The Z-Bo I’m Coming Home commercial potential should be a major consideration too.

“Ten years ago I was traded for a guy who would drop dead if he ever stepped foot on a basketball court…

…And now I’m coming home!”

Yeah, I hope the FO is fine with simply dumping Lee instead of holding out for an actual asset of value. Also suspect Thibs may prefer James Johnson to Olynyk, but I don’t see Miami having much of a preference between the two so long as they land Jimmy.

The market for sharp shooting 2 guards isn’t weak at all right now….. just the market for Lee is because he is a grossly overpaid and well below average starting nba 2 guard. Just because he wears and orange and blue uniform doesn’t enhance his value above his production over time.

When Lee was signed we paid what appeared to be a reasonable price given the market conditions, his productivity, and the expected growth rate in the cap. At that time teams were projecting significant growth in the cap. That got built into salaries. The cap did not grow as fast as expected. So some of those salaries are now a higher percentage of the cap than was expected at the time of the signings. That’s why it’s harder to move them. A few other players of similar productivity were moved and it wasn’t easy. Lee is a good player.

Well, I have no issues at all hurting Courtney Lee’s feelings. This team gave him a 4 year 48 million deal which was, at age 31, double the AAV of the second biggest contract in his career, a deal no other team would have given him, and a deal no one else wants to touch apparently. He, his agent and his family should be grateful for eternity to the Knicks and Phil Jackson for gifting him this deal. The same goes for Lance and his absurd contract.

I’m not even saying don’t play Lee at all, he’s still a decent enough player. But I was talking much more about just not playing him 30+ minutes like last season, while you’re talking like I’m proposing Marburying him.

The Sixers threw away every veteran they had for nothing, the Celtics traded freaking Paul Pierce to the Nets for picks, the Raptors traded DeMar DeRozan when he wanted to stay. Hell, we are stretch waiving Noah, a guy who wants to play and is supposedly healthy, and you’re telling me the Knicks will suffer substantially if Courtney Lee plays 15 minutes instead of 30? Merit should not matter over the long term future of the franchise, and if Courtney Lee, a guy who was traded 5 times and played for 7 NBA franchises gets hurt because of that, well, that’s his problem.

https://t.co/NKelc2SUhd

MIA gets: Butler
MIN gets: Olynyk, Richardson and Lee
SAC gets: Dieng and MIA 2019 FRP
NYK gets: Z-Bo’s expiring and MIN 2019 2nd round pick (would be willing to give this to Sac if it’s a sticking point)

MIA gets Butler so their motivation is obvious.

MIN adds two younger, cost controlled pieces and a vet wing who can shoot to supplement their core around KAT+Wiggins. They also shaves $1.5m off their cap bill which gives them more space from the tax threshold.

SAC gets a 1st and maybe a 2nd for just helping facilitate by eating a contract.

NYK dumps Lee to create more space for next summer (Thibs had interest in Lee the summer we signed him) and maybe get a 2nd or don’t.

We didn’t trade KOQ likely because there wasn’t any market for him despite what some stats say.

I wasn’t basing that off what “stats say.” There were multiple reports that the Warriors had interest, and it’s not like they’d be allowed to send back nothing. I also doubt they were the only team that had interest but that doesn’t matter much.

Not sure what your point is with regards to his next contract. If you’ve been following the NBA market you already know that non-max players are getting increasingly squeezed, as are “traditional” big men. Combine those factors and you get KOQ signing for 1/$4.5m.

It’s not like I thought we could’ve gotten back an unprotected first for the guy, but literally anything is better than keeping him for 20 more games or whatever and then letting him walk. I will never understand how people can think that this team, in its current state, has the luxury of being able to pass up assets of any size.

If we didn’t trade KOQ who was young, productive, and cheap I see no reason to think we’ll move Lee or Kanter or anyone else.

We didn’t trade KOQ likely because there wasn’t any market for him despite what some stats say.

He was a UFA and “commanded” a whopping 4.49M one year deal. That is his perceived value by 30 GM’s around the league. There are a lot of bright GM’s that passed on him for a pittance as an UFA….

I’m sure they are trying to do that given the current direction, but you don’t give away a good 2 way player for less than he’s worth because the market is a little weak right now. Selling low is not how you get better.

The market for sharp shooting 2 guards isn’t weak at all right now….. just the market for Lee is because he is a grossly overpaid and well below average starting nba 2 guard. Just because he wears and orange and blue uniform doesn’t enhance his value above his production over time.

But developing players and losing is also not incompatible, that’s my point. I agree of course that you can develop players and win games, but why the hell would you give less opportunities to your young players to get into game situations and face good opponents in order to play Lance Thomas, a guy who’s probably a net negative anyway?

I’m not going to get into detailed minutes for each player, but this gets into the spreadsheet vs. human being debate.

Some things that make perfect sense on a spreadsheet or in basketball terms don’t make sense when you realize you are dealing with players, agents, careers. perceptions around the league etc…

So for example, let’s just say Courtney Lee is the best SG on the team and you bench him to get Damyean Dotson minutes behind Frank and Hardaway. That might make some sense in terms of player development. You are benching the best player because he’s older and not part of the long term plan (same with Lance Thomas). The problem is you are basically saying that merit does not matter and we don’t care about you, your career, your family, your next contract, your agent or what other players around the league think. We only care about player development. That’s going to cause issues in the locker room and with his agent.

Of course the counter is “just trade him”.

I’m sure they are trying to do that given the current direction, but you don’t give away a good 2 way player for less than he’s worth because the market is a little weak right now. Selling low is not how you get better.