, but apparently they changed their mind and won't let anyone leave until he works his cotract...

also talking about this I think Houston was talking about trying to get foreign players and being worried that signing them would push the team into the luxury cap. Where if your there four years in a row you pay a crazy amount of fees. So I really think they would rather wait and see if they can get decent players at a good price since they probably don'r want to go into the luxury cap unless they know that its to finance a championship contender.

Why not Aaron Brooks? He'd be an upgrade, it's conceivable he would do a 2.5M deal for a year with us under the circumstances he/the league are in.

We really need to sign Davis and Arenas (I cringe) ASAP. This backcourt has to be bolstered as much as humanly possible, and give us every chance possible of having a legitimate starting NBA point guard.

Ideally, I'd hope we can add in a solid rotation forward for the 2.5M, get Davis and Arenas.....And roll the dice on our forward/center juggernaut, and hope we can milk the motley crew of guards into something that works by time playoffs hit.

iSaYughh said:

Why not Aaron Brooks? He'd be an upgrade, it's conceivable he would do a 2.5M deal for a year with us under the circumstances he/the league are in.

We really need to sign Davis and Arenas (I cringe) ASAP. This backcourt has to be bolstered as much as humanly possible, and give us every chance possible of having a legitimate starting NBA point guard.

Ideally, I'd hope we can add in a solid rotation forward for the 2.5M, get Davis and Arenas.....And roll the dice on our forward/center juggernaut, and hope we can milk the motley crew of guards into something that works by time playoffs hit.

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Gotta be honest I think the opposite. We need to develop Shump and Douglas and Fields. They all need minutes. With those 3 playing at least 20mpg each that leaves very little room for other guards.

I'd certainly wanna roll the dice on one more guard. Davis out until March is not likely, and Arenas no way. Just get someone low risk high reward who won't be taking anything away from our youngsters.

I really don't think a backcourt rotation of Fields/Douglas/Shumpert/Bibby is that bad. There's a lot of if's there though. If Fields can continue/improve on his pre-All Star break form. If Douglas can improve his passing game slightly. If Shumpert lives up to the "hype" around him. If Bibby doesn't slump like last year. But none of that is outside of the realms of possibility.

Our main concern should be getting a 3/4 in the Kris Humphries/Troy Murphy mould. Someone with a little versatility but mostly the ability to defend, rebound and hit an open layup. If they can hit the midrange all the better.

You guys are all delusional to think that Chandler would take that insult of a contract

smokes said:

Gotta be honest I think the opposite. We need to develop Shump and Douglas and Fields. They all need minutes. With those 3 playing at least 20mpg each that leaves very little room for other guards.

I'd certainly wanna roll the dice on one more guard. Davis out until March is not likely, and Arenas no way. Just get someone low risk high reward who won't be taking anything away from our youngsters.

I really don't think a backcourt rotation of Fields/Douglas/Shumpert/Bibby is that bad. There's a lot of if's there though. If Fields can continue/improve on his pre-All Star break form. If Douglas can improve his passing game slightly. If Shumpert lives up to the "hype" around him. If Bibby doesn't slump like last year. But none of that is outside of the realms of possibility.

Our main concern should be getting a 3/4 in the Kris Humphries/Troy Murphy mould. Someone with a little versatility but mostly the ability to defend, rebound and hit an open layup. If they can hit the midrange all the better.

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Well, I'll def agree with you here -- with our 2.5M, I'd like it to be spent on a quality forward who can ably be added to our rotatation mix. One that fits the exact description you laid out.

But you really think Humphries/Murphy/Kirilenko will go for that kinda cheese? I guess we'll find out soon, but at the end of the day I'm more worried about us getting downed in a tough playoff series because we have a gaping hole at our 1.

I definitely want Douglas and Shumpert to get work (Fields I'm OK leaving as a given to get starter minutes from the 2). But I don't want guys getting thrown into the lion's den to learn on the job, struggles and all, when this is supposed to be the start of our contender window.

20+minutes for Shumpert is *very* ambitious, IMO. Shit, I'd be thrilled if it happens, but that's a tall order.

I look at it like this....say out of Shumpert and Bibby one of the two simply should not be playing meaninful minutes for us in the playoffs....this means our guard rotation relies *heavily* upon:

Douglas-?
Fields-Shumpert

We saw how quickly a young player in pressure spots can crumble -- not that it will happen againt to Fields and Douglas, but you want insurance. Especially when you're as thin as we are in the back.

Davis-Douglas-Fields-Shumpert-Bibby

Just adding Davis is a real changer. Him being out initially actually gives us that window of letting our young blood flow and we can see what's what. (reports seem to be Davis coming back way earlier than expected, too...and Davis is total low risk, high reward -- he did alright with the Clips and their young players)

Adding a veteran, short term deal, starting-quality 1 should just relieve pressure on our young players from being perfect, and give us the flexibility to get them going off the bench, gain confidence, more experience, and if Davis is playing like shit or being a bitch, when we flip the switch and give Douglas the starting reigns they're primed for success.

Ideally, I'm with you on using the 2.5 on a nice rotation forward this year; see what guys like Douglas and Fields and Shump do this year. We'll be able to add a quality, proven 1 or rotation forward next year with a ML kinda deal....so no major urgency *except* to make sure we don't get left hanging with a huge hole in our rotation this year. IMO,

:gony:

Scintillating posts, boys. You're both on the money! *taching!

smokes said:

Our main concern should be getting a 3/4 in the Kris Humphries/Troy Murphy mould. Someone with a little versatility but mostly the ability to defend, rebound and hit an open layup. If they can hit the midrange all the better.

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That's a tough get unfortunately. And with STAT already putting out the vibe that he needs games off, that could be the difference maker when it comes to 3rd seed; 3rd being the seed that should be in our crosshair so we don't have to play a 4th V 5th opening semi.

Who can be considered a legit likelihood to fill that role? Have to have a look.

iSaYughh said:

Adding a veteran, short term deal, starting-quality 1 should just relieve pressure on our young players from being perfect, and give us the flexibility to get them going off the bench, gain confidence, more experience, and if Davis is playing like shit or being a bitch, when we flip the switch and give Douglas the starting reigns they're primed for success.

So no major urgency *except* to make sure we don't get left hanging with a huge hole in our rotation this year. IMO,

:gony:

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Bang on. Considering the elite PGs in the East - Rose, Williams, Rondo + an up and coming John Wall - and the 2nd tier guards, as well - Jennings, Holiday, Nelson, Irving and so on, we've quickly gone from solidifying our front court to lessening the potency of our back court.

I think we're all praying for Pistol Grip Pumpert to emerge as the under the radar draft steal that he was touted as at the Hoop Summit, but that's clutching at straws and basically unfair on the neophyte. Hmmmm.

Davis is low risk, high reward, but there's also the likelihood of an aggravated, recurring injury, and we'll then have a bench ridden player that can't contribute - hence Amar'e's dismissal of the need for his services, presumably.

Brooks would be nice, but prying him from the Communists is easier said than done. Chinese franchises hold his/their waivers, and are demanding in excess of $5M to release them contractually, or so I read.

Gonna have to have a good look in to this, but the Knicks are repeating that they're delighted with their roster like some kind of mantra.

With that in mind, the questions that preside are:

● Can we really run this offense through Anthony?
● If he/MD can't manage it, what kind of repercussions are we looking at in what timeframe?
● Mike Bibby? Really?
● Are we insured personnel wise in the back court to cover an injury to Douglas?
● How will our defense affect our rotation as an offensive team?
● Can Shumpert play at the 1?
● And one last random one, random as it's been overlooked, what about Billy Skywalker?

PHEW!

I think the team is all but sold on running the offense through Carmelo.

I don't know how well that would work. It's true that Carmelo is an underrated passer, but can he really run the point like Steve Nash, which is probably how D'Antoni is looking for him to run it? I somehow doubt it.

We need a solid PG. Mike Bibby is a shell of his former self, and I think if the team does anything more with him than let him take the occasional 3-point shot, we're doomed. He's not our backup PG, he's our 3-point specialist.

We need either a starting PG or a backup one. I like TD but he's not a PG, he's a SG. I like Shumpert, but he's still a rookie and needs to learn, especially considering he wasn't the greatest of PGs at Georgia Tech. Bibby can mentor Shumpert and TD, no doubt, but we want a solid PG so that we're not sending Shumpert into a sort of baptism by fire situation.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that it's a given that Fields is going to start at SG for now. I don't think that's his ideal position, I think he's best as a swingman off the bench, but he's the best we've got.

There's still the matter of a backup forward. The SG and SF positions in basketball are so similar that I'm not concerned about having more backup swingmen. What I am worried about is that we don't have a whole lot of depth up front and we need a solid backup forward who can grab rebounds when Tyson Chandler and STAT are sitting down. I have brought up Humphries time and time again because he is a strong, hustle guy who can rebound - he's especially a good offensive rebounder and goodness knows we'll need all the second chances we can get if Amar'e is sitting down.

Other options at the forward spot include AK-47 (slightly undersized, but good defender and pretty good scorer. More of a backup for Melo than a backup for Amar'e. Has he been signed?), Troy Murphy (not the greatest defender, but can grab a ton of rebounds AND is an excellent 3-point shooter, and we know that D'Antoni loves those Stretch 4's), and if we're throwing in AK-47 we might as well throw in Peja, a guy who is a good shooter, but like a ton of foreign players, not much else).

IMO our need for 3-point shooting isn't as big as our need for defense up front (screw D'Antoni and his love affair for 3-point shooting) so I think we should go after Kris Humprhies with that 2.5 million dollar deal. It would make up for Kim Kardashian's engagement ring.

The thing I'm yet to understand from any media I've seen is whether Shumpert is expected to be a 1 or 2.

Whilst yes the other guards in the East are of a high calibre at least we can have them locked down defensively. Our backcourt may not be up to par production-wise but as far as keeping their opposing numbers quiet we have as good a chance as any.

Remember Chris Childs/Charlie Ward neither of those guys were elite guards but they had good passing ability, good range, good ballhandling skills and most importantly good defense.

I think we should let our boys take the reigns for the first month or two, if things clearly aren't working we can add Baron later in the year when he is recovering and see if inserting him into the team can fix things.

As for the PF spot. God knows. We really just have to hope for a miracle at this point. All I know is having JJ out there backing up the 4 and 5 is not an option.