Begley’s latest is worthy of its own new thread. http://knickerblogger.net/sny-com-knicks-feel-less-inclined-to-trade-for-russell-westbrook-and-his-massive-salary-looking-for-long-term-cap-flexibility/

Knicks could still sign Bogdonovic. $18 million might be enough.

I’d enjoy that, though Begley’s latest says the rest of the league is getting signals that NY would rather rent out its remaining space for more assets than take on long term salary. I guess Bogey could be the exception, though, since he is a long-term asset.

Knick fan not in NJ:
I think the context of this discussion is will our new acquisitions improve our offense from last year or will it be the same or worse, as the Kas Vegas line suggests it will be.It’s worth recalling that our offense was dead last or 29th all last year even with Morris shooting well. That’s not surprising given how well we shot threes (and twos, for that matter). If we start Payton, Barrett, RJ, Randle and Mitch, there is no reason to assume the offense will be much better than last year unless RJ takes a big leap or the bench shoots lights out. After all, that’s basically the same starters as last year.Perhaps we’ll have Toppin, Quickley and Burks as rotation players and that might make a difference, along with Frank being better at open threes, but it’s hard to imagine the bench being a big effect. I mean we did improve our three point shooting on paper, but unless those new players are good enough to get significant minutes and they shoot well, I don’t expect to see an even top twenty five offense.

And I hate saying this.I went into the exercise thinking the new players will help us improve offensively, but couldn’t come to that conclusion when I tried to estimate who would actually play.

If we have a PG all year, there’s reason to believe we’ll improve.

Our offense would have tied for 21st I’d we only count the time after Payton’s return, putting together a 109 ORTG.

Prior to Payton’s return our offense ranked 30th with a 103 ORTG, approximately 2 pts below the next worst team.

Knicks could still sign Bogdonovic. $18 million might be enough.

Galloway signed for the minimum in Phoenix. If he was that cheap, I would have preferred to give him a few million over Rivers.

And I hate saying this. I went into the exercise thinking the new players will help us improve offensively, but couldn’t come to that conclusion when I tried to estimate who would actually play.

Raven:
Shooting better across the board and shooting well — or even not terribly — are two very different things. We were horrendous last year. This year, as currently constructed, we have two people who shot above league average at the three — our third-string power forward and our second-string small forward. Even if Bullock comes back to his mean (which I think is likely) that’s gag-inducing. Remember, the league AVERAGE is 35.8. Go back and look at that list again. Most of the team isn’t even close. To league average.

A lot of snipers changed hands over the last few days. We got two guys who aren’t terrible, and two rookies who maybe aren’t bad, but I wouldn’t pop any corks over that.

We don’t need good shooters. We just need shooters who keep the defense from planting 5 guys in the paint every trip down the floor.

GOAT!!!!

Of course, it’d be nice to finish with the worst record, but with the flattened lottery odds I can’t even get to upset about it if we don’t.

A lot of snipers changed hands over the last few days. We got two guys who aren’t terrible, and two rookies who maybe aren’t bad, but I wouldn’t pop any corks over that.