Knicks Fire Steve Mills

So Steve Mills was about to do some real Steve Mills-y shit, and Guitar fucking Jimmy intervened and shitcanned him instead.

What timeline is this that I’m living on right now?

The whole Masai midseason thing is quietly superdumb too. As if that could happen.

I think I am ok with going in another direction since we’d have to wait another year or give up draft equity. But why Dolan is in such a rush to do this is a mystery. Take your time, enjoy firing Steve Mills, and let us enjoy you firing him too.

Btw, the shred of hope I was feeling has completely passed. He may have done something good but Dolan is going to screw this up real bad.

“Scott Mills?”

Trade Morris, trade Randle, trade DSJ.

In the last 22 years, Dolan has made a toxic environment that will repel the best GMs and free agents. Who would want to work for him?

well at least if you do play for the knicks you’re guaranteed a hot shower with good water pressure after you play at MSG…

that’s gotta count for something – right?

The Mets were considering hiring a pure analytics guy, which makes the Brodie era sting twice as bad.

We had to let Zack Wheeler go and patch the holes with Porcello and Wacha because he spent the money on the sack of magic beans known as Jed Lowrie. The Mets had a window where they had lots of great talent on the roster for cheap, and that asshole fucked it up real good.

Christ, it sounds like Mills was really trying to go all in on this team. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more insane front office direction.

Other than maybe some immediate flame out in like 1992 or something, Mills is the most incompetent GM I’ve seen in my 30-ish years as a sports fan. Just completely clueless in every way.

It’s amazing how much power Mills actually had… and how his plan for the team flew in the face of how every other league exec builds a team these days.

I feel like the crazy pills have finally worn off.

The Ron Baker contract was the canary in the coal mine (as if we needed a canary, but you get my drift) re: Mills’s incompetence. The THJ contract was bad, but plenty of execs have fallen in love with a RFA and felt like they should overpay (see: Alan Crabbe, Tyler Johnson – Hi Sean Marks!) But the Baker contract was so completely inexplicable. It basically showed a complete lack of basketball sense, complete misreading of the market, and utter ignorance of the CBA. I mean, a 15th man on a bad team got the full room exception and a no-trade clause?

Begley’s got a tweet about 15 minutes old pretty much saying Toronto wants two firsts for Ujiri. It sounds like there actually might be negotiations going on and that the sides are leaking to favored reporters.

We have 2 Dallas picks and might be getting one for Morris. That 3 picks over our own. As long as we don’t have to give away one of our own (most likely very good) lottery picks, 2 would not be a disaster if that’s what it took. He’d still be taking over with a few talented young players, lots of cap space next year, and good picks. That’s a pretty good place to start.

On the flip side, if you can get someone else very good for free or are willing to wait 1 more year for Ujiri, those are options also.

@15

There were other boneheaded or suspect moves before the purse strings tightened (Chandler Parsons, including Montrezl Harrell in CP3 trade, Ryan Anderson, Jeremy Lin). There are probably others I can’t recall.

Begley’s got a tweet about 15 minutes old pretty much saying Toronto wants two firsts for Ujiri. It sounds like there actually might be negotiations going on and that the sides are leaking to favored reporters.

Nah, I think that’s just recycling some old info. He just knows every Knicks fan is clicking on it. There’s no reason to make a move for Masai 24 hrs before the deadline.

Presti’s name is being thrown around too. I’m sure there’s little to it, but I’m a fan.

Does OKC need more first rounders? They have about 40 from the Westbrook and Paul George trades.

This is unequivocally the best thing that’s happened to the Knicks in years

We’ll see.

If this isn’t a summary of the past 20 years I don’t know what is

Fixed the title. What a time for the site to go out.

If we give Toronto the Dallas picks it would mean we traded Porzingis for Masai and damn would I be down for that.

One thing, though: we can and should add protection to their 2021 pick.

I’m pleased. Mills was an upgrade over the insanely bad Phil Jackson and now anyone Dolan hires will likely be better than Mills. Slowly but surely, competence will be achieved!

and now anyone Dolan hires will likely be better than Mills.

Damn it, Brian!

watch when it’s Jason Kidd

if you can get masai now… you go and do it…. there’s no point in a lameduck making draft picks for you… that’s how we ended up with frank….

Berman is floating Rich Kleiman as being in the running and that if hired he would bring in Mark Jackson. Sounds plausibly Knicksy.

Berman is floating Rich Kleiman as being in the running and that if hired he would bring in Mark Jackson. Sounds plausibly Knicksy.

^ BRRRRRRIIIIIIAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to joke “Mark Jackson” but it seemed too implausible, even as a joke

The manager of the guy who just spurned the Knicks? Wouldn’t that be the opposite of a Dolan-esque move?

@46

The manager of the guy who just spurned the Knicks? Wouldn’t that be the opposite of a Dolan-esque move?

It might be Dolan’s interpretation of “better late than never.” Is there any limit to his potential foolishness?

We’re sure it won’t be Isiah, right? RIGHT?

Rumors are flying all over the place on Mills replacement.
Adrian Wojnarowski:

ESPN Sources with @ramonashelburne: Knicks owner Jim Dolan is already considering a front office model that is working with Golden State (Bob Myers) and the Lakers (Rob Pelinka): Hiring a top basketball executive out of the player agent ranks.

If we’re going with a youth movements there’s NO F’N WAY we should part with picks for someone that won’t be playing.

@50
RE Isiah…I mentioned him earlier as a joke. I’d hope the NBA office would squelch that one, but you never know.

I have Brodie Van Wagenen trauma, PLEASE DO NOT HIRE AN AGENT TO BE GM.

Oh who am I kidding, Dolan will probably send two draft picks to the Mets so he can just hire Brodie to run the Knicks

Dolan has long wanted to bring over Toronto’s Masai Ujiri but he’s under contract through next season and the Knicks would need to pay major compensation. Dolan balked at compensation in 2017 when interested in Ujiri. ESPN reported it stands as a barrier this time too. The Post has reported the NBA would prefer Ujiri in New York rather than Toronto.

Come on Silver, step in here!

Isiah was slightly less terrible than Layden, Phil was slightly less terrible than Isiah, Mills was slightly less terrible than Phil. We’ll eventually hit competence some day!

We’re due for a disaster BUT something has to be said about Dolan stepping in to waive the “don’t trade Morris” plan.

I’d argue Layden over Isiah. Isiah gave up too much for one-dimensional but talented guys… Layden had a weird affinity for overweight 6’8? power forwards (Clarence Weatherspoon, Othella Harrington, Mike Sweetney) and players with Utah affiliations (Michael Doleac, Keith Van Horn, Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson).

I won’t disagree with you because it has been awhile and I didn’t pay as close attention to the details or understand as much back then, but in recent years we’ve made mistakes, but few were crippling. Back in the day, we used to make crippling mistake after crippling mistake and leave ourselves with a bad team, capped out for several years, and without multiple 1st round picks going forward. It used to take years just to reset to zero where you had picks and any space. Recently, we’ve had some bad contracts, but you can simply eat those for awhile while you keep building as long as you have your picks and manage space.

I’m sure Dallas doesn’t like paying Hardaway what he’s getting or Lee to sit on the bench, but junior is a player and it’s not to kill them or stopping them from making productive moves like picking up Willy Cauley-Stein or possibly even using Lee’s expiring contract to facilitate or do a deal. All that stuff goes away on their timetable.

This is like a horror movie where you think the kids have finally escaped the axe murderer and then a maniac with a chain saw jumps out from behind a tree.

too funny…yeah, it’s kind of like being stuck in some sort of quicksand that takes years to finally pull you under…

Actually, I’m pretty sure Mills was far and away the worst in every possible way imaginable (basketball. contracts, trades, fit etc..) , but he was so ridiculously bad, even Dolan figured it out after Hardaway/Baker and brought in Perry before he turned the team into another Isiah hell hole or worse.

To be fair, Isiah actually understands basketball and can evaluate talent (as least young talent) fairly well, but the contract and trade decisions were mind numbing dumb.

As horrible as Zeke was in the Knicks FO, isn’t it ironic how pairing he and Perry would give us a great eye for talent in the FO? LOL

But..no to Zeke. Obviously.
I have no idea who I’d want as Prez, but I’m not a fan of trading assets during a rebuild for someone who will not play. Sure, I’d love a Presti, Buford, or Ujiri..but they’d have to be free and come on board willingly. I actually wouldn’t mind if Grunwald came back to fill the position. I think he & Ninja P would make a nice tandem.

As horrible as Zeke was in the Knicks FO, isn’t it ironic how pairing he and Perry would give us a great eye for talent in the FO? LOL

Agree.

That’s one of the points I’ve been making. You need someone that understands the game of basketball really well, that can identify talent, and that understands how to fit pieces together well so each player is as productive as his potential will allow within the system. Then you need a guy that understands the cap issues, fair contract values, that’s a good negotiator etc.. to keep the basketball guy in check and make good deals.

In NY’s case we also need a guy that understands great players don’t come to bad teams even if it is NY. So cap space is not as valuable when you suck.

That’s why some of the coaches that were given a lot of power failed badly (Tibs, Van Gundy, Phil etc..). They know the game, but have zero GM level skills. They were either doing too much GM level stuff and screwing it up, had a GM that was an incompetent assisting them, or both.

It’s kind of hard to find all those skills in one man.

I’m not shilling for the guy, but Phil Jackson’s evaluation of Kristaps Porzingis was spot-on and isn’t given enough run around here. If he’d been allowed to trade him even for Brown, (the pick that became) Tatum and the other lottery pick the Celtics offered (*), things would look a lot different in Knickland now.

They should have traded KP on draft night 2017. Jackson wanted to. He was blocked, then fired.

(*) Or even negotiated more on top of that initial Celtics parry as his counteroffer of Brown, Tatum, the Nets pick, and Crowder was getting at.

Do not fuck around…give Toronto the two picks (assuming we get one for Morris and one of the Mavs picks) and move forward with one of the top proven executives in the league on our side…when was the last time we could say that?

Don’t mean to quibble with our gracious host, but we have to get this one right:

June 22, 2017:

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The Boston Celtics have an offer on the table for Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis.

According to ESPN, the Celtics would give up the third overall pick in Thursday night’s draft, an additional lottery pick that they believe they can acquire Thursday and another player. The report cites executives familiar with Boston’s offer.

The “another player” was Brown. Jackson countered with Brown, the Nets pick the Celtics still owned (can’t remember if it was in ’17 or ’18), the 3 pick (that became Tatum), and Crowder. Jackson’t counter was also reported in mainstream outlets, and I’ve seen it now at least a dozen times including while it was going on so I’m not going to bother reposting.

@74

He was good at evaluating most players in terms of skills and fit, but he got Melo way wrong in terms of his ability to get through to him.

He knew that to run his offense he needed a #1 scorer that could create on his own when the triangle actions failed to create a good shot. I’m sure he understood that Melo was not Jordan or Bryant. What he didn’t understand is that those other guys were also willing to play within the system he was implementing even if they didn’t like it. Then they even grew to respect it.

Melo was 100% the opposite.

In his book, Karl said he had to negotiate a 50-50 split between what he wanted from Melo (to make him more efficient) and how Melo actually wanted to play.

D’Antoni basically got run out town for wanting to run a PG centric offense with Melo shooting a lot of 3s and playing PF.

Phil couldn’t get him to buy into an updated variation of the triangle at all and when KP complained publicly that they had to pick something, stick with it, and the triangle was OK when they played it right, Melo creamed him privately for even suggesting that. Then Melo got hurt and the decline began.

Melo was Melo. He was a very good player, terrific talent, that probably could have been a great offensive player, but he was Melo.

I cannot believe that people here would argue that IT was not the worst POBO we’ve since Dolan took over. How many trades in Knicks history, hell in NBA history, that are worse than the Eddy Curry trade? Two unprotected 1RP for Eddy fucking Curry! In the same offseason he gave a big contract to 30 year old Jerome James because he had one decent playoff series the year before.

Then it was Brown instead of the #3 pick. In other words, it was never Tatum and Brown. It was either or.

Except it wasn’t. It’s right there in the story. Everyone knows by now — it’s been reported in a zillion places — that the “other player” was Brown. It was the “other player,” the 3 pick draft night, and the other lottery pick the Celtics were going to get.

The Phoenix offer was the one where Markkanen was supposedly on Phil’s radar. That one has been reported a bit differently in different outlets but was at least Booker and the 4 for the 8 and KP, or alternatively Booker and the 4 for KP. Phil was going to use the 4 pick to take Markkanen.

I guess this has become a big cause celebre around here and, yeah, Phil wasn’t real hot — but there were major, major offers on the table for KP.

Don’t do it, Steve, er Scott Perry!

Has it ever been reported that Dolan prevented any potential KP trades? Not seeing anything from the guys who reported the initial rumor (Isola, Begley). I’m not giving Phil any credit for almost trading KP. He had total control of the team, according to Phil himself. It looks like the rumored trade lost steam after the C’s said the initial asking price was too high.

Like I said, I’m not going to shill for Phil. Who knows what happened then, exactly, that wound up having the trade not be made? But he did shop KP and KP got serious offers. I guess the anti-Phil sentiment is so strong around here that the paltry return they got for KP compared to his actual market value doesn’t go on Mills’s incompetence meter. Fair enough. But for me, it should and it does. I’m coming at it from an anti-Mills perspective, not a pro-Phil one.

Except it wasn’t. It’s right there in the story.

It is not right there in the story. Jaylen Brown is not “another player.” He’s the highlight of a deal, not “another player.” It might have been the #3 pick at one point and then Jaylen Brown later on, but not both. If you can find a credible story where someone says it was the #3 pick and Jaylen Brown, fine, but you won’t, because it wasn’t. Again, Rosen never even claimed it was and Rosen was working as Phil’s mouthpiece/cheerleader on this stuff.

Brown and Markkenan is still better than what the Knicks ultimately got, but it wasn’t Brown and Tatum. And, of course, Phil was the one who didn’t make that initial trade.

He was good at evaluating most players in terms of skills and fit

Did Derrick Rose-Courtney Lee-Carmelo Anthony-Kristaps Porzingis-Joakim Noah really fit together tho

On draft night 2017, he was indeed just “another player.” He was nothing close then to a guy who could have highlighted a deal for draft night 2017 Kristaps Porzingis. He’s become far more now, of course. But then, no.

He was a year removed from being the #3 pick in the draft. That’s not “another player” territory. But again, if you believe he was the other player, then I’m sure you can find a credible source which says he was.

Did Derrick Rose-Courtney Lee-Carmelo Anthony-Kristaps Porzingis-Joakim Noah really fit together tho

Absolutely not.

Derrick Rose did not fit that team at all, but it wasn’t a bad gamble because it was for only 1 year and then you got the 20m space. I believe that was a concession to Hornacek who wanted to run a more traditional PG team.

The older veterans were a concession to Melo who refused to buy in and had a shorter window. When it failed miserably, Phil started coming to practices and that was the beginning of the end. He started out OK, went off the rails, tried to correct it, but by then he just wanted to get rid of Melo with a buyout and then he was fired.

If he was going to go down in flames, he should have gone down in flames building a team with whatever picks he had (missing 2), space, and veterans running the offense he wanted to run like he intended. It was his fault. He blew it.

Noah at 4 years was also obviously a huge error. It wasn’t so much that he wanted Noah over Lopez that was the problem. Noah was still the better player and fit. It was that with his injury history 4 years was idiotic. Then Noah went off the rails (but he was actually quite good last year when given a chance)

Yeah, Kuzma’s clearly movable, so he’d be a fine return if they can’t get a pick for Morris.

Wow.

The Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves have finalized a trade that will send D’Angelo Russell, Kevon Looney and a future 1st round pick to Minnesota for Andrew Wiggins, Josh Okogie, and Shabazz Napier, per @ShamsCharania

Why the hell would Golden State do that?

There’s no way that’s a real trade that GSW agreed to. That’s highway robbery by Minnesota if true. A useful if overpaid player in DLO, a future 1st, and they dump Wiggins? No way, can’t believe it.

On the way out, Phil made a big point of noting that he was never told he couldn’t do anything, at least not up until the point where he wanted Dolan to just buy out Melo (which, of course, was also a terrible idea, since the Knicks got Mitch in the eventual Melo deal). Dolan said as much earlier when he gave Phil the extension in April 2017.

This is a minor quibble and really has nothing to do with Phil, but IMO we shouldn’t value deals based on who a pick eventually becomes. That’s results oriented thinking instead of value oriented thinking.

It’s like saying I took 4/5 on a coin flip and won so that means I am smart.

If someone gives you the #1 pick, you take the obvious consensus player, and he either busts or breaks down, it sucks, but that’s results oriented thinking instead of value oriented thinking. You got a #1 pick in the deal and simply got unlucky relative to the long term value of that asset.

If you got a 2nd round pick, that’s the value you got. If you selected Mitch, you got way more value out of it than it’s “intrinsic long term expected value” which is great but that’s it.

You could also argue that a pick in San Antonio’s or Golden State’s hands is worth a little more than in NY’s hands but that still another story.

You know, Steve Kerr was a GM once and not horrible at it (by Knick’s standards probably pretty good). If he is happy dealing Russell, and I’m sure he was consulted, then I’m happy we didn’t get him. That said, my gues is that draft pick is going the other way and Shams mis reported. That is GS gets a first round pick from Minnesota instead of the other way around.

Oh, geez. I’m sorry guys. Got taken in by an impostor Twitter account. That is not a real trade, though apparently both Russell and Wiggins are being discussed in 3 and 4-team scenarios.

Now gotta self-deliver the lecture on media literacy that I usually give my kids.

Sorry. I’m better than this.

Morris’s third year stats aren’t that different from Kuzma’s stats, but at the moment Morris is a much better player. I don’t see us making the deal unless we get something besides Kuzma.

Sorry, here it is…

try @114, does that work?

So why are we interested in Kuzma? Everything about him screams mediocrity, age 24, mediocre rebounding, Kevin Knox levels of allergic to passing, inefficient on medium volume, no defense, overall production and shooting stats have only declined so far after a sort of promising first season… I literally don’t see anything to be excited about him as a player. I guess that might be precisely why the Knicks are reportedly pursuing him.

Now it works. We’d have to waive some of the guys we get back. I’m not sure why we should throw in Dotson to get more people back.

Morris is better on D, better shooter, and can play the 3 where his rebounding isn’t terrible.

Much rejoicing!! Going back to read the thread, but while we remain Dolaned, hoo ray.

I worry so much about Zion hurting himself.

I cannot believe that people here would argue that IT was not the worst POBO we’ve since Dolan took over.

I am not arguing that. the Eddy Curry deal was the worst. And the reason I am here.

I got tricked by that imposter account too. Funny troll job. He had Mitch going to GSW for some derisory return.

@127

Apparently the original source is Marc Stein, so it’s reputable enough to be interesting. Damn I do hope that happens. My ideal scenario would be trade Morris for the best offer, stay put everywhere else and sign Masai for him to run the next offseason, with a great draft pick and cap space.

Zion is having major issues with the Bucks incredible defense, but he has been finding ways to contribute. That tip to himself that he almost finished was incredible.

I think Zion is a bit overweight. But he’s also probably never played against a team as good at protecting the rim as the Bucks are, so he could just be taking some time to figure things out.

In Knicks gossip apparently Payton unfollowed the knicks on instagram and Mooch said goodbye to the beat writers after the game last night.

@120 the salaries don’t work otherwise unless LA gives back a piece they really need. My trade essentially swaps Cook for Dotson to make the trade work salary-wise. Seems like an even swap.

Just curious is Noah still on the books?

Using the stretch provision reduced Noah’s cap hit of $19.3 million in 2019-20 to $6.4 million. Stretching his contract, though, costs the Knicks $6.4 million in cap space in the summers of 2020 and 2021.

I think the Rockets really overpaid for Covington, but I’m super glad about it because it will probably set the market on what the Knicks can get with Morris. They gave up Capela and a first rounder just for Denver to throw Beasley and Juancho at Minnesota, while Atlanta just gave up the Nets pick for Capela. It’s an all in move that I don’t really think is going to work out very well.

Very much worth the read. Canadians talking about Masai:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/latest-knicks-report-sign-ujiris-raptors-term-winding/

Basically he’s saying that if the Knicks want Masai he is prob coming assuming Dolan can have the discipline to get the deal done and not make a rushed hire now. (In other words, hello Mark Jackson)

Houston Recieves: Robert Covington,Jordan Bell and a 2024 Golden State second round pick via Atlanta

Atlanta Receives: Clint Capela and Nene

Denver Recieves: Gerald Green, Keita Baites Diop,Noah Vonleh,Shabazz Nabier and Rockets 2020 FRP

Minnesota recieves: Malik Beasley,Juan Hernangomez,Evan Turner,Jarred Vanderbilt and Nets 2020 FRP via Atlanta

What a steal for atlanta

Will update if more players are added

UPDATE: So Houston after this trade has 12 million dollars available to possibly expand this trade even more by trading for more players with the new found cap space Morey has got something cooking

Man, what a huge trade. Shame we couldn’t get involved.

On a different note, is there like a gofundme I can donate to get this site fixed? It’s constantly going down and it’s where I do my main Knicks and NBA discussion.

I can’t believe Robert Covington yielded two first round picks.

@144

I’m not going to debate what he’s worth, but he’s one of those players that has clearly been underrated by boxscore metrics that don’t capture his value as an individual defender. He’s down a little this year, but he’s often among the best defenders in the entire league on DRPM (nba real +/-) and his teams are almost invariably solidly better when he’s on the court. He’s only 29. I don’t think he’s declining. It’s probably just tougher get to enthusiastic about playing defense on the T-Wolves. lol

From what I’ve read, Hou owner is looking to dump salary, they’ve gone 10-1 since Capela went down, are looking to switch at each position. Also Capela has plantar fasciitis and will be in and out all year.

This move lets them accomplish a lot of different goals. Apparently they played the first full game without using a player taller than 6’6″ since like 1963 or something.

Hou is all-in on some insane midget ball. Could only happen with Pringles and Morey.

Covington also has two years left on a bargain contract after this one. That adds a lot to his value. Particularly for the Rockets since it’s also important to note with this mvoe that they once again got out of the tax and saved a bunch of money. You can’t judge Morey’s last few years without acknowledging the constraint of ownership.

It’s a fascinating move for the Rockets to go so all-in on small ball. If the season ended now they’d be matched up with Utah and Gobert in the first round and then if they survive that in all likelihood they’d have to contend with the Lakers massive frontcourt in the second round. They’re really testing the limits of the theory in ways no team ever has before. Those series would be absolutely must-see. I think they’re also kind of counting on a decent, more traditional center becoming available in the buy-out market. Even if they’re going all-out with small ball when the chips are down they need someone just to save some beating on PJ Tucker for some regular season minutes I would think. Tristan Thompson for example could be a huge difference maker for them if he gets bought out in Cleveland.

Gobert is gonna struggle running from the 3pt line to the basket and you don’t really have to worry about him taking advantage of the mismatch on offense.

Disagree on worrying about taking advantage of the matchup. You’re not going to just throw Gobert the ball on the block every possession of course, but it matters in terms of deterring the lob threat, and even more so in terms of the matchup on the offensive glass. But obviously the bet they’re making is that the twos they give up can be made up with threes at the other end because you’re right that it’s a very tough matchup for Gobert on D.

So according to Berman, Mills wanted to trade down and Perry wanted RJ.

Not sure how to feel. Except Mills probably would’ve just taken Reddish anyway.

Let’s get these trades

@154
While it might be true, it smacks of Mills pulling a Fatal Attraction move, rising out of the bathtub to stab Perry.

They literally just beat Utah in a game where they outrebounded them. Also, Harden didn’t play.

Utah is probably not the team they are worried about because as great as Gobert is overall and as much as I like the Jazz team, Gobert is not a guy that’s going to go off for 35 or 40 when he has a mismatch. James and Davis will do that and force you out of what you are trying to do.

Utah is probably not the team they are worried about because as great as Gobert is overall and as much as I like the Jazz team, Gobert is not a guy that’s going to go off for 35 or 40 when he has a mismatch. James and Davis will do that and force you out of what you are trying to do.

I know. You’re agreeing with me. See 151.

True. That’s why Z-man had to propose such a complicated trade. But his trade still requires free roster spots. You can waive Dudley and Daniels but you still need one more roster spot on the Knicks. I think the Knicks would have to make a side deal to free up that spot because I don’t see anyone they would want to waive.

The Knicks should probably just trade Morris for a pick, start looking at Wooten and the other kids a little, and call it a day while they search for the next POBO.

I mean, if they can actually get a pick or find a trade that makes sense short and long term for Randle, Taj, Payton, DSJr, Portis etc… I’m not against it, but I don’t have a high trust level with Perry evaluating “two way” talent well and fitting pieces together correctly. So I’d rather defer actual basketball moves to whoever comes next and pray he’s someone that understands basketball and knows that defense counts too.

Personally, I think Payton and Bullock might also have trade market value and we should consider getting assets for them as well.

capela trade was interesting. i understand why everyone thinks roco is overrated, but if he is i don’t think it’s by a lot. you often hear analysts talk about guys who hustle or are pretty good at fighting through picks and staying in front of or annoying their man and so (on some cases) valuable 3D players. bullock and dotson are examples of these sorts of guys. and sure it’s better to be on of those dudes than dsj trier or knox, but i think another huge gap exists between those low-mistake hustle guys and the players who can actually be disruptive team defenders. roco is one of those guys and there aren’t that many of them. of course he has to be healthy and he’s only a pretty good shooter, but that still makes him a pretty damn good piece. and his contract is excellent, a big part of his trade value.

i was surprised the wolves essentially gave up a first for beasley and jauncho. not that there’s anything so bad about those guys as prospects but all your are getting is their rfa rights; not sure that’s worth it.

maybe houston now tries to give up their 2022 first for barnes. that would keep them under the luxury tax and he would make a huge difference to their current team. denver seems like they are in a good position to make a big follow on deal.

After Morris I think Bullock is actually probably the second easiest guy to move. Shooting wings are the one position no team ever has enough of and Bullock’s low salary makes him easy for teams to match without shaking up their core at all. The Lakers for example would need to do something pretty drastic to get Morris (Kuzma has to go, they need to aggregate a bunch of players or include someone who currently plays for them, etc) but could acquire Bullock very simply (say Quinn Cook and a couple 2nd rounders). With Covington moved, there’s Morris and Iggy and then the market for wings starts looking pretty barren. I think it should be fairly straightforward to get something respectable (maybe a quality 2nd rounder or a couple low second rounders) for him if they want it, which they should.

Their thinking may be that with so few teams having cap space this summer, the market for Beasley and Juancho won’t be strong and they will be able to re-sign them for reasonable contracts.

That’s 100% what they are thinking.

Covington is a pickup to counter the glut of good point forwards in the West: LeBron, Kawhi, PG, Luka, SGA, Grayson Allen. I’ve always been a Capela fan but this reads as pure matchup anxiety.

Covington is a pickup to counter the glut of good point forwards in the West: LeBron, Kawhi, PG, Luka, SGA, Grayson Allen. I’ve always been a Capela fan but this reads as pure matchup anxiety.

But isn’t that a logical reaction, though? That they will be facing those players in the playoffs? The fact that they’re 10-1 also likely allays any fears they have that they’d collapse without Capela (of course, that would only make sense if they were getting a good player back for Capela, which they are).

Covington is a pickup to counter the glut of good point forwards in the West: LeBron, Kawhi, PG, Luka, SGA, Grayson Allen. I’ve always been a Capela fan but this reads as pure matchup anxiety.

I think Grayson Allen is the one they fear the most.

There’s nothing wrong with Covington. I like him a lot. I argued above that’s he underrated on boxscore metrics because of his value on individual defense. But unless someone knocks out LA or there are injuries etc.. Houston is not getting to the finals now for sure. Their ultra small ball will give a lot of teams fits. It just won’t win a title.

it’s really really hard to replicate rim defense with perimeter guys…. and it’s really weird that houston had to include a pick in this deal….

i highly suspect that this is for luxury tax reasons…

I agree, I don’t see the matchup with LA being good for Houston, but I don’t think it’s much worse after this trade either. They were going to have trouble either way.

Just sayin’

@StevePopper
A few Knicks items about 24 hours from deadline – hearing Morris will be moved and that they are still in on D’Angelo Russell. And…two weeks after being announced as rebranding arm of Knicks, Steve Stoute is a prominent voice in all of this, including finding new front office.

Are we getting draft compensation for taking on Russell at that price? 🙂