Knicks Morning News (2018.07.03)

I hate to be that guy but Cousins is a career .115 WS/48 player and that was before his major injury.

Could we possibly make a more superficial assessment?

His WS/48 for the last 5 years: .166, .144 .122, .149, .130

VORP: 3.9, 3.4, 2.6, 5.3, 3.3

He’s a head case and not all that coachable, and he definitely shouldn’t be a #1 or #2 option on a contending team. Prime Melo is a good comparison, and I think he will be okay in his return from injury (big and young enough to adapt to any loss of explosiveness.)

Cousins is a Warrior, Trump is president, it’s 150 degrees outside. Maybe I’ll read my horoscope?

That Lakers roster… man. As a Lebron / NBA fan you want to think there’s some 4-D chess going on there with Magic and Pelinka, but I thought the presence of Lebron + LA weather was supposed to make vets want to play there for the minimum. Rondo for $9MM is just ridiculous — you have to think he would’ve gone there for nothing, and if he didn’t want to, then “see you later”. I can’t possibly imagine a player less suited to play with Lebron (Lebron can play with anyone since he’s a good spot up shooter too, but the best Lebron is the Lebron who has the ball in his hands 90% of the time, right?).

KCP is fine, and at least is young/defends, and I get that maybe that was one of the requests Rich Paul had for Lebron signing.

Lance is a head case and is a bad shooter.

Javale McGee? WTF is going on?

We are betting the farm on free agency again just like with Walsh. The problem is that to attract quality free agents you have to be good enough for them to think they will make the difference. It can’t look like you are 2-3 years away. But we have 18-19 year olds that are 2-3 years away from being 2-3 years away.

You have to hope that the Knicks have learned from that situation, and in fact one of the good beat writers should straight out ask Mills and Perry what they would do if Kawhi/KD/Kyrie all decide not to take their talents to 33rd and 7th. There would still be a ton of bad summer of 2016 contracts out there that we could take on for assets if we strike out hard in the first 24h on 7/1/2019.

@6 – It may be the case that playing with LeBron just isn’t that appealing anymore to some guys precisely because he monopolizes the ball so much. Kyrie certainly didn’t find it to be very fun anymore when he forced his way out.

You’re going to win alot of games, but the only person sacrificing their game to fit in is you, not LeBron. I would guess that’s not the overwhelming reason for the Lakers struggles after signing LeBron but it may be a part of it.

@8 – I sort of get that, but giving out these bad contracts to meh players in the first 48h of free agency just seems weird. There isn’t that much cap space / MLE$ to go around right now, and you’d think if they’re not going to get good players for reasonable $ now, they could easily get the same bad players for much less $ if they just wait a couple days. I mean there is no Ron Baker-level contract disaster on their books since everything they’ve signed outside LBJ is 1-year type stuff, but still…

Meanwhile I read somehwere that Baker might be a waiver possibility if there’s a roster crunch. Man was that just the stupidest contract Mills ever handed out. Way worse than Timmy’s contract from just a brainpower perspective.

@7 — Durant may be a little underrated in the GOAT conversation but I think that he has no one to blame for that but himself. A lot of people aren’t particularly impressed with his two rings because the Warriors were one of the best teams of all time before he got there. It may or may not be fair but, to a lot of people, it feels like he took the easiest route possible to try to get a ring. It’s not like he carried a cast of misfits on his back and led them to the promised land.

#7 olajuwon, David Robinson and Duncan come to mind

I was thinking yesterday about the chances of waiving Baker, he’s an “old regime” guy (Hornacek was his strongest supporter), coming off an injury and probably has the lowest upside (?) of the youngsters… including Mudiay 🙂

From a ”process” standpoint His contract must be one of the 5-10 most irrational and indefensible FO moves in the history of the league, didn’t make any sense.

Sorry, I totally disagree, you’re talking about waiving 18,6 Milions, you would do that with your money?

And Kanter is not in the same situation of Noah, he’s happy to be here, he has some skills ad if he plays well, could be an asset at the trade deadline.

Who cares if defense is a nightmare? We all want to tank, aren’t we all? 😉

It’s nice to have different opinions 🙂

And yes, is Dolan’s money, that’s why you’re so eager to give it away 😀

Windhorst said that LBJ respects Rondo a lot and want “intelligent players”… so why Lance and JaVale?

More on Ron and why we should waive Lance/Mudiay/Enes before him:
(1) He was overall a plus player in terms of raw +/-.
(2) He had a DRPM of PLUS .83
(3) He could improve his shot on offense.

@24 At the moment I’m not in favor of waiving Baker, my previous comments are more about the fact that the rumors about it do not sound “strange” to me (and that his contract is unbelievable today just as it was unbelievable last year).

I’d rather like to trade Lee and keep Baker, but it takes two to tango and I don’t know which team could be interested.

With so many young players (Baker included) it’ll be very interesting to watch Fizdale’s playing time distribution and the staff’s ability to develop the kids.

Next season will be fun, a lot of losses but many things to keep it interesting.

The problem with the Baker and Hardaway contracts is that we paid for theoretical improvement that may not occur. I believe Mills even said something along those lines. You are not supposed to pay a premium for productivity increases that may or may not occur.

@7

Durant’s not even in my top 15 imo. He’s had a one or two all time seasons but other than that has performed “merely” like a top 25 all time player rather than a top 5. My top 10 is:

1. Lebron
2. Kareem
3. Jordan
4. Russell
5. Shaq
6. Hakeem
7. Duncan
8. KG
9. Magic
10. Bird

(Wilt is my 11 but I think he’s overrated relative to his rep)

if you believe in his upside and are trying to get him as a RFA, you’re going to have to overpay a little.

But only if you really feel like you “had” to get him as an RFA, which you shouldn’t have.

Man, if I was a Lakers fan I’d be apoplectic right now. They had an opportunity to basically erase 5+ years of Knicks-level stupidity and it sure seems like they’re going to squander it.

LeBron alone likely makes them a playoff team, but letting a 23 year old, highly durable, 61% TS on high usage guy in Randle walk for absolutely nothing is straight out of the Steve Mills Asset Management Handbook.

Locking up McGee, KCP, Rondo, and Lance with Noel, Tyreke Evans, FVV, etc. all ostensibly available for less money is an awful look too. I know they’re all one-year deals and the Lakers still have tons of flexibility but it sure doesn’t bode well for their evaluation abilities. I’m sure Lakers fans are still riding a LeBron-high, and rightfully so, but this has serious shit show potential.

The point of what the Lakers are doing is to keep options open for 2019.

If I had to guess, they’re doing two things: one, hedging against the possibility that the Spurs won’t trade them Kawhi now. In this case, they keep max cap for next season with these deals and pick him up as a free agent. Two, if they do indeed trade for Kawhi, they have space to pursue a third star in 2019 with the cap space.

It might be possible also that James and Magic / Pelinka realize they won’t beat the Warriors right away and are building whatever they can this year without compromising any flexibility, and that’s why James signed a 4 year deal instead of the expected 1+1.

Wilt is my 11 but I think he’s overrated relative to his rep

How old are you?

@37

Yes, an hyperbole for sure, but in the Baker case you’re not trying to get a RFA from another team, or steal a “popular” UFA from crowded competition, you’re playing against yourself for an undrafted rookie, a college senior that nobody wanted before and after, you’re giving him 4/5 times the yearly minimum and you’re signing him for 2 years… with the second being A PLAYER OPTION!

They could have signed him with the same contract as Burke or Troy (minimum contract, 1+1 with the second year not guaranteed) and everyone including Baker would cheer.

For me this is worst from a process standpoint then overpaying for THJr (and yes, Mills vastly overpaid for THJr), but as I’ve already said, it’s nice to have different opinions, in a fantasy league we’ll manage our rosters in different ways… 🙂

Methinks that LeBron’s choice of L.A. was more about positioning himself for life after basketball than it was about collecting more ringzz.

The Timmy contract is way dumber than the Baker deal.

This.

The practical damage of the Baker contract is that some of the money could have been given to Dot up front to get him to sign a 4-year deal (last 2 not guaranteed) versus a 3-year deal.

The practical damage of the THJ signing is way worse:
– Created a logjam at the 2 (THJ, Courtney, Dot, Frank, Baker)
– Hurt the tank this past season and maybe this season
– Could have used his cap early on toward better strategies for a rebuilding team
– Might have to give up (versus future swap) our 2019 pick to move Timmy to free cap for 2 stars
– Make decisions which might not be optimal presuming THJ is here to stay

The timing of the signing more than the contract itself made no sense.

LeBron’s wife and kids want to be in LA, and LeBron wants to be a Hollywood mogul. If the Lakers manage to win a title or two while he’s there, great, but this was clearly a business/lifestyle decision for him, and not an attempt to catch/pass MJ’s ring total. If that was the goal, he’d have gone to Boston or Philly.

Well, both of those contracts were dumb, and most all of us here called them such at the time.

THJ’s was for a lot more money, so it derailed any chance of renting some cap space for picks or such. A combined $22m or so for both…and the team stunk again anyways, and likely will again this year.

But, if we have to split a hair here, I’ll go with THJ as worse just because of the sheer $ amount and length. I wonder too if Atlanta had resigned him to a 4/$48 type of deal if they’d be eager to dump him somewhere just for salary relief right about now?

I think LeBron wanted to get paid and to go to LA. That’s all. No more titles for him.

THJ got $71m when his true market value was about $48m, which is a 48% overpay.
Baker got $9m when his true market value was about $3m, which is a 200% overpay.
Lance got $28m when his true market value was about $18m, which is a 55% overpay.

So Ron’s was by far the biggest overpay by percentage while THJ’s was by far the biggest by raw dollars. This analysis also doesn’t take into account the fact that Lance never should have gotten a 4-year deal coming off the first kinda-OK half-season of his career, or that THJ and Ron never should have gotten player options.

Yeah, Lebron’s decision was clearly not based on rings and the only way the 4 year deal + the recent Lakers moves make sense is if you see if from that perspective.

They are not building a championship roster, even if Leonard comes over. Rondo / KCP / Lebron / Leonard / McGee cannot beat the Warriors in a 7 game series.

The practical damage of the Baker contract is that some of the money could have been given to Dot up front to get him to sign a 4-year deal (last 2 not guaranteed) versus a 3-year deal.

The damage of the Timmy contract is much worse. But from a sheer stupidity standpoint? I don’t know. The Baker contract may not have hurt in any way whatsoever, but it’s one of the dumbest contracts I’ve ever seen handed out. I think it’s worse than the Fields blunder. There’s a strong chance Baker assumed someone accidentally added a 0 to his 540,000 offer and didn’t believe it.

Career 3-pt percentages of some of LeBron’s new teammates:

Lance — 30%
Rondo — 31% (although he’s been better in recent years, on low volume)
Ball — 30%
Ingram — 33%
McGee — 0%

Hart and Kuzma had good rookie years (40% and 37% respectively) and KCP is about average (35%). After playing with Korver, Love, JR, Hill, Osman, and Calderon last year, LeBron is going to get mighty frustrated when his kick-outs result in brick after brick.

As someone who has been a staunch and consistent defender of dumb decisions (including the Bargnani trade), I have to admit that, even though I like Baker, even I can’t come up with an argument why it wasn’t a monumentally dumb contract. The length and value were bad enough to rank it pretty highly on the all-time bad decision listbut but the rush to get it done at 12:01 added style points that may have pushed it to #1.

It’s barely better than the 2018 Cavs.

Oakman, yes indeed. In fact it seems like Cavs west. LA was a rebuilding team with youth and cap space. Now they lost youth and acquired over the hill veterans. And what’s Lonzo going to do with Rondo and Lebron hogging the ball?

I’d love to be in auction fantasy league with Z-Man!

Z-Man: I bid $5 on Ron Baker, so what, whatever, who cares, que sera sera
2for18: I’ll bid $1 on Frank Mason

Cute, but dumb. I’ve never said that the Baker contract was smart, in fact, I’ve consistently agreed that it was a bad decision. I’ve also consistently said that it was relatively inconsequential, which it is. The Lance deal is much more moronic and consequential.

THJ got $71m when his true market value was about $48m, which is a 48% overpay.
Baker got $9m when his true market value was about $3m, which is a 200% overpay.
Lance got $28m when his true market value was about $18m, which is a 55% overpay.

So Ron’s was by far the biggest overpay by percentage while THJ’s was by far the biggest by raw dollars.

Who the f cares what the percentage overpay was?? If I owe you $2 but only pay you 1$, and another guy owes you $100 but only pays you $80, which transaction is worse for you? It’s really asinine to put the Ron Baker overpay in the same league as either of the two others. Does it matter at all that it was a worse percentage overpay than the Joakim Noah contract? Sheesh!

Btw, Lance Thomas never played better statistically than a minimum salary player for an entire season, ever. So in my book, he was a greater than 300% overpay. Does it make it feel any better that there may have been more demand for Lance by some almost-as-stupid GMs out there?

Part of Lance’s contract is not fully guaranteed.

I agree about Hicks, and I think the Knicks are in a box with roster spots. I don’t know how they will resolve it because even if thry have players who are worth domething, like Lee, other teams don’t have space to take him in.

I don’t know how many of you are hockey fans, but this reminds me of when Wayne Gretzky joined the Rangers in 1997.

It made no sense from a competitive standpoint. He had one run where he got to the ECF before getting decimated by a younger Flyers team. It was really fun, but he never became a NY legend. No Rangers fans really remember “the Gretzky era”. The team was horribly mismanaged during his time here. He played out the final two years of his career on non-playoff teams. The Rangers were blamed for squandering a national treasure. Then he retired rather suddenly before the final two games of a season.

Mike Francesa compared the three years Gretzky was a Ranger to having the Mona Lisa on display at your house. He was never really ours, but it was cool to have him. And Gretzky said it was the most fun he’d ever had, that he always just wanted to play for the Rangers.

That’s what LeBron to the Lakers feels like to me.

Funny, I don’t even remember Gretzky being on the Rangers. He must have been pretty washed up by then.

-Devils fan who hates Matteau and Richter

I don’t know how many of you are hockey fans, but this reminds me of when Wayne Gretzky joined the Rangers in 1997.

Like Lebron, Gretzky was still dominating at the time that he left, but Lebron is dominating a lot more than Gretzky was when he left. But yes, in that sense, they are somewhat similar, but Gretzky was coming to a veteran Rangers team, while Lebron is going to a young Lakers team. I agree that the main motivation for both guys is not to win a title, since they had each proven they could win titles already, but I think Lebron’s situation is a lot rosier than the Rangers was when Gretzky joined them.

75

We say no; replace Noah with kanter and they have a deal; lonzos dad is a headache, they have to pay us to take him.

It would cost us $400 million+ over four years to get maybe 10 or 15 total games with Kyrie, KP and Butler all healthy and playing at their peak and honestly it would be worth it

It would cost us $400 million+ over four years to get maybe 10 or 15 total games with Kyrie, KP and Butler all healthy and playing at their peak and honestly it would be worth it

I have mixed feelings about all the possible free agent scenarios.

On the one hand I think it’s going to be very difficult and time consuming to get 2 real stars out of the draft and try to build entirely that way. On the flip side, I’m not so sure I want to team KP with anyone less that a true star (especially if there are injury issues).

If guess if we wind up with a top 3 pick next year I might feel differently than if we wind up with an 8-10 pick. How Frank, Knox and KP look might also sway my thinking.

Kyrie and Butler are a scary proposition, I still feel the scars of the Stoudamire signing… could you put a big chunk of your money on two oft injured players?

There’s really no reason the Knicks should be planning around any particular upcoming free agent. Whether it’s Kyrie or Durant or Butler or whoever, it would be dumb to do anything differently to try to impress them or whatever.

Good things happen to rebuilding teams that follow a few simple principles:

1) Stay far away from the free agent market outside of extraordinary exceptions (e.g. LeBron to the Heat/Cavs/Lakers) and one-year deals to fill out your roster (and only give the latter to somewhat intriguing young players who could become assets)
2) Trade productive players who are unlikely to be on your next good team for assets
3) Take on other teams’ bad contracts for worthwhile assets
4) Do not, for any reason, trade away picks

Obviously there’s more to it than that but if the Knicks were ever to just follow those four simple rules for a number of years, opportunities to get true superstars would present themselves. Maybe via the draft, maybe via trade, maybe via free agency but we’ve seen this pattern a million times before.

The problem is just in the last year or so we’ve violated all of them, so we have to keep pretending the next big free agent just desperately wants to be a New York Knick for no clear reason.

I’d have thought that Wiggins was the main culprit in Minnesota, rather than KAT.

I get the concerns and consternation with Butler.
But he would solve a LOT of problems on our team.

MCW to Houston.

Good reminder that none of us understand anything at all, I guess.

MCW is a very good defensive guard who gives you some playmaking and decent rebounding but can’t put the ball in the basket to save his life. Sounds like someone a lot of people on this board could get behind. (I’d add a winking emoji here because I’m clearly trolling but I’m an old and don’t know how)

@36 “The Steve Mills Asset Management Handbook”
Hahahahahahahaha! That made me laugh right upon reading it. 🙂

They lose KOQ, Beas and Jack, signed SuperMario, Kornet to the main roster and will sign Knox.

3 in 3 out, plus Trier and Hicks as 2-way. Begley is right.

This left out Robinson and the rumors about Alan Williams (?)

Yes (in september maybe) and yes 🙂

Noah is going to wind up being a productive C for 20 minutes a game for someone. The entire thing was a debacle for both parties.

The Sixers are trading for… Wilson Chandler?

Unless Noah is a lot healthier than he was in his first season here, and that is not likely, he is not going to be helping anybody. He can still rebound but that’s about it. He’s so slow and lumbering that he’s not really an effective defender anymore, and he’s obviously no kind of threat on the offensive end. He’s been bad for quite a while now. I’ll be surprised if he’s even an effective role player for a bad team.

does Lebron really want Kanter as a teammate?

Kanter is a pretty similar player to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, whom LeBron seemed to love having on the court with him back in the day (…the day of not winning titles, that is).

I’d be delighted to take Ball off the Lakers’ hands. Lavar is a small price to pay. Perhaps irrationally, I believe Fizdale will be adept at handling those kinds of issues.

Ball and Frank backcourt would be the worst shooting backcourt in NBA history.

Ball and Frank backcourt would be the worst shooting backcourt in NBA history.

It would be a terrible shooting backcourt right now, that’s for sure, but if Frank is ever going to stick in this league he has to at minimum become a decent spot-up shooter. If Frank doesn’t improve his shooting by a lot he’s not going to be an NBA player, but the good news is that his form looks pretty good and he seems to have a good work ethic.

I’m still trying to figure out how Lonzo managed to shoot .551 from the field and .412 from 3PT at UCLA with those horrible mechanics. He shot a ridiculously bad .451 from the free throw line last year. He can’t possibly be THAT bad. It was a bad but not ridiculous .673 at UCLA. The other thing about Lonzo is that yes, his shot sucks, but his shot CHART looks really good. He’s looking for shots at the basket or from 3PT. That’s where 90% of his shots come from. Granted a good shot chart doesn’t help much if you shoot .300 from 3PT, but I would think he’ll eventually get that 3PT% up to at least passable levels.

It sure seems like LAL are going to trade Ball. I mean, how many facilitators who don’t shoot well can you have? Does Pop want Ball? How bad is the knee injury?

If they want Kawhi, they have to dangle some package of Lonzo, Kuzma, Ingram + picks.

Getting Rondo seems like a clear sign that Ball is available.

Is there any chance Minnesota would do that? If Butler is adamant about KAT being too lackadaisical, he can’t be the only one that feels that way. Thibs must dislike him too. That opens the door a little, right?

We need to strike now before Thibs gets fired in 2 years!!!

I know Lonzo does some things really well, but if that shooting doesn’t improve then he’s not even a long term starter. The FT % is a bad bad sign.

And the LaVar drama would be 10x worse here. The NY sports media would interview him every damn day, then run to Player X and go “Lonzos dad says you suck. What’s your response?”

2) one of those moves was to use the 2019 first as an incentive for a team to take THj which, I mean, I can’t talk about that as an idea.

You only do that if you have an agreement that Kyrie and KD are ready to join the team. And then you do it and thank your lucky stars!

even with all the moves Zanzibar bar outlined yesterday, we don’t have a path to a 30% and a 35% max deal next summer. It’s not a thing.

My Capulator stuff showed about 65m available free cap. That would mean starting 35m for KD and 30m for Kyrie. We shouldn’t waive-stretch Noah in September. If Kyrie says he won’t join for less than 35m, you offer some team our 2021 pick to take Noah for a year.

There’s just no way not to be psyched about the following in exchange for two #1 picks:
1: Kyrie, Burke
2: Frank, Dot
3: Knox, Troy, Dot
4: KD, KP, Knox
5: KP, Kornet, Mitch

And if we offer KOQ a large 1 year deal, you might be able to renounce him in 2019 and then sign him to what will be 5.7m/yr room exception next summer. He might find playing for that hometown team very enticing.

All I see there is a team with no bench, 2 fewer first round picks, and an ECF exit

There is virtually nothing the Knicks can do to finish better than 3rd in the Atlantic over the next 5 or 6 years.

There is virtually nothing the Knicks can do to finish better than 3rd in the Atlantic over the next 5 or 6 years.There is virtually nothing the Knicks can do to finish better than 3rd in the Atlantic over the next 5 or 6 years.

Sadly, you’re probably right. And the “process” that led to here started several years ago when the Nets traded their picks to the Celts and the 76’ers began the tank.

No more crap trades.

I really think if we can actually just clear the cap – for once – two legit stars would come here. Maybe Kyrie and Kawhi? I don’t know who, but this technique is better than gutting your team of long-term potential pieces in a trade for one guy (seriously, how bad does the original Melo trade look right now?)

I think that’s the plan and what they’re telling KP, and I’m ok with that.

The fallback is just to stick with your team of young, hungry players, some of whom may become pretty good. I’m fine with that too.

And hey, if you screw up your draft picks, you just get HIGHER draft picks from sucking, so it’s all good.

Spelman looks really good.

No.

With everyone on 3 and 4 year deals, and the best players on 1+1 deals, there’s going to be a bumper crop of stars available pretty much every year.

I would not give up assets to clear room to go all in on a Butler Kyrie duo. I hope we can be patient til at least 2020.

I went to school in buffalo. Way worse than Syracuse re weather, plus cuse had hotter girls.

Isaiah Thomas to the Magic makes a ton of sense. I hope he goes there and kills it. Orlando and Indiana could make a little noise next year… we are behind both of them with this “rebuild” thing.

Yeah just watched the Hawks highlights. Trae looked extremely pedestrian. Hard for him to even get floaters up over longer defenders. Yikes.

I’d put the under over on Trae’s TS% at 50% this year and would bet the under. I think Frank can get to that level this year but he comes with high level defense. Trae is a liability.

I’d like to see some of the Sacramento kids pan out. Justin Jackson is likable, and Harry Giles would be a great comeback story. Fox and Bagley are pieces and WCS is not a complete stiff.

I attended a small college in the middle of NY State.

Probably the prettiest college campus I’ve seen, right there with Williams College. (My high school girlfriend went to Williams and I [at first] went to Fordham at Rose Hill. She made a much better choice than I did.)

THJ+C.Lee for Lonzo+Deng

I would do any of these trades for Ball in an instant.

Essdog- the point I’m trying to make is that you can’t get to two max slots WITHOUT trades. And personally, I would not want to do the sort of trades it might take – I.e. trade a way a possible top 5 pick to move THJ, and another first to trade away Noah. Even with commitments frpm Kyrie and KD, especially when KD is already past 30 at that point. I think – though go correct me if I’m wrong Zanzibar, this is what is being suggested.

I can see the argument I just don’t personally like it. If we can organically get to a single max cap slot in 2019, or a max slot plus some decent additional space in 2020 – I.e without trading future assets – I’m all for using that to try to attract a star. But trading away all future assets for a win now strategy has killed us at least twice in recent years and I just want no part of it.

Ntilakilla, you could persuade me that Ball is worth THJ and Lee, but taking on Deng is a big add. LA is going to have to cough up a reasonably good first round pick to get rid of him, at least, and the teams with space for Deng (I think only Atlanta and Chicago at this point) may not want him. Remember, you get his dad as part of the package. That’s why I proposed the trades I did.

The NBA has such a stampede mentality towards free agents that every season is either boom or bust, with nothing in between. Two years ago everyone was spending money like water and this year everyone is saving it for next year. But the free agent values will probably be much worse next year. I’d like to see the Knicks get off this treadmill by not spending every last dollar next season. Then they would have dollars to spend the following season when things will probably be tighter after next summer’s league spending binge. But I just can’t imagine them doing that. They just don’t seem either smart enough or patient enough for that.

It is hard to blame them too much when “Don’t worry, we will be good when star free agent X gets here” is the same approach Phil used and it got him through three shitty seasons and if he had just been a normal level of asshole, at least two more. I agree that it is not a good plan, but it is one that is easy to sell to the masses.