Knicks Morning News (2019.01.17)

  • [NYDN] Turkish prosecutors seeking arrest warrant for Knicks’ Enes Kanter
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 7:35:00 AM)

    Knicks center Enes Kanter, accused as a gun-toting terrorist by Turkish prosecutors, quickly slam-dunked the bizarre allegation.

    “The only thing I terrorize is the rim,” Kanter tweeted Wednesday as authorities in his homeland moved for the hoopster’s extradition to Turkey.

    The Turkish prosecutors…

  • [Sports Illustrated] Report: Turkey Seeks Arrest Warrant For Knicks Center Enes Kanter
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 9:28:57 AM)

    Turkish prosecutor seeks extradition and arrest of Knicks center Enes Kanter over alleged terrorism ties.

  • [SNY Knicks] WATCH: Knicks cross The Pond to London
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 1:16:25 PM)

    The Knicks crossed The Pond earlier this week and will face the Wizards on Thursday at 3 p.m. for the NBA London game.

  • [SNY Knicks] Turkey seeking arrest warrant for Knicks’ Enes Kanter
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 11:07:16 AM)

    Knicks center Enes Kanter is being accused by Turkish prosecutors of membership in a terror organization. The nation is seeking an international arrest warrant for Kanter.

  • [NYPost] Knicks grab London spotlight ahead of matchup with Wizards
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 4:17:39 PM)

    LONDON — The Knicks were given the royal treatment befitting the Queen as they entered a gym in London’s financial district for practice Wednesday. More than 300 European journalists crowded into the facility as if this were the NBA Finals. Instead, it was the preface to an NBA regular-season game between two bottom-dwellers. The 10-33…

  • [NYPost] How Knicks will use Mitchell Robinson in long-awaited return
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 9:39:33 AM)

    LONDON — Mitchell Robinson has been a quick study his rookie season. Perhaps, though, he needs a little refresher in geography. “Top of the morning,” Robinson said, misappropriating the Irish expression as English, to two approaching New York writers before the Knicks practiced at CitySport gym on a rainy Wednesday. But give him an A…

  • [ESPN] Report: Turkey seeks warrant for Knicks’ Kanter
    (Wednesday, January 16, 2019 8:36:35 AM)

    Turkish prosecutors are seeking an international arrest warrant for New York Knicks center Enes Kanter, accusing him of membership in a terror organization.

  • [NYTimes] LeBron James Set to Return to Practice With Lakers Next Week
    (Thursday, January 17, 2019 12:44:23 AM)

    James, who has been out since Christmas Day with a groin strain, will most likely not be back in time for the Lakers’ game against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

  • [NYTimes] Turkish Prosecutors Seek Arrest of the Knicks’ Enes Kanter
    (Thursday, January 17, 2019 5:23:30 AM)

    The prosecutors requested an international warrant and accused Kanter, who has harshly criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, of membership in a terrorist organization.

  • [NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: The Warriors Prepare to Add Another Star: DeMarcus Cousins
    (Thursday, January 17, 2019 5:19:20 AM)

    The Warriors have won three of the last four N.B.A. championships and just scored 51 points in the first quarter. And they’re getting better.

  • 105 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.01.17)”

    So Knicks are in London? Maybe Fiz could try one of his eccentric motivational techniques appropriate to the locale. May I suggest he have wax figures made of Enes shrugging and Frank (deer in headlights look) and place them both in a dungeon at Madame Tussaud’s accompanied by the signage: Enes on Defense, Frank On Offense. then arrange a team visit there.

    Kind of enjoyable seeing all of Boston’s assets being devalued this year. Tatum is coming back to earth, Brown and Rozier are having pretty awful seasons and the Sacramento pick will probably be in the mid teens. Also, lots of turmoil with Kyrie, my Celtics fan friend up in Boston says a lot of fans don’t want him back. And even the second coming of Red Auerbach, Boy Brad, is being second guessed.

    Twofer in terms of Knicks: odds of landing Kyrie and Davis rise. But on to more mundane trades. Here’s one that incorporates all of the rumors: LINK

    Ugh link not working. Second time this has happened. I’ve posted a zillion trade machine links here before. Dunno what’s happening.

    Mavs……………Frank, THJ
    76ers……………Dennis Smith, Vonleh, Courtney, Burke
    Knicks………….Markelle, Mathews, Muscala, Patton

    I would not trade Vonleh for cap space. He’s a good, tough defensive role player with a market value of, what, 3×8? 3×10? with a team option on year 3. If you get an amazing asset for him sure, but otherwise just sign him.
    He’s the “big” version of what we hope Frank would be. I’d hold on to such a player.

    …but your trade is something I would do, Zanzi, if I get a chance to evaluate Fultz physical and mental state.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    Whenever the question of Porzingis at PF or C would come up, I would always say if he’s going to play C, we eventually need a really strong player that can rebound well to put next to him at PF.

    Vonleh is that guy.

    I appreciate that we have to move either Hardaway or Lee if we want to sign a max contract player and that keeping Vonleh will eat cap space. However, we have no idea whether a top player is going to sign with us after a 20 win season (most likely not). To trade away a very good young player that’s a perfect fit when our team sucks makes no sense to me at all. Even getting a pick makes no sense given it won’t be some high lottery pick. Who are we hoping to draft? A player that in 4-5 years will be as good as Vonleh is now? To me, you keep Vonleh until you figure out who else is available in the off season. If we lose him fro nothing because Durant wants to come, I’m not going to cry.

    If we can move Lee for an expiring without giving up much that’s fine. Even waiting until the off season or bringing him back and trading his expiring next year is fine unless we absolutely need the space.

    The problem is Hardaway. How do you move Hardaway without giving up too much? We may be stuck with him for awhile.

    I was reading this quote about Kyrie and was like “wow, that’s some glowing praise, I wonder who said that about him”.

    It takes a real man to go back, call somebody and be like, ‘Hey, man, I was young. I made some mistakes, I wasn’t seeing the big picture like you were. I didn’t have the end of the season in mind.’

    Turns out that was actually Kyrie telling us all what a real man he is, not someone else.

    Reminded me of this gem from an erstwhile Knick:

    I take my hat off to myself for dealing with all this stuff that’s going on and still be able to go out there and play at the high level that I can play at.

    Good times.

    However, we have no idea whether a top player is going to sign with us after a 20 win season (most likely not). To trade away a very good player that’s a perfect fit when our team sucks makes no sense to me at all.

    The trade I proposed clears THJ/Courtney/Frank’s money from the books and nets us Markelle.

    Scenario 1– If KD/Kyrie or KD/Butler or any combination of Kyrie/KD/Kyrie/Butler want to sign here, it shouldn’t be difficult to flip Markelle to a rebuilding team w/cap for nothing and it shouldn’t be hard to trade 2019 pick to rebuilding team for future pick(s). That might free up enough cap to sign 2 superstars.

    Scenario 2 – One superstar wants to sign here. We have sufficient cap, don’t need to trade Markelle or 2019 pick.

    Scenario 3 – No superstar wants to join Knicks. We hope Markelle solves shooting woes and we may have an excellent player.

    Regarding Noah, Vonleh had lousy advanced stats and was on his way out of the league because a PF needs to be a stretch 4 in modern NBA. That’s why we got him for just 100K guaranteed money. Sure he wanted a team where he could get playing time but I doubt he had many options. Perry should have been able to negotiate a team option. Pay him 2m/yr on a 2yr deal, 2nd year team option. Errors of commission are sometimes worse than errors of omission.

    @1, That’s perfect and hilarious.

    So while we’ve begun contemplating absurd trade and free agent scenarios. If Kyrie and Durant both want to join our NY Knicks, how many draft picks are willing to dump to clear cap space? I say 3 because Durant is just worth it so long as one of them isn’t Zion.

    I think that there is some slight benefit to having Vonleh on the team already if they wanted to try to resign him, but I would place that benefit as so small that I wouldn’t worry too much about what they get for Vonleh, so long as they’re getting something for him, even if it is just cap space by using him as a sweetener. If the Knicks strike out on top free agents, they could easily re-sign Vonleh and otherwise, any other team that traded for Vonleh would be in the same basic boat as the Knicks in their ability to re-sign him since he doesn’t have Bird Rights.

    If Frank is “sweetener” he’s like Stevia or something.

    Nice one, Danvt. I’m not against Frank being referred to as Stevia from here on out.

    And if you’re bullish on him, you could call him Equal™ because “his defense is so eye-testedly good that it negates his worst-player-in-the-league offense!”

    Allen was also amazing, 20/24 with 3 blocks, what a player he’s becoming.

    I was really bummed when no one called me out for suggesting we trade Porzingis to Brooklyn for Allen and two picks. I was prepared to defend that one to the hilt. Did the “Tyson Chandler would be better if he shot mid-range jumpers” crowd vacate the comments section?

    I was really bummed when no one called me out for suggesting we trade Porzingis to Brooklyn for Allen and two picks. I was prepared to defend that one to the hilt. Did the “Tyson Chandler would be better if he shot mid-range jumpers” crowd vacate the comments section?

    OK Hubert, it was a dumb trade because we have Mitch. Still bummed?

    I think that there is some slight benefit to having Vonleh on the team already if they wanted to try to resign him, but I would place that benefit as so small

    Unless he has a couple of strong playoff games, which is possible because he’s a strong defender, and he’s out of good value range for us. But I guess that’s a risk you take in the right trade.

    Damn it, Zanzibar. That was the effective counter. Where are the people who think Porzingis >>>> Allen??

    Although as much as I love Mitch, at best he has a chance to become what Allen already is at age 20. So that wouldn’t stop me.

    I’d still make the trade, team up Knox, Zion, Allen in the front court with Mitch as the backup C, and if he develops down the road he can be traded for the backcourt player we’d need to complete our young core.

    For entertainment purposes only: what if we get Durant and Kyrie Irving – and the cost is, once again, depleting our team of draft picks and cap space for like 5 years. We proceed to win 45-50 games a year with them added to our terrible roster.

    Isn’t that Melo v2.0?

    There’s so many things about Durant that we can’t guess, but I think it’s 1000% safe to assume that his next step is not going to be playing off the ball next to Kyrie.

    Where are the people who think Porzingis >>>> Allen??

    I will commend you Hubert for being the only one to step up and put forward an actual trade involving KP. Lotta people were saying how they’d trade him but nobody gave a concrete example of what they’d have to receive in return. I did say I wouldn’t trade KP for a 2019 pick unless it were #1 (Zion) and that I would include him along with all of our youth except Mitch in a trade for Davis.

    Who would deal KP by trade deadline for Cavs 2019 pick? I wouldn’t.

    I think that there is some slight benefit to having Vonleh on the team already if they wanted to try to resign him, but I would place that benefit as so small that I wouldn’t worry too much about what they get for Vonleh, so long as they’re getting something for him, even if it is just cap space by using him as a sweetener.

    Even if he’s traded, I don’t see why that would take him out of the running to be re-signed. I don’t think he’d view being traded from a 10 win team to a playoff team as a betrayal. If anything I think a guy who was almost out of the league would find it flattering that he could represent value in a trade.

    So yeah, trade Vonleh if you can get anything at all back. As a general principle (with some exceptions) that’s just what you should do with upcoming UFAs when you’re a bad team.

    Vonleh is that guy.

    I appreciate that we have to move either Hardaway or Lee if we want to sign a max contract player and that keeping Vonleh will eat cap space.

    Aroldis Chapman sez hai….

    Assuming Vonleh isn’t a complete moron he’d have to get the notion moving him as a sweetner to dump a contract that would directly lead to the Knicks being a better team wasn’t a knock/dis to him but actually a 3 dimensional chess play understanding full well there is no advantage to him money wise on which team pays his last 2018-19 paycheck.

    The Knicks gave him big minutes to revive his career and if they offer him the best contract/situation for 2019-20 with an improved team I cannot believe he wouldn’t be interested. If he wouldn’t be…. then in the immortal words of Stinky played by the late Charlie Murphy… I say, fuck it!

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x536fvi

    There’s so many things about Durant that we can’t guess, but I think it’s 1000% safe to assume that his next step is not going to be playing off the ball next to Kyrie.

    We can substitute any names in the fantasy, shortsighted trade scenarios presented here daily with virtually identical results: any 2 of whatever available superstars will not be enough to make the Knicks into something better than a 45-50 win team.

    Melo v2.0 with a nasty new rebuild starting 5 years from now.

    @18

    No, because they are actual superstars.

    If you can get Durant and Irving together it’s a no-brainer, because then it gets a lot easier to fill the slots around them. Let’s say the Knicks get rid of everyone outside of Knox and Robinson to get those two and that somehow Lee wasn’t worth a first round pick anytime.

    You start with a Irving – Lee – Knox – Durant – Robinson lineup, with 84 million committed to these guys (35 for Durant, 30 for Irving, 12.7 for Lee, 4.4 for Knox, 1.6 for Mitch), leaving the Knicks with 25 million in cap space considering a max cap of 109 next season. Let’s say THJ somehow stays and Vonleh re-signs for 3 years 24 million, that leaves the Knicks just at the cap with these 7 players. And that’s all assuming Porzingis isn’t one of the players we keep (in which case THJ has to go), because with him the core looks even better.

    You can definitely build a very, very good team around this core and a potential contender is Porzingis stays and develops as a legit 3rd option. The 3rd and 4th year’s of Irving and KD’s contract would be scary if they regress as they get older, but it’s still a much, much, much better gamble than trading the farm for Carmelo Anthony.

    For entertainment purposes only: what if we get Durant and Kyrie Irving – and the cost is, once again, depleting our team of draft picks and cap space for like 5 years. We proceed to win 45-50 games a year with them added to our terrible roster.

    Isn’t that Melo v2.0?

    This wouldn’t be ideal, but I do believe that any team with Durant and Kyrie in the East would be able to win over 50 games and become instant contenders for a Finals appearance.

    Edit: Bruno! You beat me to it, in a much more thorough manner.

    To trade away a very good young player that’s a perfect fit when our team sucks makes no sense to me at all. Even getting a pick makes no sense given it won’t be some high lottery pick.

    Wut? To get anything for a player you have no rights to the next year and can re-sign the same way any other team can is GOOD. I mean, anything.

    To spend scores of words talking about “winning trades” and appreciating marginal value and then say trading him for anything but a lottery pick would be bad…wow.

    I love Giannis, and I did see that huge OC post on r/NBA that predicted in every model that he would be MVP, but if the season were to end today, and James Harden did not receive the award unanimously, I would consider it conspiracy a la 2002 WCF or the frozen envelope.

    What he is doing is unholy.

    Side note: Jarrett Allen looks real good. I think he’ll be another Rudy Gobert by 2022.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    I’m guessing on this, but I think anyone that trades for Vonleh is not going to do it unless they have some understanding he’ll be back. Otherwise, there’s no point to giving up an asset or taking on salary for 4 month of Vonleh. The only possibility is a team that thinks he puts them over the top. However, if they think that, they are probably going to keep him unless he busts out at his new home

    If we trade Vonleh, I think we can assume he’s gone for good.

    Even if he’s traded, I don’t see why that would take him out of the running to be re-signed. I don’t think he’d view being traded from a 10 win team to a playoff team as a betrayal. If anything I think a guy who was almost out of the league would find it flattering that he could represent value in a trade.

    So yeah, trade Vonleh if you can get anything at all back. As a general principle (with some exceptions) that’s just what you should do with upcoming UFAs when you’re a bad team.

    The only fear you would have is that his new team would like him enough to want to keep him and since he’d most likely be traded to a good team, then the room exception from a good team likely beats the room exception from the Knicks.

    But yes, that is such a slight consideration that I wouldn’t really let it play any real factor in my decision-making on trading him.

    And to be clear, I AGREE that Vonleh would be great next to KP. But if you can trade him for anything (other than a bad contract, obviously), you win that trade.

    We went through this exact same scenario last year with O’Quinn. Once this year is up Vonleh is probably going to want to sign with a better team. There are no reasons at all for the Knicks to keep him through the end of the season.

    Otherwise, there’s no point to giving up an asset or taking on salary for 4 month of Vonleh.

    Getting a better playoff seed so that you can try to win an NBA title is a good reason. Keeping your franchise center with a worrying injury history from playing too many minutes down the stretch is a good reason.

    We can substitute any names in the fantasy, shortsighted trade scenarios presented here daily with virtually identical results: any 2 of whatever available superstars will not be enough to make the Knicks into something better than a 45-50 win team.

    Ok, well then give me Kyrie and Kawhi on a pair of max deals (58% of the salary cap) and no, that ain’t Melo 2.0. That’s a potential 60 win team even if Tim Hardaway is the third banana.

    I assure everyone in this thread that the only people even thinking about Noah Vonleh are Knicks fans and staff. Even though he’s been pretty good, and surprisingly at that, he is not doing anything special beyond his defensive hustle and being an 8.6 PPG placeholder on offense. If he scored those points at Chandleresque efficiency, I’d say yeah, he’s a nice piece at 3/$15M, but no, this guy is largely irrelevant to the rest of the league. And he’s playing in a contract year, which I think you could surmise from the aggressiveness of his play alone.

    We’re talking about the best defensive player on the 29th-ranked DRtg team, on pace for a 19-63 season.

    We’re discussing it specifically because another team has reportedly shown interest in Vonleh – the Sixers.

    I’m guessing on this, but I think anyone that trades for Vonleh is not going to do it unless they have some understanding he’ll be back. Otherwise, there’s no point to giving up an asset or taking on salary for 4 month of Vonleh.

    there is for a team looking to make the playoffs that need rebounding, 3 point shooting from the 4 and a guy who has shown ability not to get embarrassed guarding Giannis….

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    The only fear you would have is that his new team would like him enough to want to keep him and since he’d most likely be traded to a good team, then the room exception from a good team likely beats the room exception from the Knicks.

    Why in the world would anyone give up anything of value for 40 games of Vonleh unless they have some sort of agreement he’s going to stay and are already thinking in those terms?

    If we trade him, he’s not coming back.

    As bob just noted, Vonleh is a useful player. Teams trade for useful players all the time without commitments that they’re returning the next season. Like the Pelicans’ trade for Mirotic last year (they only re-signed him after Cousins rebuffed them). And he cost a lot more than Vonleh will.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    there is for a team looking to make the playoffs that need rebounding, 3 point shooting from the 4 and a guy who has shown ability not to get embarrassed guarding Giannis….

    And they are going to make that trade and give up something of equal or better value for 40 games of Vonleh knowing full well he’s probably going back to the Knicks at the end of the season?

    They are going to talk to him and his agent and ask if he’d be willing to stay, talk about what kind of numbers they are thinking of etc.. and if it all sound like it will work out long term, THEN they will make the trade.

    That’s a potential 60 win team no matter who you put around them.

    There are zero teams currently on pace to win 60 this season. I know you were speaking from a Knicks stan perspective, but surely you don’t believe that Durant+Kyrie+three scrubs is going to be better than the best of this year’s teams. I mean, you have Durant+Curry+a deep team and they’re on pace for 56.

    Aside from the Warriors, here are the highest SRS teams of the decade:

    SAS 2015-16 10.28
    OKC 2012-13 9.15
    MIL 2018-19 9.06

    Milwaukee is slightly underperforming their pythag, but even then, they’d be like a 62-win team. There’s no chance that you can trot out Kyrie, 31-year-old Durant and three scrubs and win 60.

    We’re discussing it specifically because another team has reportedly shown interest in Vonleh – the Sixers.

    I thought those rumors were totally fabricated.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    As bob just noted, Vonleh is a useful player. Teams trade for useful players all the time without commitments that they’re returning the next season.

    I’ll take a different tact.

    IMO, it is extremely unlikely to expect that we will get back equal value for Vonleh now and then he’ll come back to NY. He’ll go somewhere he’ll be happy to stay long term and then he’ll stay there unless the new team is crazy or they have an opportunity for something even better next year. Either that or we aren’t going to get back good value for a player that’s a great fit.

    I’d be happy to be wrong, but if we trade him, I’m not expecting him back.

    IMO, it is extremely unlikely to expect that we will get back equal value for Vonleh now and then he’ll come back to NY. He’ll go somewhere he’ll be happy to stay long term and then he’ll stay there unless the new team is crazy or they have an opportunity for something even better next year. Either that or we aren’t going to get back good value for a player that’s a great fit.

    I’d be happy to be wrong, but if we trade him, I’m not expecting him back.

    The Knicks can’t offer Vonleh anything more than any other team can offer him this offseason, so if a good team wanted to add him, they’d already be out of luck under that logic. So then they might as well get whatever that can get for him now if he’s apparently going to want to play for a better team anyways.

    I thought those rumors were totally fabricated.

    I mean, if you believe that all rumors are inherently fake, I guess, but other than that, there’s no reason to believe Bondy made it up. He doesn’t have a bad rep for stuff like that.

    There’s no chance that you can trot out Kyrie, 31-year-old Durant and three scrubs and win 60.

    I think we’d still be in contention for a Finals appearance, though.

    Strat, respectfully, what the hell are you talking about? The concept of a trade deadline rental is extremely well-known throughout literally every American professional sport. The Yankees sure as hell didn’t demand an extension for Andrew McCutchen before trading minor assets for him, just to give one of countless possible examples.

    We went through this exact same scenario last year with O’Quinn. Once this year is up Vonleh is probably going to want to sign with a better team. There are no reasons at all for the Knicks to keep him through the end of the season.

    The more the arguments around here change, the more they stay the same…

    Bondy has been doing his poor mans Isola routine for few years now. His sources may be legit but he’s said things to rile up the fanbase before.

    Also seeing as how Noah Vonleh just signed a contract with only 100K guaranteed, I feel pretty good about predicting he’s going to sign with whoever offers him the most guaranteed money this summer. It can be a team that traded him, traded for him, never had him before, whatever. The man was staring down the end of his NBA career months ago. He’s going to cash in.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    @43

    I don’t think most guys “want” to uproot and leave unless they are unhappy where they are or they don’t get what’s available on the market. He’ll stay in NY if we offer him a fair deal. Of course, someone could offer him a ridiculous package that we can’t match and then we are screwed.

    I think you understand where I am coming from here.

    We will eventually need a strong PF that’s a high level rebounder to put next to KP. Vonleh is both of those things, He also defends well, is hitting 3s, and is young enough to get even better. I’m not so anxious to cash that chip when 5 minutes after we trade him we’ll be looking for the next version of him.

    Bondy has been doing his poor mans Isola routine for few years now. His sources may be legit but he’s said things to rile up the fanbase before.

    “The Sixers [who are currently playing Wilson Chandler at the 4] are interested in Noah Vonleh” doesn’t exactly sound like something that would rile up the fanbase, though, right? It just sounds like a dude passing on the pertinent fact that the Sixers are interested in Noah Vonleh.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    We went through this exact same scenario last year with O’Quinn. Once this year is up Vonleh is probably going to want to sign with a better team.

    O’Quinn wanted to stay. Our management didn’t want him at that price or at all (because they are nuts).

    Vonleh seems very happy here. Our management should want him to stay because he’s such a perfect fit.

    surely you don’t believe that Durant+Kyrie+three scrubs is going to be better than the best of this year’s teams. I mean, you have Durant+Curry+a deep team and they’re on pace for 56.

    I think you misread me. My example was:

    then give me Kyrie and Kawhi on a pair of max deals (58% of the salary cap)

    So it’s those two guys (not Durant) plus $45mm of assortable talent from what we’ve got here and what we can pick up.

    We can quibble about how many games a core of Kyrie, Hardaway, Kawhi, and Porzingis would win, and whether or not this year’s Warriors team cares enough to play to what their win total should be. But the point Archie Bunker was making is that even in fantasy land, we’re so pathetic that there is no combination of max free agents and current Knicks that would make this team better than Melo’s Knicks.

    He’ll stay in NY if we offer him a fair deal.

    If they sign a max free agent, the only deal they can offer him is the room exception, which essentially every other team in the NBA can offer him.

    If they don’t sign a max free agent, they’ll be able to offer him more than every other team.

    Neither deal changes whether he is on the Knicks at the end of this season or not.

    A Philly sports radio host named Jon Johnson has refuted the Sixers alleged interest in Vonleh. So, it is Bondy vs. Johnson on that. FWIW.

    Amazing that the Knicks have a wanted “terrorist” on the roster.

    Also seeing as how Noah Vonleh just signed a contract with only 100K guaranteed, I feel pretty good about predicting he’s going to sign with whoever offers him the most guaranteed money this summer. It can be a team that traded him, traded for him, never had him before, whatever. The man was staring down the end of his NBA career months ago. He’s going to cash in.

    I agree, but there’s a possibility he accepts slightly less money to be told he’s a day-one starter than a back-of-bench player. It would seem crazy for the high bidder to want him as a third-stringer, but this is the NBA, where Andrew Wiggins is owed $33.3M in 2023 and Kyle O’Quinn’s best offer was ostensibly just $300k higher than his declined player option.

    If you can get Durant and Irving together it’s a no-brainer, because then it gets a lot easier to fill the slots around them.

    It’s just the opposite: getting them mean losing cap flexibility and assets to negotiate or draft for a better support cast. That’s exactly what happened with Melo.

    Let’s say the Knicks get rid of everyone outside of Knox and Robinson to get those two and that somehow Lee wasn’t worth a first round pick anytime.

    You start with a Irving – Lee – Knox – Durant – Robinson lineup, with 84 million committed to these guys (35 for Durant, 30 for Irving, 12.7 for Lee, 4.4 for Knox, 1.6 for Mitch), leaving the Knicks with 25 million in cap space considering a max cap of 109 next season. Let’s say THJ somehow stays and Vonleh re-signs for 3 years 24 million, that leaves the Knicks just at the cap with these 7 players. And that’s all assuming Porzingis isn’t one of the players we keep (in which case THJ has to go), because with him the core looks even better.

    This is at best a 50-win team with NO bench.

    You can definitely build a very, very good team around this core and a potential contender is Porzingis stays and develops as a legit 3rd option. The 3rd and 4th year’s of Irving and KD’s contract would be scary if they regress as they get older, but it’s still a much, much, much better gamble than trading the farm for Carmelo Anthony.

    1. If Porzingis stays and becomes good, there is no money for everyone. Your scenario collapses right there.
    2. Knox, Robinson and Lee are scrubs. Add Hardaway and you have a pretty mediocre, capped out team without a bench, cap flexibility or assets to improve the roster in any significant manner. They would be hard-pressed to equal our Melo-led 53-win team.

    Screwed.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    If they sign a max free agent, the only deal they can offer him is the room exception, which essentially every other team in the NBA can offer him.

    If the Knicks sign a legit max free agent, the last thing I am going to be worried about is that we lost Vonleh for nothing. I’ll be taking a champagne bath. 🙂

    If they don’t sign a max free agent, they’ll be able to offer him more than every other team.

    I’m good with that.

    The bad scenario is we trade him, don’t get what I would consider a good deal given our needs, he stays with the new team, and all the elite free agents laugh their asses off when we ask for a meeting. The problem is, that’s probably the most likely scenario.

    I have no problem being completely wrong on all this, but I like Vonleh and I like the fit.

    The bad scenario is we trade him (Vonleh), don’t get what I would consider a good deal given our needs, he stays with the new team, and all the elite free agents laugh their asses off when we ask for a meeting.

    Implying that signing or not signing Vonleh is a determining fact on whether free agents come here or not is totally absurd.

    Is this the earliest we have devolved to talking about draft/trades rather than the team? It seems like the last “this team is fun” or words to that effect in a game thread were pre-Thanksgiving?

    O’Quinn wanted to stay. Our management didn’t want him at that price or at all (because they are nuts).

    Vonleh seems very happy here. Our management should want him to stay because he’s such a perfect fit

    Please don’t make things up.

    I agree, but there’s a possibility he accepts slightly less money to be told he’s a day-one starter than a back-of-bench player. It would seem crazy for the high bidder to want him as a third-stringer, but this is the NBA, where Andrew Wiggins is owed $33.3M in 2023 and Kyle O’Quinn’s best offer was ostensibly just $300k higher than his declined player option.

    Yeah maybe, but who’s going to offer him a more sizable role than the Knicks? If anything we’re the team that would benefit from this calculation.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    Implying that signing or not signing Vonleh is a determining fact on whether free agents come here or not is totally absurd.

    Who said that?

    I think we suck ass and no one elite in their right mind is going to want to come here this off season. So we are going to wind up doing “whatever” to rent that cap space out, sign other Mudiays, or overpay someone and lose out on signing a player that’s good, fits, and is young.

    Vonleh, like O’Quinn, Hernagomez and Cole Adrich before him, only matters in a terrible team like the current Knicks.

    Their sub-par dicks are valued only because they operate in a land of eunuchs. When they move to better lands, they fade into obscurity, where they belong.

    It seems like the last “this team is fun” or words to that effect in a game thread were pre-Thanksgiving?

    It’s been straight downhill since Mitch Rob got hurt.

    But hey, this board would probably be really boring if we were 10 games over 500%

    Who said that?

    You did. Read your entire post carefully and you will see the contradiction between the first and last paragraphs.

    I think we suck ass and no one in their right mind is going to want to come here this off season. So we are going to wind up dong “whatever” to rent that cap space out or overpay someone and lose out on signing a player that’s good, fits, and is young.

    ‘Losing out’ on Vonleh is not losing out. He is a scrub, an active participant in making the Knicks as bad as they are.

    Cole Aldrich had a rotation role on a 53 win team. Cashed it in for a nice 3/$22m deal. Who the hell knows what went on in Minnesota but the Aldrich-stans definitely came out on top.

    Yeah maybe, but who’s going to offer him a more sizable role than the Knicks? If anything we’re the team that would benefit from this calculation.

    Agreed — I was just saying that there’s a possibility he doesn’t take the highest dollar offer. I really don’t care if he comes back or not (although, like, vet’s min over 4 years would be cool), just saying that he might give up guaranteed money for a shot at another contract in three years. If he rides the pine at his next destination, I think his career is over at 27.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    You did. Read your entire post carefully and you will see the contradiction between the first and last paragraphs.

    Perhaps I wasn’t clear, but you misunderstood. I see Vonleh as a solid 2-way player with upside and as a perfect fit. He’s probably the 2nd best player on our team right now, but no one is not going to come to NY over Vonleh. lmao

    I would just like to start the process of getting better before I die of old age. He was a good add. We don’t need some future late 1st rounder or semi-bust player that won’t be good for years and probably won’t even be as good or as good a fit as Vonleh anyway.

    Cole Aldrich had a rotation role on a 53 win team. Cashed it in for a nice 3/$22m deal.

    Cole Aldrich never started a single game outside our sorry-ass Knicks. Oh, sorry! He did start 5 for the Clippers!!!!!

    As far as money, Melo, Hardaway, Eddy Curry, Ron Baker, Lance Thomas and countless others got multi-million, multi-year contracts. Does not tell you how bad or good those guys are, does not make them into anything more than grossly overpaid players.

    Cole Aldrich had a rotation role on a 53 win team. Cashed it in for a nice 3/$22m deal. Who the hell knows what went on in Minnesota but the Aldrich-stans definitely came out on top.

    Summer of ’16 was the craziest NBA shit I’ve ever seen. Love Cole, but what the fuck were, like, half of the leagues team’s thinking?

    https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2016/6/30/12052290/nba-free-agent-signings-tracker-2016-rumors

    What a crazy list. Amid all of the huge-dollar contracts that have turned into veritable dumpster fires, who the fuck is Andrew Nicholson, and why are the Blazers paying him $2.8M through the summer of 2024?

    I see Vonleh as a solid 2-way player with upside and as a perfect fit. He’s probably the 2nd best player on our team right now, but no one is not going to come to NY over Vonleh. lmao

    Being the second-best player on the Knicks is like being the second best baseball player in Monaco.

    I would just like to start the process of getting better before I die of old age. He was a good add. We don’t need some future late 1st rounder or semi-bust player that won’t be good for years and probably won’t even be as good or as good a fit as Vonleh anyway.

    I agree – but he should be valued in a realistic manner. The Knicks can’t afford to be giving Ron Baker-type contracts to scrubs, even if they look semi-ok, like Vonleh in this contract year when he is playing for his basketball life.

    Cole Aldrich never started a single game outside our sorry-ass Knicks. Oh, sorry! He did start 5 for the Clippers!!!!!

    Ah yes that most advanced of statistics: games started

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    I know Aldrich is a favorite of this group, but he is not and never was a “good” player. He was a guy that could come in for a few minutes of high energy basketball and get rebounds and blocks without being much of a liability to the offense or defense in other ways. He was good for spot minutes, but he wasn’t a guy that was going to give you 30-36 minutes a night of play like that.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    Being the second-best player on the Knicks is like being the second best baseball player in Monaco.

    lmao

    I get what you are saying, but apparently I think he’s better than you do.

    Ah yes that most advanced of statistics: games started

    Yeah, we should paint him in a better light with a more advanced metric, like how many rebounds per minute during the first quarter (remember he couldn’t play more than 10 minutes without almost fainting?) against teams with a 28-42 record in games played on Sunday nights broadcast on national television by TNT, not ESPN.

    I do like that all the people who argued that Cole was only good because he was on a bad team lost that argument decisively and just keep making the same argument years later like nothing happened.

    ‘Losing out’ on Vonleh is not losing out. He is a scrub, an active participant in making the Knicks as bad as they are.

    So all players on a bad team are bad?

    I would like just one example of a player who was traded by a team and then that summer resigned with them as a free agent. Time and time again people say “oh we can trade him for cap relief or a second round pick and then just resign him in the summer” but I can’t think of one example where a team did this successfully.

    So all players on a bad team are bad?

    I will disappear anyone who talks shit on KOQ

    Max free agent(s) this summer mean trading away alternating year picks and rookies to try and aquire sub-par talent to put around them and a team that tops out at 42 wins for two years before said FAs exercise their player options (you thought they’d come here without those? Ha!) and we’re stuck doing this shit all over again having moved several years backwards with a couple of first round crashouts to show for it.

    Kyrie went to a good Celtics team that’s now struggling. Leonard went to a good Raptors team that’s doing very well. Durant went to the best team ever and didn’t make it much better. None of these guys are LeBron, none of them can change a team completely. Except maybe Butler, he has the ability to make everybody much less happy.

    The Knicks are what? Two years into a rebuild? The last public word from the FO was backing off of the idea that’d they’d sign a big free agent this summer. Yet at Knickerblogger even some pro-rebuild folks have jumped onto the Just One Superstar bandwagon. We’ve seen this show before. It ends in bitterness and aggressive apathy.

    Cole was good on a per minute basis but he had terrible stamina. I don’t think he could last playing 28 minutes every night.

    Knickerblogger is great but its so small that one pathetic troll could ruin almost every thread.

    I would like just one example of a player who was traded by a team and then that summer resigned with them as a free agent. Time and time again people say “oh we can trade him for cap relief or a second round pick and then just resign him in the summer” but I can’t think of one example where a team did this successfully.

    The Hornets traded Brian Roberts for Courtney Lee in 2016 and then re-signed Roberts in the offseason.

    Durant went to the best team ever and didn’t make it much better.

    I mean… going from 10.19 SRS to 11.35 is a feat in itself. That’s a huge gap at the far end of the bell curve. 2nd-best, just behind the GOAT ’96 Bulls, in the 3-point era.

    Reminded me of this post I made back in April 2017, which I’ll quote because I spent like 10 minutes in Excel to write it.

    http://knickerblogger.net/knicks-morning-news-2017-04-20/#comment-578800

    Warriors were #1 in PPP with 1.156. League average was 1.088.

    Standard deviation from mean: 0.0332

    PPP with Durant on floor: 1.212 (what the fuck)
    PPP without Durant on floor 1.114 (ranked 7th)

    The Warriors were 0.72 standard deviations from mean without Durant on the floor. This is about a ~75th percentile team given a normal distribution (bell curve). Combined with their #2 ranked PPP defense, that’s a recipe for a good team.

    With Durant? 3.73 standard deviations from mean. 99.9th percentile.

    This isn’t all that scientific, but they were much, much, much better on offense with Durant on the floor. They are a great team without him, but a legendary one with him.

    Also they went 16-1 in the playoffs, the best % in league history just ahead of the 15-1 Lakers, who swept the 5th, 2nd and 1st SRS teams in the West and then dominated the 7th-ranked Sixers for a laughably-easy title. The Warriors arguably had an easier path to the Finals (16th, 5th, 2nd and 7th) but a sweep is a sweep.

    Durant made the Warriors substantially better despite the weaker regular season record, which was very lucky in 2015-16 (+8 EWL).

    actually there’s a huge one — didn’t mcdyess get traded to phx then resign with Denver the next year?

    actually there’s a huge one — didn’t mcdyess get traded to phx then resign with Denver the next year?

    That was before the season, though. If you expand it to count guys like that, there are a few other examples. Also, obviously, back in the days when teams were allowed to re-sign guys who were waived by the team that they were traded to, guys would return to their original team all the time, but that’s also different from this very specific “traded midseason and then resigned after the season” scenario.

    But obviously, as noted, there were two examples that fit that scenario (Roberts and Harris) in just the last three years alone.

    Frankly, the Cole stuff is getting me more and more willing to use the ban hammer without checking with Mike (I typically like to let Mike make the final call on bans). That’s just too specific of a reference for me to buy “not a ban evader.”

    EDITED TO ADD: Looking back over that November 25th thread, yeah, coupled with the almost certain ban evasion, that’s enough for me.

    I’m interested to know what people think is the % chance Vonleh signs with us assuming we don’t trade him vs. the chances he signs with us given that we do trade him. If it’s like 25% vs. 15% I think you have to realllllllllly like Noah Vonleh to think a 10% chance at being the team that has the privilege of paying his next contract is worth turning down any kind of significant asset.

    Yeah, who doesn’t know what “factorial” means but seems to have photographic memory of which longtime KBers liked Cole Aldrich?

    I wonder which old-timey Knick troll this is.

    Why did the Grizzlies trade a future first round pick in 2016 for Deyonta Davis and Rade Zagorac?

    Yeah, who doesn’t know what “factorial” means but seems to have photographic memory of which longtime KBers liked Cole Aldrich?

    I wonder which old-timey Knick troll this is.

    Looking at his old posts, I think I recall wanting to ban him with his second post, since it was in 2018 and it was also about dissing Cole, which is something you’d only do if you were a poster here. The lesson here, of course, is not to mock Cole Aldrich. 😉

    Why did the Grizzlies trade a future first round pick in 2016 for Deyonta Davis and Rade Zagorac?

    This is a trick question, which I know because those are not real people and you made them up with your mind.

    Losing out on the #2 pick of one of the best drafts ever in exchange for Otis Thorpe is one thing, but losing out on a lottery pick so that you could play Deyonta Davis for two seasons is just mind-boggling.

    I was thinking about how frequently a bad team is just the result of bad luck, and the first example that came to mind was Greg Oden. I couldn’t remember who drafted him, so looked it up and saw it was Portland. Oden AND Brandon Roy – that’s some bad luck. And yet they have still generally been good!

    So a good FO can overcome bad luck, it seems.

    Kyle O’Quinn was the best Knick since Tyson Chandler send tweet

    Brian I think you may have it confused though the truth is not much better. Memphis traded for those two early seconds (31 and 35) from the celts for a Clippers first this year or next which is lottery protected or never conveys.

    but the Celtics also have the grizzlies first this year because Chris Wallace wanted Jeff Green. that pick is top 8 protected.

    the confusing/funny part is the reason Memphis has the clips 1sr to begin with is because doc rivers wanted jeff green from Chris wallace.

    let’s hope Kevin knox doesn’t become a similar Rube Goldberg litmus test for gm competence, because a version of future him similarly fits the type.

    Gotcha, thanks, that makes a lot more sense. I mean, it’s stupid, but it makes more sense than trading a future first for those two guys.

    Deyonta Davis has a 60% ts%. That is factorial.

    Bradley Beal is going to score 50 on us. Book it.

    Durant made the Warriors substantially better despite the weaker regular season record

    Acknowledged and accepted. Is Durant plus KP worth more than 20 additional wins combined? Cause 40 might get us to the playoffs in the east but there’s a lot of competition at that level.

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