The salary cap for summer 2012 will not go down from last year’s $58 Million value, barring some kind of renegotiation of the terms of the owner’s “last” proposal/ultimatum to the players. They have agreed that in year’s 1 and 2 of the new CBA that the cap will not be any lower than the $58 Million in summer 2010…it will likely be around $58 Million or possibly be slightly higher, but the new CBA will stipulate it only begin to go down in accordance with the new BRI split as of Year #3 (much like sign-and-trades for luxury tax teams were to remain for years 1 and 2 but disappear in year 3). Of course, all of this is subject to possible modification made as the sides continue to negotiate.

Given that the players rejected the last proposal and that in order to settle to pending class-action lawsuit the owners will likely be the side that needs to yield, I doubt this condition that the cap remain the the same in the first 2 years is re-negotiated. If anything, it is more likely that owners allow sign and trades to continue throughout the duration of the next CBA, but that, of course, is still up in the air.

I knew the sign and trade would have the two year leeway period and I knew that they would have leeway to get their money down for luxury tax purposes, but I didn’t know that they would slowly bring the cap down, as well. Thanks for the head’s up! Then fair enough, they would, indeed, still have enough money to theoretically sign Paul (if they renounce all their other players and if Paul takes less than max).

Your points are fair. I don’t think it is fair to assume that D-Will was available (or that the Knicks offer would have trumped the Nets offer unless the Nets signed Melo). I personally like Melo more than either D-Will or CP3 (only because of his knees) but I won’t fault anyone who thinks otherwise. The bottom line for me is that the Melo deal was doable at the time while everything else was hypothetical and may not have panned out (see: LeBron).

Ultimately, we are no longer debating what originally led to this exchange, which was @85?s premise. Whether we “maxed out” on the situation is debatable; whether this team is going to be fun to watch or is on the upswing, in my opinion, is not. I am more psyched to watch this version of the Knicks and more optimistic about the future than I have been in a long, long time.

I think it is fair to note that D-Will was going to be a free agent target in 2012, so he was likely going to be available, but I agree that they could not have expected that the Jazz would have put him on the block that early.

Anyhow, yeah, don’t get me wrong – I am totally cool with the team as it currently is. I’m pumped for the upcoming season (if we even get it, that is). and yes, it is awesome getting to root for a team that is more likely than not going to make the playoffs. And if things click – they could definitely cause some damage (come on, Chauncey, I have faith in you!).

Given that the players rejected the last proposal and that in order to settle to pending class-action lawsuit the owners will likely be the side that needs to yield, I doubt this condition that the cap remain the the same in the first 2 years is re-negotiated. If anything, it is more likely that owners allow sign and trades to continue throughout the duration of the next CBA, but that, of course, is still up in the air.

Ultimately, we are no longer debating what originally led to this exchange, which was @85′s premise. Whether we “maxed out” on the situation is debatable; whether this team is going to be fun to watch or is on the upswing, in my opinion, is not. I am more psyched to watch this version of the Knicks and more optimistic about the future than I have been in a long, long time.

Now since then, I disagree that they are more viable now than they would be had they not done the Melo trade. Or rather, I don’t think it is clear cut. Before the trade, the Knicks were under the cap. Thus, they could have done a sign and trade for Paul, using some of the pieces they used to get Melo. Or heck, used some of the pieces to get D-Will. Paul/D-Will and Amar’e is a more viable basis for a contender than Melo/Amar’e. And they would take up less cap space, which is important considering the smaller cap.

The new CBA should allow us to sign CP3 with the cap apace freed up by Billups’ expiring and some little things here and there. So in that sense, plan B is very much alive. This is not to say that getting CP3 and his creaky knees, along with Amare’s balky back, would guarantee a championship, or even a finals appearance, not with Miami in the way, but I would like our chances way more than if we had stood pat and not made the trades going back to McGrady.

If we could somehow defy the odds and land Dwight Howard, that’s a whole other story.

The bigger point is that without the trades, the POSSIBILITY of getting CP3 doesn’t exist.

I don’t see what there is to support that claim besides a general “CP3 will only play with Melo and Amar’e,” which, obviously cannot be true because other than the Knicks there isn’t a team where all three players realistically could play together. So who knows what would have happened. He sure doesn’t seem to want to stay in New Orleans.

Walsh made trades to clear cap space and signed Amare to try to get LeBron. When that didn’t work out, the Knicks went to plan B, which was to sign Melo and clear enough cap space to bring in another top player, e.g.CP3.

Plan B was a reasonable decision. I agree that Walsh’s Plan B made sense. Of course, they didn’t actually do Plan B.

Also, to characterize this team as a capped-out collection of overpaid false superstars and scrubs with no young guys that have upside and no draft picks is just plain wrong. We still have plenty of maneuverability, some picks, and Fields, Shump, TD, Jorts, Jordan, Extra E and Bill Walker (not that all these guys are signed) have varying degrees of upside.

I agree – they have young guys with upside. But I disagree on manueverability. We shall see what the system looks like when (if?) the CBA gets signed, though.

It is odd that the naysayers hold fast to the promise that we would have been better off without these deals. Even OKC has had some luck. If Portland drafts Durant and they draft Oden, where are they? (PS if I recall, quite a few prominent posters here hated Durant, even into his rookie year) Also, to characterize this team as a capped-out collection of overpaid false superstars and scrubs with no young guys that have upside and no draft picks is just plain wrong. We still have plenty of maneuverability, some picks, and Fields, Shump, TD, Jorts, Jordan, Extra E and Bill Walker (not that all these guys are signed) have varying degrees of upside.