Is Scott Perry A Good GM? Let’s Find Out Together!

Quinn Cook.
Take that basketball gods.

Mavs and Porzingis have reached agreement on a new 5-year, $158 million deal, per
@TheSteinLine

Second round pick and now has made $180 million. Wow.

Who watched the Warriors and thought, “Quinn Cook is good”?

Perry has not done much to make the team better other than what was handed to him.

Well yeah, the team that was handed to him needed to be burnt down with the Earth salted beneath it. It had Carmelo Anthony and Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee. Was he supposed to build on that foundation? Getting worse in the short term to have a chance at getting good in the long term was 100% the right call.

The Nets won out because they made very good draft picks with the picks they got from taking on salary dumps while we were signing Arron Afflalo. That’s it. That’s the lesson. We didn’t hoard enough assets. Hopefully that changes.

From what I understand on this blog, the President merely has big sweeping general ideas about what players to get, things like “get guys who really fit into the team concept” and “get guys who move the ball” and “get guys who pass out of the pinch post” but it’s not really their responsibility to know who those players are. That is the job of the scapegoat, erm, GM.

They found a really good coach for a developing team.

Right? Fizdale does not seem to be that guy.

From the way things are looking right now Perry is about to go from a “C” to an “F.”

Just about every rumor I have heard has tied the Knicks to some bullshit useless player.

rubio to the suns is a surprise

He fits there a lot better than Indy. Rubio didn’t make any sense in Indiana. They need shooting.

so pacers paid $85/4 for brogdon plus gave up a 1st and two 2nds?

The Pelicans are doing a really good job. Griffin does seem like a sharp GM.

Durant and Kyrie wanted to play together. Before the injury, Durant, who had more sway would have dragged Kyrie here, after the injury Kyrie had more sway and dragged Durant there. I don’t think this is because of the Nets brilliant team building. Their supporting cast isn’t better than ours. I wouldn’t trade Robinson and Barrett for the entire Nets team. Allen is good, Robinson is better and I would take Barrett on a rookie deal over 17 million for Dinweddie and Harris and the rest of the team. Kurocs and Lavert look okay but I would still take Barrett’s potential over theirs.

85 for 4 seems like a solid contract for Brogdon.

Jazz adding Bogdanovic to Conley is a pretty good summer for them.

Pretty high cost for Brogdon, 4/86 plus a 1RP and two 2RPs. Pacers will be one of the better teams in the East though.

Their supporting cast isn’t better than ours. I wouldn’t trade Robinson and Barrett for the entire Nets team. Allen is good, Robinson is better and I would take Barrett on a rookie deal over 17 million for Dinweddie and Harris and the rest of the team. Kurocs and Lavert look okay but I would still take Barrett’s potential over theirs.

Their supporting cast was a playoff team while the Knicks supporting cast is Robinson, a bunch of crap and Barrett. Their supporting cast is considerably better, even if Robinson is the best player out of everyone involved.

The way I understand it, the role and power of the president and GM can vary from team to team, but generally the president is responsible for “all” basketball operations of the team and the GM is more involved with players, agents, contracts, and transactions. The GM works with the president to help build a theoretically shared vision for the team.

Echoing the great post @15, I am downright terrified about Dolan’s reaction. It’s almost reassuring that they’ll be soooo much better than us that Dolan can’t possibly think we can upstage them…right?

Dolan may get upset about it, but I really don’t see Durant and Irving going to Brooklyn as an indictment of current management. They both obviously want live in NY. That gave them a choice of two teams. They picked the better team. The weird thing to me was why so many thought they should prefer the Knicks. Phil fiddled while the Nets rebuilt, that’s why they signed there. The most frustrating thing for me is that we had Atkinson on our staff and let him go (for Hornacek, I think).

That’s a lot for Brogdon but I HATE when really, really good teams hemorrhage key pieces for no reason other than cost. It’s not like they’re opening any flexibility, to my knowledge. Just lighting an asset on fire because the Edens family doesn’t actually care that much.

David Aldridge
@davidaldridgedc
The Knicks, obviously punched in the gut, have to move on and build a squad. Expect them to go the depth route now, trying to sign several among vets like Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, George Hill, Reggie Bullock, others.

I reserve the right to change my rating from “C” to “D”.

Because if there’s one thing a 17-win team needs, it’s depth.

spending that much money on basically role players is just reqlly irresponsible….

you could maybe justify breaking the bank for one but not both and i can appreciate why they drew the line…

theres really no way brogdon justifies that deal… and i actually like him…

Signing guys on cheapish deals that other teams might value is not all that bad.

Signing guys after the initial feeding frenzy so that prices come down isn’t bad either. For example, if someone else wants to overpay Randle, let them have him. If not, sign him on a fair market (in a typical year, not a year when everyone has cap space) deal.

So far, we haven’t done anything obviously dumb.

As I’m blogging, the movie Cast Away is on in the background. Somehow it feels appropriate for the mood.

The Nets were a playoff team with Russell. Without Russell, they would have won 35 games and missed the playoffs. They gave up their best player to add Kyrie and Durant. They are not joining a playoff team.

As I’m blogging, the movie Cast Away is on in the background. Somehow it feels appropriate for the mood.

I think “He’s Just Not That Into You” would have been more appropriate

Yeah, the Pacers trade for Brogdon is a lot more iffy than the Bucks just matching it for plenty of reasons.

If the rumors out there are true, well, meet the new front office, same as the last 10.

Yeah, ptmilo, so many of these deals are huge risks. Staying quiet for now is smart, no?

It is a little too smart. #dolansrazor

i haven’t seen any great deals (aminu was pretty cheap actually, that deal will be easy to trade, which might be important bc orlando now has 17 forwards), so i’m not crying about our whiffs. i’m worried that we going to pay real money to some 3noD 28 yr old like bullock

Dan Wetzel
@DanWetzel
·
1h
It takes years of work to be so toxic that you can’t give NBA stars $200 million to play for the Knicks. Quite a remarkable accomplishment for James Dolan.

Indeed

Wow, a ton of action happening in the 1st hour of free agency. Here’s the stuff I’ve seen that we didn’t already know about:

JJ Reddick to New Orleans for 2yrs/$26.5M

Derrick Rose to Detroit for 2yrs/$15M

Ricky Rubio to Phoenix for 3yrs/$25M

Thaddeus Young to Chicago for 3yrs/$41M

Bojan Bogdanovich to Utah for 4yrs/$73M

Malcolm Brogdon to Indiana for 4yrs/$85M

Jonas Valancunas to Memphis for 3yrs/$45M

Terrence Ross to Orlando for 4yrs/$54M

Dewayne Dedmon to Scramento for 3yrs/$41M

Jeremy Lamb to Indiana for 3yrs/$31.5M

A lot of bad contracts being given out but luckily none by us (yet)! Some teams with cap space 2 or 3 years from now are going to make a killing in draft picks taking these bad contracts off teams hands.

Dedmon got $14M AAV!? Brogdon got $21M AAV!? TERRENCE ROSS? He has 3.5 career VORP!!!!!!!!!!

RENT THE CAP SPACE

THERE WILL BE NO BARGAINS ON THIS DAY

The Nets were a playoff team with Russell. Without Russell, they would have won 35 games and missed the playoffs. They gave up their best player to add Kyrie and Durant. They are not joining a playoff team.

Even if you believe that, then that means they’re joining a 35-win team versus a 17-win team plus Barrett. The first team is obviously better than the second team. Like, so obviously that it is a weird thing to even bring up.

Ricky Rubio to Phoenix for 3yrs/$25M

$51 million.

Please God let us facilitate deals for draft picks.

Can’t this board just run the fucking team already Dolan?

D’Angelo Russell on a minimax looks like better value than every single one of those contracts.

Isn’t that amazing? I don’t even like DLo that much, but wow, he’s so much better than most of these guys.

Keep your wallet in your pants tonight, Knicks. Summer League is coming. Wilkes, Hinton, Lamar Peters and Wooten are worth a look.

i think it’s important to not anchor on what actually is a good or decent contract…. there’s a lot of cap room out there and within there’s a big disconnect between actual and perceived value….

like jonas at 15mm per is not that bad of a deal… that’s pretty good for a decent big these days… but that’s probably not good for a team like the knicks…. for the grizz? not sure about that either but in a vacuum that’s ‘deece’….

thaddeus young for 10mm is also really good in a vacuum… for whatever reason he keeps signing for really decent value and he’s a pretty good piece…. but for the bulls… that’s kind of a questionable deal for them….

The Knicks are literally running out of stupid things to do. Someone sign Randle and Mudiay quick!

@70

Sorry, yeah. Don’t know where the hell I got $25M from.

@66

These contracts are crazy! Just happy that so far there haven’t been any strong rumors tying us to any FA. Hope to god we rent out this cap space for future assets.

Indiana and Utah made some pretty interesting moves, and the Pelicans could potentially become a nice team eventually too if Zion is good right away. A lot of weird moves too, like was Dedmon that much in demand? Terrence Ross???

How much are they paying DJ? God I hope its something like 4yrs/$72M.

Ok so Tobias and Middleton are re-signing thank god. All we have to dodge now is Cousins pretty much, and Randle.

We can help the Heat clear space so they don’t have to do a sign and trade with Russell, and we can help the Wolves clear space (NOT Wiggins, Teague and Dieng) for Russell.

Anything else I’m missing? That could net a nice haul.

oh my god knicks are so pathetically full of shit. saying they refused to offer durant the max.

@91
Never Mind the Bullocks, Sign the Sex Pistols!

Nah, they’re too busy talking about how they spurned Durant than actually doing something useful.

I thought Russell was going to Charlotte as part of a three way deal with Brooklyn and Boston. Am I wrong?

@98
I think Charlotte got Rozier?

It’s the stuff like “we weren’t prepared to offer KD the max” (*) BS that depresses. Everyone knows he rejected you, not the other way around. Just take your medicine, shut up, don’t do stupid shit in response, and move on. No one believes you and this isn’t going to make you less of a media laughingstock; it’s going to make you more of one.

(I’m a longtime admirer and reader by the way, newbie poster.)

(*) In retrospect, “Jim wants to look at KD’s medical records before offering the max” was a big tell in this.

The MSG spin has begun!! The Warriors were prepared to offer KD the full 5yr max but the Knicks weren’t gonna offer him the 4yr max cause they’re smarter than the Warriors….

i don’t think folks really appreciate how much cap space there is out there… i mean whatever deal we could get to ‘rent out’ space there’s just a lot of competition for that… two-thirds of the league is currently below the cap… and you really only have 2 teams (wolves and thunder) to 3 (maybe miami now)… who would actively look to dump something…. and their picks aren’t really that valuable….

taking on wiggins for even a couple of late firsts is DEFINITELY not worth it….. adams is a bit more enticing but again… late firsts are not really worth it for him and his contract…. and i’m just spitballing with miami because i don’t really see anyone else.. esp since butler’s out of play for houston….

is renting out space really all that great given THAT market?

@100. Thanks. I’m sure you are right. I misremembered

I’m fine with Randle. but after seeing these deals; he’s going to be 4 years, 85M, which seems like a lot

With Randle at least they get better at offense and it would be hard to get worse on defense (but I concede m, it’s conceivable they could find a way)

And the max is like half or a third of what KD would get paid in an actual open market. JFC.

Are we trying to save face or is this real??
The New York Knicks and owner James Dolan were unwilling to extend a maximum contract offer to free-agent superstar Kevin Durant due to concerns over the recovery from his ruptured Achilles tendon, league sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

Durant had been heavily linked to the Knicks in the months leading up to his free agency, but he confirmed Sunday night that he plans to sign with the Brooklyn Nets.

Let everyone else use up their cap space, but be sure to save $30m+ for early next year. Maybe then facilitate a trade or two.

And sign no one to longer than a 2 year deal. Keep flexibility for 2021.

we signed randle 3/63

Fuck. We’re giving Randle a 3 year $63
million deal. We’re fucked.

Well, there it is. Sigh.

That’s not terrible.

Clearly a glowing endorsement of our front office. Lol

Im sorry but I dont think that’s a bad deal at all for Randle. Look at his numbers the last 2 years, hes actually a really good basketball player.

Randle

I’m not sure this is horrible news. it’s only 3 years. it means boogie’s not coming here. Randle’s biggest problem is he doesn’t protect the rim, but he’ll have Mitch behind him. I’m not loving 21M per, but we could have done stupider things, and based on those other deals, he’s prob worth 17.

I actually like Randle, but wow. Unless that third year is a team option or non-guaranteed, that is pretty nuts.

That’s not an awful deal but I wouldn’t have signed it with the positional surplus out there.

It’s hard to even care though, I don’t see many better opportunities in the next few years for players and we can still take on pretty much whatever bad contract we want.

It can be a decent signing if he starts caring about defense. But he just got PAID, so why should he?

Good: Randle is 24, so we have him for his prime

Bad; He’s basically an average player at a position where you can get average production for a few million a year and we’re giving him 21 million dollars.

Good: He’s probably the best passer we have on the roster

Bad: He’s a F/C and he’s not all that great of a passer

The final scene in Castaway when she runs after him in the rain and tells him he is the love of her life and he says he
Loves her more than she’ll ever know…
That
Like the Knicks and KD after his Achilles ripped.
They just knew it wouldn’t work out…

The Knicks seem hell-bent on getting a new PG, so who’s next?

Please, not Mudiay.

Enes Kanter got a four year deal averaging about $19M a year corrected for inflation in 2015. The salary cap has grown faster than inflation, so $21M a year seems comparable to that. Randle is a similar age now that Kanter was then. But Randle has better shooting stats than Kanter did then, is a much better passer, and shows signs of shooting threes well. It’s hard to imagine Randle defends worse. So this seems a reasonable deal to me. And we needed someone at his position.

@143

We badly need a marksman. DSJ, Barrett, Randle and Robinson could be defended by a middle school type zone.

Reggie Bullock?
🙂

i think it’s a bad deal. randle does some good things on offense. and there’s some chance his shooting is for real. but he is a shit defender. if the guy is going to play defense as lazily as he did the last two years as a free agent, what’s he going to do once he’s gotten paid. more likely to be worth less than $21m than more. not the worst deal signed today.

I think it’s mediocre but ultimately inconsequential

Team option third year! We good. Maybe I would’ve signed it…

Oh, team option makes that a lot more palatable. I don’t like it, but that’s not the absolute worst.

team option makes a big difference. if they were smart the deal would go 23-21-19.

Ok, the third year team option is really good. That saves the deal for me, as the next offseason that will actually have free agent talent is two years from now anyway. I don’t hate it, I don’t love it, it’s meh.

I actually like Randle more than the avg KBer (not saying much). That team option puts it at C+/B- for me. His age fits our win curve. Dont love it, but def don’t hate it.

Now if we can convince Kawhi to come… Yeah, right.

Not a bad deal. I hope they front load it.

Okay, now get on the phone with Minny and Miami.

This is a “B” for me too

I’m in the minority, but I’m giving a B+ to the deal. He’s a really good offensive player, it’s a fair price and a short time commitment.

i didn’t know the knicks knew that team options were permitted. kind of neutral on the deal now given there was no way we were going to rent all the space. not a value deal, but could be worse.

The upside: He might be movable for an asset at some point, it’s possible he’s on a good Knicks team 3 years from now (would require great drafting with both our picks and Dallas’, a worthy max signing, good use of the rest of the space, and a lot of development)

The downside: marginal wins and that’s about it unless I’m missing something. It’s really hard to see the contract costing us any opportunities since we have so much space left and the FA pool is bleak for a while. I guess it’s possible though.

C+/B- is about right. There’s no way Phil or the other regimes would’ve gotten the player option, so there’s that.

Begley says we’re looking at Taj Gibson and Wayne Ellington now. Defense from one (albeit eating up minutes when Knox could play PF), shooting from the other.

I honestly think Elfrid Payton wouldn’t be a bad buy low guy right now, if he could be had for around $5-7mil a year. He was steadily improving every year in Orlando until he was traded. Plus he fits in great with our other guards that can’t shoot.

I’m not a Randle fan but this is more than OK in that it fits in with the “new and improved” management mindset. In the past, we signed Joakim Noah to a 4-year deal with no option and the remnants of that deal will haunt us for 3 more years.

BTW no one has brought up how stretching Noah seems foolish in retrospect, since we did it to have 2 max salary slots that are now unneeded.

B for me.
Mitch
Randle
Knoxx
RJ
Smith

We can be the nets team like llast year. We still have the money. No more than 2 yeears is good.
We need to sign a winner here. Kawhi pls

That team option is nice. Do we know if it is front loaded at all? I am happy to give this a B, given Randle (warts and all) fits within the parameters of the type of moves the FO said they would make if they whiffed on the big FA’s (i.e. building on young core, not maxing faux max guys). Seems they are at least committed to the idea of a young core.

Let’s hope he’s with Frank working on his shooting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WDbXG7IIKT4

I really hoped the Knicks would move Knox to the four, but now he’ll surely start and get lots of time at the three. He can’t defend there. Maybe he can fill out in the next two years and take over at the four after two years of Randle.

If you’re down with the whole “improve to 30 wins and then maybe people take you more seriously” strategy, you should be happy with this.

The strategy is “do more to improve the team than sit around with your thumb up your butt and trust in dumb luck.”

The team option makes it more palatable but this Randle deal is something you sign AFTER next season with another high lottery pick in hand.

Mike

Noel is resigning.

As to a grade, I give it an A+ on the “Dolan’s Razor” scale of incompetent management decisions and a B in terms of rational expectations. The team option makes it way better than Kanter’s untradeable player option deal. We should be able to move this deal in year 2 if necessary. And maybe, just maybe, Randle gets better. I still think his 3-pt shooting was a mirage, but will keep the jury out for now.

Kornet is still on the market. But I’m actually expecting that other teams might want him once the dust settles on all the big deals.

it doesn’t really look like dlo is on the radar.. and maybe that’s for the best…. but shopping the rest of the market… these are the guys i would target:

rondae hollis jefferson – if rj is playing the 2 … then rhj is a decent gamble.. esp with keeping with finding undervalued guys in the 25 and under category.. i can’t imagine he’d be all that expensive and should be in the <6mm range… we are probably targeting bullock but the upside with rhj is better imo…. i can understand on not loading up on guys who can't shoot tho…

payton – as long as we don't care about guys who don't shoot.. might as well fully commit… i think there's a decent theme here about guys who can definitely ball but is a jumpshot away from making a leap…. the model here is rubio… and rubio is def better but i also think payton has a better shot at developing that shot….

i think gibson… ellington and bullock are ok targets… they are more in the roster filler category and fill out a semblance of an nba team…. i don't think they'll be more than 6-7mm and with the deal we gave randle.. i highly doubt they'll be more than 3 years….

if we're out of the kawhi sweepstakes… and not signing dlo… it's going to be REALLY hard for us to spend all our cap room since most of the top talent is spoken for already…. so i think most folks on this board should be happy about that….

I strongly believe Randle can and will improve his shooting and won’t be a lane clogger for Mitch. That said, I think his upside is limited and he’ll never be an above average defender.

I would rather sign Russell and just go with that young core for a while than just sign a bunch of short-term George Hill, Reggie Bullock, Bobby Portis kind of crap. Randle’s deal means you can jettison that contract in 2021 if you want. I think it’s a decent risk that you could also move the last two years of the Russell minimax if you wanted to.

Doesn’t seem like they’re interested in Russell though for whatever reason.

with the option, this is a very good deal. B+ from me. If we need, Randle becomes a very tradeable piece in year 2

Worst case- Randle averages 24/10, plays no defense and makes an all-star team anyway and the Knicks rip up the team option and sign him to a max deal (which at that point will be a 7-9 year max).

Best case, he improves his three point shooting, reduces his turnovers and fouls, and plays with a little more defensive awareness- all possible from a 24 year old- in which case he’s an elite offensive player who’s not a total zero on defense and not a bad #2 guy if someone like Giannis wants to come here or at least a very nice trade chip to include in a deal to get a #1 option.

Likely outcome- he improves a little but still stinks enough on defense to be a positive but probably not worth the deal. I guess I’d give it a B/B-. Not terribly risky with a slight chance of a very good outcome.

We seem to have a penchant for lefties these days. D Lo would make sense.

What about 3 years 18 million for Jordan Bell. I think the Warriors might not match that.

Provided the third year is a team option, I’d be ok with that.

Perry got a team option on Randall. The Zen Master would have gotten a player option.

Ah well this got dumb more slowly than usual but it still got dumb

2/20 Taj Gibson

Randle is a B for me, the team option is nice, he’s young and he’s expanding his range…

We signed Gibson, 2 years 20 M, the well known “veteran presence”… 🙂

Now that’s a waste of a signing, WTF is the point of signing Gibson to a 2yr deal.

Hopefully a team option on Taj

Steve Popper saying there’s no team option for Randle

I really want to know the DJ Nets deal. I may be crazy but I dont think they have enough to win it as is. Especially if Kawhi goes to LAL. Their window might only be the 2022 season. And if they overpaid a declining DJ and capped themselves badly for the next 3-4 years they might be a bit fucked even if Kyrie gets along with everyone and KD recovers to his best case declining self.

Just a remarkably pointless signing. $10M that we now can’t spend on…literally anything else? Tajron Gibflalo.

Whats with the 20M for gibson????????
means we cannot sign any free agents like?

No team option on Randle would be shitty. These guys may have no clue after all.

We still have room for my pipe dream of Kwahi, right?

That Taj Gibson deal is really fucking stupid. That is about as big a waste of $20M as is humanly possible. That’s maybe the dumbest FA contract I have seen so far this offseason.

These guys don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. That is pretty clear. Carry on as usual. Perry will be fired before long, let’s hope some other GM candidate who is friends with The Eagles doesn’t come around sniffing for a job again.

@236 Yes, over 40 M of cap left…

Maybe the next is Kawhi??

Whats the final with Randle deal? With option or not?

Meet the new Knicks, same as the old Knicks.

The fact that Steve Mills felt the need to make that statement tonight is just wow.

Philly somehow got even taller.

someone please leak footage of the steve mills wedding night apology

The Knicks actually thought releasing that statement was a good idea and all it has done is add to the mockery.

Simmons Richardson Harris Horford Embiid is a big lineup

The Mills statement is an embarrassment.
It essentially says, no one will come here until we get better.

What the actual fuck are we doing giving $20M to a 34-year old Taj Gibson. I mean I figured they’d spend the money in pointless ways but it’s like they’re just trolling me.

Maybe they think Taj will be able to mentor Randle and get him to play defense?

They just think we need bodies with experience. Solid signing.

I don’t understand the Gibson signing at all. He’s like Vonleh in results; maybe a little better at shooting, but ten years older. Why not just keep Vonleh?

C’mon fellas…. be intellectually honest…. look at last years numbers and tell me who is the better player. I’m no great fan of Gibson but he’s an upgrade over Vonleh by a lot…. and you need a big who can play 20 minutes behind MR.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Taj+Gibson&player_id1_select=Taj+Gibson&player_id1=gibsota01&y1=2019&player_id2_hint=Noah+Vonleh&player_id2_select=Noah+Vonleh&y2=2019&player_id2=vonleno01&idx=players

Not sure if we are in the running for Kawhi but this team plus Kawhi wil be a good one.

Give me whatever mase is drinking.

I looked at those exact numbers. Gibson shoots a higher percentage, but Vonleh has more assists and a better DBPM and DWS. I expect Vonleh to be better next year and Gibson worse. To me, that made them similar.

gibson probably represents the highest dollar deal that the knicks are shelling out

We literally already handed out a 3yr/$63M contract to Randle earlier tonight.

I ain’t mad about not signing KD because Perry/Mills were unwilling to give him the max. That was a prudent long-term decision. But signing Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock to make up for that loss is bullshit. We should be using that cap space to take on bad contracts.

Why are there people here still talking about signing Kawhi as if that’s a realistic option???

Hahahaha y’all are talking about Kawhi Leonard. Oh yeeeah, right, he’s walking through the door just about any minute now.

does Taj mean no Robin Lopez? I want to see him beat the shit out of a mascot

This feels a lot like the Randolph signing in Sacramento. Classic Perry.

I talk about Kawhi in jest.

All the morons who continue to appeal to authority can eat me

Hey, Scott Perry has forgotten more about basketball than you or I will ever know

Well, at least there’s still politics to liven this blog up. Anyone seen the Democratic Primary debates this past week? LOL.

I agree the Gibson signing is indefensible. I like the Randle signing, I thought it showed a forward-thinking approach, but Gibson makes no sense. We now have three players whose best position is PF: Knox, Randle, and Gibson. None can play center and Knox is the only one who can play SF.

I’m going to assume there is no team option on the Randle contract because that would have required somebody smart to have been involved in it

I would bet lots of money both Noel and Bell will make considerably less than 20 million. Fire Perry he is now officially a fraud.

Kyrie and KD taking less than the max so DJ can get a 4yr-40m deal. They must really like that dude.

Kwahi sayin he won’t meet with us.

So much for that

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
Free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are taking less than the max to allow DeAndre Jordan to get the $10M annual salary with Brooklyn, lea

Ahahahaha.
KD didn’t even take the max.
Hahaha

Every NBA player sees this franchise for what it is. WhT the fuck are we doing caring about this sorry ass team?

durant not taking a whole max is a slap to the statement of mills.
Quite disappointed as we should be that NETS team.

I would prefer to resign Vonleh too but you gotta look at it like this. Taj is probably fine with being Randle’s back up whereas Vonleh, having started a lot last year and being so young might have not wanted the demotion to back up behind Randle. I bet Vonleh ends up somewhere he can play a larger role if he can find it.

i think folks are just being overly negative…. we’re gonna have loads of cap room by the end of this offseason .. unless we do something monumentally stupid which yea i’m fearful of too….

but save for that looking at past posts… most folks would have been happy with that outcome… and unless there’s someone actually traded for cap room this whole renting cap space deal was likely some fantasy….

i’m not sure what ppl were honestly expecting unless you were gonna get outraged no matter what which is the feeling i’m getting….

Isola in his article with a great statement from a Garden executive on Steve Mills when he was rehired in September 2013:

“We had just won the division but he told us he wanted to take the franchise in a different direction,” a former Garden executive said on Sunday. “Well, he succeeded.”

The two year timing is probably not an accident. There will be a couple of years development and more competitive basketball, maybe make the playoffs in year 2 to get that experience, and then take another shot at free agency.

Taj Gibson is a headscratcher. I have always had a grudging respect for him. But not 2o million dollars worth.

Lmao

WhY wOuLd wE ReNt sPacE fOr pIcKs

WeRe gEtTiNg DuRaNt KYrIe n LaWhI lMAO

On a more lively note, I suggest anyone who likes smart horror intermixed with prescient themes see this relatively new Netflix zombie series Kingdom. It mixes martial arts, political intrigue, and zombie horror together so seamlessly it makes the Walking Dead pale in comparison. Reminds me a lot of the World War Z book Max Brooks wrote before Hollywood took it and ruined it with that Brat Pitt movie.

Jimmy Butler is being signed-and-traded by Sixers to Heat ($32.7M max) in exchange for Josh Richardson ($10.1M). Heat still needs to send out $16.0M+ to a third team in order to trade-match (which would also keep Miami below the hard cap if they stretch Ryan Anderson).

Perry? Are you there? aah prob working on Cousins deal

The more I think about it, it’s pretty remarkable how Mills took over a 54 win team who while was older at least had an actual identity and playing style but quickly turned into garbage as soon as Mills was rehired for no reason whatsoever.

I don’t want to hear about veteran presence and mentoring and all that shit. There is no evidence that that stuff has any kind of impact. Supposedly that was Lance Thomas ‘ value too, and we just waived him because he was grossly overpaid at $7m. Now we have an older Taj at $10m to play the same position as Knox and Randle. Huh?

Complete and utter waste. I ‘d rather sign 56 year old Hakeem Olajuwon on a veteran’s minimum than Taj for $20m.

I mean, at a bare minimum, why wouldn’t you exhaust any and all possibilities before even thinking about this Taj Gibson deal? The worst case scenario is you lose out on…Taj Gibson. There are still interesting RFAs, and the Wolves seem desperate as hell to open up space.

The Taj Gibson contract won’t single-handedly prevent this team from being good, but it’s indicative of a front office philosophy that very well might.

Dragic is staying with the Heat, Mavs are getting Jones and Olnyk instead.

There is no price any executive would pay to get rid of the Wiggins mistake. The Knicks shouldn’t do that to their fans.

I’m really rooting for Perry and Fizdale. I’d hate to see them do foolishness this summer.

look i agree.. there are better ways to spend 20mm than give to gibson… i just don’t think it’s the apocalypse….

unless we’re giving demarcus cousins the max… or if we get kawhi drunk and get his signature on a contract… we’re probably gonna have a lot of cap room left…. even if you assume payton and bullock and even maybe one more person….

how bad is it really? who’s trading cap room for picks? has that actually happened? is that even being rumored to happen? are you taking on the wiggins deal?

i mean ed davis at 5mm per at 2 years is obviously WAY better of a deal… but we’re talking backup frontcourt players on a two year deal… it’s not really killing us and aside from that ONE deal i’m not looking at so many missed opportunities….

yes in a vacuum it sucks… but i think the doom and gloom should wait until whoever the next guy is signed… and that’s probably gonna go for less than the gibson deal so it’s probably not gonna be major anyway…. that’s why i’m saying just ease up…. this is way more negative than it deserves…..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-WwQVcXUAA8aOc?format=jpg&name=900×900

If the Knicks trade for Wiggins, it will feel for me like a few months ago when the Mets completed the Robinson Cano trade. A horrible feeling of despair and hopelessness. I really didn’t think that the Mets would do something so totally stupid, yet they did. Sort of like their version of the Eddy Curry trade, if Curry had been 35 at the time of the trade.

Despite putting on a positive face I had my worries that BVW was a salesman who was hired by a very gullible Mets ownership who fell in love with a smooth talking charlatan. He worked for the same Creative Artists Agency which ran MSG behind the scenes during Carmello Anthony’s tenure on the Knicks. You can see a similar dynamic with the Mets hiring CAA castoffs not only on our roster like Cano, and in upper management giving Jessica Mendoza a cushy front office type job with no real duties while she also works as a broadcaster for ESPN.

The Mets has two finalists for the GM job. One was an analytics guy, the other was an agent. They hired the agent. It went disastrously. They’re in the same situation, there’s no hope until they hire the idiot who just got hired.

BVW did do a good job in the MLB draft though, he essentially gamed the system and stole a first round pick caliber player. Yay for that, but that’s been the only bright spot of his tenure.

Ed Davis, who is six years younger than Taj and just as good, got half as much money from Utah.

Just in case anyone here can’t read, I didn’t say anything about Gibson’s signing other than he had a better statistical season than Vonleh and if anyone wants to look at the majority of pertinent stats I don’t see how there is an argument. If you want to cherry pick a stat or two you can do whatever you like but one guy had better TS%, eFG, ws/48, BPM, whatever…. Gibson has been a solid pro for a decade and last season playing20+ mpg he had a very solid season. He brings competence to a limited back up role and that is something that has been sorely scarce around here.

Anyone who thinks Vonleh was better last season just isn’t paying attention.

Whether he is good value at that price is an entirely different issue

I could have gotten behind an Ed Davis signing. I’m still dumbfounded over Gibson for 20 million.

Okay, here’s some rose-colored spin:
1) We got RJ, who was the consensus #1 player coming out of HS and for the first half of the year. He was the most sought-after freshman other than Zion. The tank embraced by our FO this year worked..not to perfection, but it worked.
2) We have Mitch. We did not squander the best draft pick since Ewing. We have him locked up for 3 more years. As soon as this year, he will be the best defensive player in the league not named Kawhi or Gobert.
3) We still have exciting young players to watch….DSJ, Knox, Brasdeikis, Frank, plus the undrafted guys…and a couple of them are bound to develop into real NBA rotation players.
4) We have 6 first-round picks in the next 4 years, and two likely to be in the 30’s second round picks in the next 2 years.
5) We have Julius Randle to wreck some shit up on O.
6) We have Taj Gibson, a grizzled but likeable vet on an overpay, but he is a legit NBA grit-n-grind genre rotation player and a pro’s pro…unlike Lance, Afflalo, DWill before him.
7) We still have $40 mill in cap space to light on fire or use wisely.
8) We DON’T have any albatross contracts for the first time in forever.

Okay, here’s some rose-colored spin:
1) We got RJ, who was the consensus #1 player coming out of HS and for the first half of the year. He was the most sought-after freshman other than Zion. The tank embraced by our FO this year worked..not to perfection, but it worked.
2) We have Mitch. We did not squander the best draft pick since Ewing. We have him locked up for 3 more years. As soon as this year, he will be the best defensive player in the league not named Kawhi or Gobert.
3) We still have exciting young players to watch….DSJ, Knox, Brasdeikis, Frank, plus the undrafted guys…and a couple of them are bound to develop into real NBA rotation players.
4) We have 6 first-round picks in the next 4 years, and two likely to be in the 30’s second round picks in the next 2 years.
5) We have Julius Randle to wreck some shit up on O.
6) We have Taj Gibson, a grizzled but likeable vet on an overpay, but he is a legit NBA grit-n-grind genre rotation player and a pro’s pro…unlike Lance, Afflalo, DWill before him.
7) We still have $40 mill in cap space to light on fire or use wisely.
8) We DON’T have any albatross contracts for the first time in forever.

Other than #3 its pretty true

@346
Hey, Z-man, I think Steve Mills hacked your account!

BTW, what about charismatic young Coach Fiz!?

The way that the roster is currently constructed, the best hope for some modicum of success this year is that either RJ or DSJ take a leap and become the lead guard we’ve been praying for since, I dunno, Clyde?

Wow, the Mavs just picked up Goran Dragic. They could be pretty good this year!

That was a head scratcher for me. I thought Dallas had committed to putting the ball in Doncic’s hands as a point forward and were looking more for defensive minded PG that could pace the floor (like Beverly) . But I’ve been told that Dragic and Doncic player well off each other in Europe.

Edit: OK I see the deal changed?

D’Angelo Russell makes sense under Steve Kerr, but he makes zero sense with that roster and their current contract commitments. Maybe they think Klay can play the 3?

Russell to Golden State?

They don’t have Klay next year. He will fit in well next to Curry. You have to defend both of them and they can both pass.

Smart move by GSW. People forget that Steph will be 32 this season.

that is really interesting…. i wish we got in on dlo but that seems like a good spot for him to realize his potential….

warriors went from overpowered back to an interesting team….

I hope RJ is enjoyable to watch to lessen the pain.

A young Darious Miles or Young TMAC/Penny is ok to m e.

Why are the knicks not doing those kind of trade?

I am not buying that we are smart and theyre dumb. Whats in their head?

Russel to warriors. why didnt we do that.

The Nets did that to screw the Knicks.
Here’s a fact. There was not only collusion, the no-tampering rule is a steaming pile of horse dung.

Other than maybe the Suns, no contest that we have the most clueless front office.

I think we can finally answer the question posed by Brian, “Is Perry a good GM”?
An emphatic NO!

It’s fun to watch these other teams swap assets and try creative stuff and our big move was to clear space for free agents who didn’t want to come here and then sign Taj Gibson

3 first rounders w Iggy. 3

It’s not 3, just 1 that rolls over.

@373
You better be joking. If so, I’m really going to be sick.

I’m reading it is one pick, but with protections will be in either 2024 (1-4 protected), 2025 (1 protected) or 2026 if not before. Just one pick. They can’t send picks in three consecutive years, I think.

Still wanted it. For just one year of Iggy.

Emotionally, I still would’ve liked Kyrie + Durant to have been Knicks. Rationally, I’m OK with not rolling the dice on 2 1/2 years of possibly really good-but-but-no-longer-great Durant, and as much as I admire Kyrie’s game I think there’s enough concern over his leadership skills given he’d be the best player on a struggling team for one year.

Maybe $10 mil is a little too much for Gibson at his age, but at only 2 years, it’s not a great indictment of Perry. Rather have him as the “locker-room glue” and vet presence vs Lance.

Right on cue, one of my coworkers here texts me on some #lolKnicks bs. *sigh*

3 first rounders w Iggy. 3

According to ESPN, the Warriors are getting a pick or picks for Iguodala, not sending them out.

Maybe out of respect of what’s he’s done for them, GS gave Iggy a bit of a choice on where they could trade him given the circumstances…

@381 – it’s wasting an asset. How many better uses could they have used this cap space on? It’s all about opportunity cost? Either spend the money renting out space in exchange for picks or find value assets with future upside. This signing is neither and again is just a waste of assets.

@383 – my feelings exactly.

@389
Unreal.

The must be trying to lock up all the overpaid fours in the NBA.

Warriors is signing russel. THey could have just signed and trade KD.
Russel to warriors. why didnt we do that.

It’s okay that you’re stupid like the rest of us, just let the smart guys play their game, we don’t understand anything, we’re too risk-averse, we don’t know good players from bad, we trust advanced stats too much, we overly focus on the win curve, we can’t accept that sometimes you need to overpay young players and trade many draft picks to get them on their 2nd deal, smdh

The Knicks best asset is their young cost controlled Center and they’re hell bent on signing as many players as possible who play his position.

The East is big, man.

Isn’t Portis a thug, too? Didn’t he run himself out of Chicago?

They must have signed him to START at C. $15.5m per? To be a backup?

Now the Portis signing, I don’t get.
Even if that’s a fair number… I guess I should say that I could understand signing two of Randle/Gibson/Portis but not all three.

Sounds like four things:
1. They’ve been listening to you guys about the frutlessness of one-year deals.
2. They’re really banking on their player development for the next two years.
3. They’re punting on this summer and next for marquee/top tier free agents.
4. Perhaps Taj will backup Randall and Portis.

I mean the NBA forced Donald Stirling to sell the Clippers. I think we need that same intervention by the league at this point on our behalf. I realize the circumstances are different, but please already. This level of ownership and front office incompetence is just mind numbing.

Terrible GMing from Perry here. Underrated bad part of this deal is that we’re unlikely to re-sign Kornet when we just committed 116m to PF/Cs…all of whom are worse than Kyle O’Quinn. Fire Perry & Mills and someone assassinate James Dolan. Just fucking moronic. This is afflalo and williams/afflalo and Carter all over again. We could’ve gotten a pick for Tony Snell, who has a two year contract and plays a position of need. But we only sign veteran players at above market value, we never trade for them if they come with a pick. Kills the idea that they were brought in to teach the young ones, or something.

What player development when the 3 guys they signed today will be taking up the majority of the frontcourt minutes?? They still have about 27m left of cap space which Im sure will go to a couple of wing players, at this point the only young guys who will be getting minutes next season will be RJ and DSJr.

Bobby Portos is surprisingly overrated as a player (which is hilarious bc he’s not that highly rated). This deal makes the already shitty Gibson deal so much worse. Fuck me. I actually got mildly optimistic when we dodged the Nets core and signed Randle to a halfway decent deal (assuming option). What is wrong with me!?

After the Portis deal it’s clearly revealed!!! FO is trying to resurrect the bad ass 90s team ! What a plan !!! Bobby the puncher as COakley, Julius the bulldozer as AMason and Taj the furius as Xavier Mc Daniel ! Can’t explain this PF fiesta otherwise….

Steve Mills interned, so to speak, under Isiah Thomas and Phil Jackson. And Mills learned NOTHING.

He’s the common denominator in all this. He’s to the Knicks what Jeff Wilpon is the the Mets. He’s the disease.

STUPID FUCKS SPOT ON. 100%

I actually like the Julius Randle signing but to follow it up with Taj GIbson and Bobby Portis and some stupid Steve Mills message. fuck off

Unless the Knicks plan on playing 3 out of Robinson, Frank, Gibson, and Dotson at all times, our defense is going to suck next year. It’s like these sit around looking at boxscore stats all day and have no concept of defense at all.

There is no plan in site here. Ugh!

The plan is to keep accumulating scorers, give lip service to defense, and in 2 years try for free agent stars again. They are rolling over cap space with a kicker that most of these guys are young and one or more could get better. It wouldn’t be so terrible if any of them could defend or at least had a chance to become a two way player.

(oh yeah, throw in a overpaid old veteran here or there to teach the kids)

Why stop now? Let’s sign Jabari Parker and both Morris twins with our remaining cap space.

You know, if Perry and co were looking for “veteran leadership”…guess we could’ve kept Courtney Lee and THJr?

In true Knicks fashion everything has blown up in our face. They’re trying to be the Nets (attract Giannis in two years with 41-41 8 seed team) except unlike Sean Marks they have no idea what good players or value deals look like, so we’re going to be a 30 win team permanently friend zoned in every star free agency with no contingency plan except “well I guess we punt for two more years bc the law of averages says at some point SOME star free agent will deign to take our money!” Only RJ learning to shoot and steal the ball can save us from permanent cellar dwelling end my life please.

MECCA OF BASKETBALL BABY

From Uproxx:
https://uproxx.com/dimemag/bobby-portis-knicks-free-agency-wizards-offer-sheet-power-forwards/2/

The key part

With that decision, New York has now filled up a good portion of their salary cap with power forwards, creating a very interesting roster dynamic. That’s especially the case considering one of the few bright spots on the roster is young center Mitchell Robinson, who it now would appear is going to be fighting for playing time with their new free agent signings.

In a vacuum, none of the deals are all that egregious, even if the Randle and Portis annual salaries seem a bit steep. The plan is clearly to have space again in two years with all three potentially coming off the books, but they just don’t even make much sense from the standpoint of building any kind of roster for the next two years that could grow and succeed to much of any degree.

Uh, yeah.

All we need now is Boogie and bring back Metta WP !

It’s fun to watch these other teams swap assets and try creative stuff and our big move was to clear space for free agents who didn’t want to come here and then sign Taj Gibson

Honestly we could end the whole website with this.

What’s the point anymore? We like talking to each other. Let’s just join a baking club.

Not for nothing, but there had been reports of their interest in Portis and Randle for some time now, so that also belies the whole “you never know what Perry is up to!” stuff.

@432
True. But you know, I thought that meant Portis OR Randle. Not Portis and Randle…and Gibson, too!
🙂

Even if Mills and Perry were going all-in on a misguided attempt to win now, these moves don’t even do that. They all play the same position!!! It defies belief. Even Phil understood the concept of positional basketball.

It’s stupefying. Truly unbelievable.

The only GM the Knicks have had recently who sort of had a clue on how to build an actual team was Grunwald but as soon as he put together an actual good team Dolan forced him to trade for Bargs then immediately replaced him with Mills. Not surprisingly it’s been all downhill since then.

Then when Greek Freak doesnt sign here it’ll be hold cap space until 2024 when Zion could become a FA.

Starting lineup???
DSJr
RJ
Randle
Portis
Mich

Strato, in a way that’s the only tiny spot of bright in all this. The team will be so bad defensively that they will still lose a ton of games.

They’re not done yet. One or two more vet signings are coming, probably a PG and a wing/shooter. Mudiay might still be in play.

Strato, in a way that’s the only tiny spot of bright in all this. The team will be so bad defensively that they will still lose a ton of games.

I would say there’s an outside shot one or two of these young guys really breaks out, but even if he does, they’ll probably have him on the bench or in the wrong lineup. We’ll wind up with another lottery pick and they’ll pick another scorer than can’t defend.

The problem is mostly Dolan/Mills, but Perry has to go too. It’s time to get some young analytical guys that understand the sport beyond basic fan level thinking about scoring. How hard is it to understand that defense matters?

Knicks 2019-20: The Stealth Tank Rides Again!!!

Lakers and Clippers really quiet…waiting for Kawhi to decide. Someone’s gonna be real disappointed.

Everything is so dumb and Mitch Rob will probably be traded in the near future. These dumbfucks have no idea he’s not, like, a decent bench big.

So how about those Gleyber and Voit snubs huh? Ridiculous.

Gleyber at 22yo might already be the best middle infielder in the AL considering the injuries guys like Altuve, Lindor and Correa have suffered yet he is snubbed. Voit definitely deserves to go over Abreu because of the near 100 points of OPS he has over him and it’s mostly OBP which is even more significant not to mention the AL having for some reason 2 backup DH’s. Very weird AL roster, surprisingly weak.

Yeah dtrickey I mean as much as I hate the Gibson and Portis signings I would’ve understood signing one of them and would’ve preferred Portis because of his age. I have no problems at all with the Randle signing, actually look forward to watching him play. But getting a commitment from Randle then still signing BOTH Gibson and Portis is completely unfathomable.

So Kornet is gone now, right? We couldn’t let him or Vonleh stand in the way of the privilege of paying Randle, Gibson and Portis to get us to a lofty 25 wins and set us up for Giannis, who is absolutely coming here.

Fuck this. I might need to take a Knicks sabbatical for a week or two.

taj is the defense and mentor guy…

That’s what a coach is for.

This team…..
Why do I still care? Time to seek professional help.

Sign me up for the baking club

What the fuck, did they sign Bobby Portis for 15 million a year???? Why???

Are they just throwing money at dudes to reach the salary floor and that’s it, that’s all the moves? Sign 3 power forwards?

I mean, it’s another signing that’s not a disaster but it’s just so damn uninspiring. Two guys with limited ceilings and a random veteran that’s getting overpaid for whatever reason. I can’t even get really angry because they’re not terrible signings or crippling contracts whatsoever, it’s just… horribly uninspiring.

You know what really builds a winning culture? Stacking the team with players who interfere with your stud rookie center’s playing time

Apparently they are also looking at James Ennis. I am not opposed to him (I have a soft spot since his time playing in Australia), but I am not convinced given our run of form today with handing out contracts.

I’ll continue to give them this. They had Durant until he blew out the Achilles, so the KP trade still made sense. They just had bad luck because they’re the Knicks.

These unforced errors, though? That’s all on them and it is embarrassing.

Bullock 2yr-21m. Mills will be selling the summer of 2021 like crazy.

Starting Lineup:
DSJr
RJ
Bullock
Randle
Mitch

Bench:
Allen
Dotson/Frank/Trier
Knox/Ignas
Portis
Taj

Oh wait I forgot Knox and Iggy! Now the roster makes even less sense

DSJ/Barrett/Knox/Randle/Portis

What’s the record for worst defense of all time?

I could see bringing RJ off the bench since he’s the rook and starting Knox and Bullock.

@481
Normally I’m not a fan of all caps, but in this cast it is totally warranted.

The Bullock signing is horrible. Just wait, one more vet to go, maybe a PG. These morons are trying to build a 32 win team and pick around 9 or 10 in next year’s lottery, and probably in 2021, too.

Unless RJB flourishes, the team will not have anywhere near enough of a solid young core to sign a big free agent in 2021. It’ll be rinse and repeat.

I am so confused by our offseason. It’s not just that it’s bad it’s that it’s bad in a completely nonsensical way. I cannot really understand what we are doing. Are we really paying 25 million a year for our back up center and power forward?

Randle and Bullock make some sense but then it just starts falling apart.

I was actually hopeful when news of the Randle deal with the non-guaranteed third year came out but since then it has been worse than I could have ever imagined. I truly cannot understand their thinking.

I was actually hopeful when news of the Randle deal with the non-guaranteed third year came out but since then it has been worse than I could have ever imagined. I truly cannot understand their thinking.

And note that the pick dumping market is still quite fruitful during all of it. They just have no interest in it. Igoudala is seriously better than Bullock and actually plays defense and the Knicks could have gotten him and gotten a pick, but noooooo…

Ugh.

At least I guess the Perry is a ninja narrative can go have a peaceful death, since they basically signed every guy we were talking about for days, Bullock, Randle and Portis, all rumored to be signed before today.

I love Bullock as a person, he has a very tragic yet heartwarming story of becoming a LGBTQ ally, helping with charities and awareness since his trans sister died, but he’s just not a good basketball player. He’s just a 3 and D guy who’s not really a defender and has been inconsistent with his 3 point shot.

I don’t hate Bullock he is grossly overpaid but his shooting should help and I can see how he might fit. But after Gibson and Portis our front office is not getting the benefit of the doubt.

David Aldridge, nine hours ago, “The Knicks, obviously punched in the gut, have to move on and build a squad. Expect them to go the depth route now, trying to sign several among vets like Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, George Hill, Reggie Bullock, others.” Who the fuck let Aldridge break Perry’s ninja code? Now I expect the Knicks to not sign Hill just to add a little mystery to things.

And no, these signing don’t turn 17 wins to 32 wins. They’re still a high lottery team unless a couple of the young guys break out.

I think there is a plan. It’s just a terrible, awful, no good plan. “Maybe Giannis will come here in 2021? Maybe?”

We can just hope that RJ Barrett is somehow a star and that Mitch wins the starting gig soon and….shit, there’s very little to look forward to with this team.

Perry is quite good at the trade game, terrible at everything else. We have very limited competence at every level, we’re going to pick in the top five in 2020 and 2021.

The catch is that we’ll keep on picking the same offensive wing prospect over and over again

Wowsers…fell asleep early and wake up to find that in light of our PF sitchew, we went OT on the PF market? Why go after both of Randle and Portis? As cheap as we are reportedly getting Portis, it makes the Randle signing look bad. So..what..Portis backs up Mitch? We are suddenly a big man heavy team. It can work..not ideal, but it can work- though I would rather have just brought Vonleh or Kornet back before signing both Randle and Portis.

Ah well…go get a shooter or 2..preferably a PG that can shoot, and there is a chance to have a strong showing next season. And by strong, I mean 7-8 seed.

I think Miami likely believes other teams would take Dragic without requiring a pick. But yes, that would be a great idea (and one that this front office would never think to do).

I woke up to the Portis-Bullock moves. Happy July!

Hezonja signed with Portland for the vet minimum. Boy, he sure played free agency wrong last year, huh? Portland and the Knicks both offered him basically the MLE. He chose the Knicks and now he’s back with Portland at the minimum the next year.

While I totally agree (and that was my concern at the time of the KP deal, that the Knicks would fuck up the cap space that they prioritized in the KP deal over actual assets), I also think it is fair to note that they almost assuredly had an under the table deal with Durant that just went sideways when he blew out the Achilles tendon.

In other words, I only thought that the KP deal was a great move when I thought it was definitely combined with Durant coming here and I think that actually was the case…he just then blew out his Achilles and blew up the deal. So that was more bad luck than anything I can blame Mills and Perry for.

Everything after that, then yeah, that’s just on them being shitty at their jobs.

If you want more rose-colored glasses thinking, I guess if its a tabula rasa, they stuck with their professed “no long-term FA deals” mantra. Considering the number of long-term cap-killing deals that were signed yesterday, 2021-22 could actually be an interesting time for us. But the performance of the Mills-Perry duo does not instill any confidence that they could ever competently manage an opportunity.

They did, but remember when it was first reported (which is weird that it was reported so accurately, since Perry is a ninja who the fake news media could never possibly pin down), I think we all hoped that that part of their back-up plan wouldn’t actually happen, right? Short term deals for the sake of short term deals is not a very good plan. Better than terrible long term deals, sure, but also worse than getting better players on long term deals.