Knox doesn’t seem like a high-ceiling player to me. To me, he seems like a scoring wing who is not going to stuff the boxscore in other ways, and will be a passable at best defender. That is not a super high ceiling. His ceiling is “good one-way player.” His floor is that he busts entirely, never raises his scoring efficiency and STILL has no secondary skills.

Who do you think will be a more impactful player in 3-4 years?

So, the big gamble is that we didn’t take Mikal even though Knox has a much higher ceiling . . . and probably a slightly lower floor? lol.

Oh sure, if you decide that Mikal had a slightly higher floor than Knox, despite him clearly having a much higher floor, then yes, Knox does seem like a more logical choice there. You probably shouldn’t do that, since Mikal has a much higher floor than Knox, but if you did do that, then the Knox pick would look better.

But if we don’t give one out in 2019, and hold back that space, we can probably get to a max plus some meaningful additional money that summer.

“Hold…back” on spending? That doesn’t sound like something I’ve heard from the Knicks before and I don’t know if Mills knows it, either.

Kawhi and Kyrie both are due the 30% max – around $32m in 2019.

So the answer to your question – we could definitely get to a 25% max slot in 2019 if we stretch Noah, and probably find our way to a 30% max slot. But we can’t edtend KP or sign anyone else not already on the roster past 2019.

In 2020 we’ll have KP, THj, Knox and, assuming we extend the QO, Frank. If we max KP that’s around $57m to four guys. Add in the 2020 pick and it’s already very unlikely we can find two max slots that summer. But if we don’t give one out in 2019, and hold back that space, we can probably get to a max plus some meaningful additional money that summer.

In 2019 the cap is expected to be $108m. So a ‘mini-max’ – a max for a younger player – is about $27m. If we hold off signing KP, waive Lance, sign no-one for more than 1 year this summer, we owe around $75m to 5 players in the summer of 2019. But our space will be reduced by Knox, Mitchell, our 2019 pick hold and 4 min roster charges. If we’d pick 9th again, these will total around $13m, so we’d have about $20m in space.

This can increase if we stretch Noah (save $11m) trade Lee (save up to $12m).

Opting out seems nuts, unless he has a promise from some team. I just pray that’s not the Knicks.

“He said he couldn’t shoot,” D’Antoni said, “but he came in and had almost a picture-perfect shot, and we think that can get a lot better.

“He had one of the best workouts that I’ve seen in a lot of years. He’s a little bit of everything. He can play point, he can play the 2, he can guard some 3s. He’s an exciting young man. His personality and his ability to work hard are big factors, and we’re excited about having him.”

So the Knicks brass looked at Iman Shumpert’s shot in a workout and said “yep, that’s almost picture perfect.”

“His workout was one of the best we’ve ever had here,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said at Shumpert’s introductory news conference. “When we were here, all the coaches, some of the scouts and the front office all kind of turned together at the same time and said, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’ From Day 1, we were pretty sold on him.”

Shumpert’s defensive athleticism, sorely needed on a team that was among the worst defensively in the league last season, was his known asset. Shumpert has a 42-inch vertical leap and a 6-foot-10 wingspan. His shooting, however, was regarded as something of a question mark.

But Shumpert, who averaged 17.3 points and 3.5 assists last season, helped dispel that notion during the workout. The Knicks said they believed that his shot was smooth and that his scoring ability had been undersold. The 6-5 Shumpert can play at either guard spot, too, adding needed depth.

Guhhhh