How funny is it that free agency really is treated like a game in and of itself, right? And today is opening day for this stressful but entertaining game.
The Miami Heat will apparently not be meeting with Jalen Brunson today, making it a near certainty that Brunson will be signing with the Knicks as a free agent. What’s left to determine is A. how much he signs for and B. whether the Knicks and Mavericks work out a sign and trade for Brunson. There’s a possibility that the Knicks send out a player making enough money that the Knicks could maintain a lot of cap room even after acquiring Brunson.
Or not.
The Knicks might also finally get a chance to move on from Julius Randle.
Or maybe they won’t.
There’s a lot up in the air heading into the 6pm opening of free agency, but at least one thing appears not up in the air, which is that the Knicks are finally signing a big time free agent that other, actually good teams, also seriously want (heck, the Western Conference Runners-Up are going to be devastated by his departure). That’s the first time that’s happened since…Tyson Chandler, I guess? That’s cool.
Trading Randle would also be cool.
Oh, and of course, before I forget, Mitch Robinson is set to break the Charlie Ward Curse, which is also awesome (amusingly, if the Knicks work out an extension with RJ, I guess he and Mitch would share breaking the curse, right?).
So let’s talk about free agency!
247 replies on “Tramps Like Us, Baby, We Were Born to Brunson – The 2022 Free Agency Opening Day Thread”
Howdy KBloggers!
Are you ready for some madness?
Even the fact that Knicks rumours link us with useful young players instead of “stars” on decline and other dinosaurs show a clear change of philosophy and slight signs of respectability and FO functionality.
Let’s FUKIN DO IT!
lol now that is a funny turn
trying to imagine shams juggling the durant scoop with the royce o’neale scoop in his tweet drafts
Wow Durant demands a trade. What next?
WHERE BROOKLYN AT?
Ha!
Randle for KD who says no?
I’d totally call Durant’s bluff if I’m Marks. They’re fucked if he leaves, but his career is also fucked if he holds out, as he’s not a young player any more, so fuck him. He’s signed for four more seasons and they didn’t do shit to him. Fuck that.
Woj says Marks is prepared to work with Durant to find him a new home, Brian. It’s too late. The greatest hypothetical team in NBA history, as Zach Lowe has called them, is over. I will enjoy Kyrie being the last one left.
miss, are you telling us absolutely everything?
not exactly, we’ve also acquired royce o’neale.
…
This timing was absolutely hilarious.
We should probably skip the “what’s our Durant package” 500+ post thread because the Nets aren’t trading him to us, but this is insane.
Suns have to be the favorites right? With Ayton’s BYC issues it could be a bit complicated but I’m sure there’s a way.
Yeah, I just saw that. What a joke. I am all for players not taking shit from teams, but the Nets didn’t do anything to Durant, so for him to fuck them like this is such a dick move.
I know we are not anywhere close enough in the success cycle to probably make this a wise move, but how many of our upcoming picks and how many of our young guys would you want to trade to bring KD across the East River?
Kyrie, KD and Simmons (and Harden before him!).
The Nets are the best clown show on this flat Earth.
KD wants to go to Phoenix apparently.
Mikal, Ayton, and picks is probably about as good as Brooklyn can possibly do coming out of this mess.
Welcome back, Max.
Of course now Miami is also being mentioned as a place KD would like to go.
I doubt they’d include Bridges. I bet it’d be more like the two Cams and Ayton.
You can continue your Good Place argument in the previous thread.
KD saw the Knicks as the clear winners of free agency and so he had to do something.
Thanks Cyber!
(The quote button doesn’t work anymore?)
Is there a stronger word than schadenfreude for how I’m feeling about the Nets today?
Jooooooke-lyn…….
Why would the Nets be trading a first for Royce Young if KD is leaving? Did they just find out about the trade demand from Woj?
After we were thinking about how the Knicks were going to be dealing with an improved Eastern Conference, suddenly a major contender has fallen off of the amp, which is very nice!
Unless they’re moronically thinking that they can just retool rather than reboot?
We need to keep coming here every day or the button vanishes. LOL
Just got reminded on Twitter that Houston has outright or pick swaps on the Nets 1st rd picks for the next 5 years with no protections!
LOLOLOL (I’m not using the button 😉 )
#I’d totally call Durant’s bluff if I’m Marks. They’re fucked if he leaves, but his career is also fucked if he holds out, as he’s not a young player any more, so fuck him. He’s signed for four more seasons and they didn’t do shit to him. Fuck that.#
That’s the spirit!
Fuck KD!
Even his Finals mvps/titles were mirages
Steph showed this year Who Was The Man behind gsw
KD gets My GDick/PussyOAT easily with his professional decisions
Starting to feel like Pierce and Garnett Part II
That’s probably the thought process behind the O’Neale deal. They want to make those swaps not make sense for Houston, so they still plan to remain competitive.
It might end up that way, but it’s brutal that if so, it won’t be for the reasons of the first deal, which was foolishly giving up a ton of picks for dudes at the end of their career. Here, they gave up picks for stars…who then all decided they wanted off the team at once because they’re dicks (and one guy who wanted off because the other guys were dicks…even if he might be a bit of a dick himself at times).
Wow. Without doing much wrong the nets really just shat the bed. In effect they’re now almost as badly off as when they traded everything they owned for the dried out husks of the Celtics roster all those years ago. They’ll get pennies on the dollar for KD, and less for Kyrie. And they don’t have any of their own picks. Meanwhile Philadelphia might add multiple top five picks in the next few years to Embiid and Maxey (and thw declining artist formerly known as James harden). BIG swing in fortunes.
Durant for Randle, Fournier and 1,000 picks, who says no?
Can you even imagine if the Knicks got Durant? Wow.
God, those two are idiots. Brooklyn gave them more control than any players in history—and apparently they didn’t like it!
The Nets never should’ve broken management rule #1: Do not let the inmates run the asylum.
#Durant for Randle, Fournier and 1,000 picks, who says no?#
I respect Durant’s game but i don’t want him in these knicks
He smells dysfunctional.
Not even for Randle,Fournier and Arcidiacono
It’s the classic story of how once you give someone too much power, the act of taking some of it back is seen as a total act of aggression. Marks calling out Kyrie was seen as some shocking thing unreasonably.
I thought Nets got picks from the Sixers in the Simmons trade??? So, they wont be as bad off as they could have been. Plus, the Durant trade should replenish a bit too.
heck yeah…and 5% equity in MSG…
They got two firsts from Philly, but they’re not likely to be good firsts, as one will be this upcoming draft. In fact, that’s the pick that will likely be traded for O’Neale (the deal is for the worst pick between Brooklyn, Houston and Philly’s 2023 pick).
I mean, Durant would fit nicely at small forward between RJ and Obi… just sayin.
KD having to say the Knicks are cool again would be priceless. Go for it, Leon.
this is so rich isnt it… durant and brunson spotted together grabbing slices on Staten Island with pete davidson…
Sorry – Houston has the nets picks, not Philly. It’s all just WAY TOO EXCITING! Buckle up everyone…!
KDick
Does this mean the Nets have been gentrified too? Yeesh! So much I-don’t-know-what-the-fuck-is-goin-on there. They are a mess. I don’t know where they can possibly trade KD to that’s worthwhile. KD gets traded, they are gonna have to move one or both of Simmons and Kyrie. No one really wants Simmons right now, and Kyrie is a hard sell- but still tradeable I guess.
ThE kNiCkS aren’t CoOl AnY mOrE
[Settleman] SOURCES: A third team has just entered the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Daryl Morey and the Sixers are now all in for KD. Harris, Maxey, Thybulle & picks
HAHAHAHAHA I completely forgot Simmons is stranded on “We’re Fucked Forever” island
The Nets could trade Durant and easily stay competitive, although I have no idea why they would want Royce ONeal either way
Wishing Super Teams to have multiple season ending injuries of their stars ain’t seem to me as evil as it sounds
Just a cry for fair competition
The Knicks could offer their entire roster and every draft pick from now until eternity and the Nets would say no.
There’s no way they want the Knicks to be relevant
I guess there is a route for the Nets to stay pretty decent here actually. If they get back Ayton and Bridges and Kyrie and Simmons play, that team could be pretty damn good. Those 4 plus Joe Harris is a really nice starting 5 and they’d have decent depth too. Lot of ifs obviously but it’s probably a little early to fully dance on their grave. Still some options for them.
Heat can’t trade Bam to the Nets, because a team can’t have 2 players that they traded for, that received the rookie extension.
Wait..so KD is apparently trying to get to Phoenix. Is Raymond from White Men Can’t Jump, Bridges maybe, and picks enough? As good as KD is- he has proven himself to be the guy that puts a team over the top type where he doesn’t get all the defensive attention. So I can’t see Phoenix throwing Booker in the trade as opposed to Bridges
Suddenly the Nets are must see TV- everyone loves a train wreck
These guys are so mentally volatile that in two months they might forget about it and be bitching about something else, so that might work. But geeez, what a joke!
Yeah a Phoenix deal of Ayton, Bridges, and a boatload of draft picks sounds pretty good, actually. Then maybe they can do Kyrie to Miami for Herro, Bam, and a whole bunch of draft picks. I would like that team a lot.
EDIT: Oh right, they can’t get Bam. You get the idea, though.
This day is too much. lmao
Maybe CP3 will finally get his ring after all.
https://twitter.com/NBA90s/status/1542550370982850560?t=bnOkTaZG0kW0lECueBq_4A&s=19
Nothing to do with KD or Brunson but this was a pretty rare site, LJ actually dunking as a Knick.
I am guessing that Curry getting a ring after KD left has spurned him to get one as fast as he can.
Based on the behavior of professional basketball players, I’m starting to think maybe we should study the impact of marijuana a little closer and rethink some of these new marijuana laws. We have enough problems without more assaults and instability. I can handle my beer and bourbon without going beyond tasteless jokes that I apologize for in real time. Hell, I’m freshened up and ready for 6:00 right now.
I thought we were safe until 6 PM! I was pretty productive right up until that Woj bomb. Now my bar study materials are looking at me with puppy eyes.
strat please be joking
In hindsight, was NOT landing KD/Kyrie the only stroke of luck the Knicks have had since I’ve been alive?
LOL
About what? Marijuana? I haven’t touched the stuff in exactly 35 years. I haven’t got a clue what’s going on these days. That was a joke. The beer and bourbon is true, but not mixed. Just both occurring in the same early afternoon. lol
The only thing that can top what’s happened so far is Frank somehow winding up back on the Knicks in a Brunson deal. I’d need oxygen. lmao
Either they give us Frank or we don’t agree to the sign and trade! 😀
Related:
That’s it! Play hardball!
On another note, the Nets have Durant under contract for 4 more years. After this disaster, they don’t have to send him to a team on his wish list. They could send him to whatever team offers the best deal. They could send him to basketball Siberia. At his age, would he sit out?
Thanks for the new thread! Glad the other one, uh, ended…
What’s the earliest that Brunson can sign with the Knicks? 6:01 PM?
I would SOOOOOOO love for KD to wind up in PHX so the WC can fuck itself up while teams in the East stomp all over the maggot-infested roadkill carcass of the KD-Harden-Kyrie Nets.
Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton and whatever you get back for KD is a perfectly fine team, maybe even a good one if Ben can play 70 games.
and what about Kyrie?
also Ben could just retire for all we know
Kyrie quite possibly gone as well, though what would his trade value be?
I would put my odds of playing 70 NBA games next season as roughly equal to Ben Simmons, and I’m 48, out of shape, and recently had major surgery with one of Frank’s colleagues.
There are is only one place KD can get traded to in order for everything to be right in the universe.
OKC.
OT: yall go read the tweets about UCLA/USC moving to the Big Ten in 2024 while waiting on 6p to hit. You all know I’ll be cracking on my coworkers: “LA is this, Lakers that”. Yeah, well your two beloved college squads are about to bounce from the Pac12 bc neither can recruit the best LA talent anymore, hahahahahaa!!!
Knicksiest outcome ever…KD, Kyrie and Harden all leave and the Nets win a championship anyway.
Yeah, but can you defend multiple positions and hit the catch-and-shoot 3?
Simmons isn’t even near you, Alan. You would’ve dunked the ball and still be in Philly. 😀
Z-Man, the question is not which of us has a more NBA-friendly game. The question is how much we believe that Ben will have the physical and mental health to play in 7/8 of his team’s schedule.
it’s jarring that people are suddenly pretending jalen brunson isn’t the most important player in the nba
lmao
It’s not even 6:00 yet. Wait until the Knicks actually get started.
I was perusing this list of all the tradable assets for each team ISO dark horses:
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/34161182/nba-free-agency-2022-tradable-contracts-draft-picks-all-30-teams
Came up with a few:
1. The Bulls. Karnisovas is bold and he is smart. Zach Lavine, Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, and picks is a good package.
2. The Pelicans. If Zion won’t sign an extension, just get it over with. If he does, build the package around Ingram.
3. Milwaukee. Khris Middleton, all their picks, and the kitchen sink. (This one would end the NBA season before it started.)
(I tried to find a way to team him up with Jokic but they don’t have a lot of picks.)
Can Portland trade for KD? Maybe Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, filler (Bledsoe?) and a boatload of picks. Dame deserves to play with another top20 player.
and then there was one (mavs meeting off)
Now i think i believe we can do it. LOL
Stein says the Mavs meeting with Brunson is off which would seem to make this even more of a foregone conclusion than it already was. Love to win the sweepstakes to pay the 15th best PG in the league 30M a season!
Edit:love it even more if we don’t pay a tampering penalty lol
With Simmons and Kyrie the Nets lead the league in unresolved mental health issues
Over/under on Simmons games played next year for the Nets?
Over/under on Kyrie games played next year for the Nets?
Shams and everyone else says it’s a done deal (though they quote the $110 figure Haynes was using the other day). Bing bong?
I just hope they get sent to separate shitholes like Cleveland or Orlando. KD especially has no real say in the matter.
I saw this on twitter-it’s not tampering if you’re just talking to your dad
Shams says on Twitter that it’s d.o.n.e. At 4/110.
Marc Stein says 4/105 w/incentives
“Stein says the Mavs meeting with Brunson is off”
Yeah I’m sure the Mavs are going to make it look as much like tampering as they possibly can.
I am not concerned at all with the “overpay” on Brunson. Even with his faults and shortcomings he will be a huge upgrade at point guard in NY and the best at the position in a very long time. He’s also still 25 years old so his age is not an issue and fits the Knicks timeline.
Most importantly saving the cap space for some mythical signing in the future seems like fools gold to me. When was the last time the Knicks made use of this strategy and actually accomplished something worthwhile? Sorry, signing league average vets to league average or worse salaries doesn’t move the needle much for me. They don’t even use it to take back bad salaries and get draft picks, Using it on Brunson is a good move at this point.
They would most likely end up with KD, Dame, and bums if they did.
We got Brunson, thus avoiding the dunce ears, the Nets are imploding (even if somehow it let a bad taste in my mouth) plus I did the ESPN’s quiz about front offices and ended up working with the Warriors…
… maybe I should leave while in the lead…
If I was the Jazz I would on the phone right now. They have Gobert and Mitchell and are thinking about blowing it up anyway.
5 mins…
Shit, I just realized that I really need to do a new thread for Brunson’s signing, right?
i heart hart
Did I miss anything? 😉
so are we worried about mitch or is it
both?
Hartenstein 2/16M
5:39 p.m. ET: On NBA Today, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported league executives have floated the idea that if the Brooklyn Nets trade Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving together, the Los Angeles Lakers are a possible destinatio
Kelly Iko
@KellyIkoNBA
Free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein is signing a two-year, $16.7 million deal with the New York Knicks, sources tell
@TheAthletic
.
They could easily play them both, but I guess it’s at least a little worrisome for Mitch.
Seems like everything indicates it’s both, Hartenstein is a career back up.
Famous last words, but *I think* 2/$16M for him is perfectly fine. The fact that he can shoot a little bit should help him have some value as opposed to someone like Detroit’s beloved pan hands.
And we literally just saw how much Thibs values having two consistent guys in the middle with Mitch/Noel, so I think it’s both, but I’ll admit, it’s now a bit tenser. 😉
But yeah, good signing. I like Hartenstein, as well.
ptmilo
March 5, 2022 at 1:37 pm
speaking which i wonder if isaiah hartenstein gets any bites above the $6mm tax payer exception that is probably the clips’ max on him. funky player and def smallish sample, but he’s really been pretty good. very good timing, gets blocks and steals with both arms despite being a slow jumper, yet also has excellent verticality. does some surprisingly decent switching on the pnr. can’t really shoot or explode at all, but as a pretty high end passer and crafty short roll finisher, he’s really not the space sucker you’d imagine. very competitive. i actually feel like he is harder to totally play off the court than zubac, tho it’s meaningful the clips don’t seem to agree.
I would argue to just stick with this thread, Brian.
And I’m very happy for new Kourtney Kellar follower Frank!
This could be a sad day for Jericho Sims hive though
Yeah, i think it’s both, Hart at 8M AAV and Mitch at 12M AAV (?), it’s 20M but the cap is now at 123M. If you go into the cap this can be around 15%.
Good call Ptmilo!
I like the signing, he’s probably just a backup but he’s on my all-underrated team since his Rockets day.
Hart is also coming from a center platoon in Los Angeles, so he’s used to it.
Tyus Jones staying in Memphis, 2/30.
And we’re signing him for less than we paid Noel so there’s that.
Wow, Bobby Portis got paid! Good for him.
I dunno, I think Taj is more the odd man out, with Sims taking Taj’s third center spot.
I like Hartenstein a lot, he’s always seemed to me like a guy who could potentially break our in the right situation. Of course it remains to be seen if we’re the right place for that to happen but I like him more than just keeping Noel.
I’d still keep Sims as the 3rd stringer. He can get PT in the G League and when one center goes down he plays with the big club.
Hartenstein is a quality signing, he played really well in 1200 minutes for the Clippers last year and he’s still just 24. Also brings a little bit different skill set than the centers we have run out here in the last few years, he can pass and shoot a little.
Overall he’s a nice well-rounded player and was well worth the $8M AAV. I think Knick fans are going to like this guy.
Third center seems like Sims’ ideal role. He can’t do as many things as Hartenstein and is more of a situational player. Hartenstein would probably hold his own as a starter if need be, and I can’t really say the same about Sims right now.
begley says still keeping mitch.
It fits rumors yesterday that the Knicks were going to sign Mitch’s backup in free agency, so yeah, sounds good still for Mitch.
It’s so nice how this offseason is, like, a 180 degree turn from last year.
Hartenstein become our best passing big man since Kyle O’Quinn, can shoot outside the 3-feet range giving our lineups a fairly different look and he’s a better athlete than expected.
He’s also a month younger than Mitch!
The second unit is going to be fun- DRose, Quick, Grimes (or Reddish), Obi, and Hartenstein. If Randle and RJ can’t fix their shooting we might be in for another year where the bench outplays the starters.
Not a bad day so far for the rudderless mess that is the Knicks FO…
Yeah. But for us to like you even more, Isaiah, don’t forget to bring Kourtney to celebrity row every single game, ok? 😀
Beal 5/251!
JJJ out 4-6 months w foot surgery
I think that’s the upside of this weird front office. It’s like a roller coaster ride. When they’re up, it’s a lot of fun! 🙂
“Simons has agreed on a four-year, $100 million contract extension” with the Blazers. Does this make the RJ extension more expensive than 4/100M?
Who says it’s over?
Could still possibly turn Brunson into a S&T and could still find a deal for Randle.
The pen is mightier than the sordid…
What I hated the most about last offseason is that it was, like, “Okay, this is fine,” when it clearly wasn’t, while this is, “It’s not fine, so let’s mix things up,” which is at least the correct way to look at this team. If you’re going to insist on constantly going for it every season, mixing things up was a must, so I’m quite please they’re taking this route.
It really makes you wonder what they’d have done last summer if Randle hadn’t had that surprising season.
At last, Leon Rose and the Knicks have their point guard.
It took a lot of money — a reported $104 million, according to Yahoo, over four years — and several trades to create cap space, but Jalen Brunson is headed to New York City, agreeing to a deal after NBA free agency opened Thursday.
Grizz don’t care as long as he’s healthy for the playoffs
I think Brunson is going to underwhelm but I’ve been overunderwhelmed by the Knicks’ “point guards” for most of my adult life, I’m here for it
Jalen Brunson is in the same category as FVV…and actually more my kind of player. I love the way he operates in the paint. Prop Joe jokes aside, he’d going to be outstandingly fun to root for!
I actively dig PJ Tucker, but holy shit, three years?!?!
On a day when guys like Beal and Booker are signing 5-year $50+M AAV contracts, I’m very comfortable with seeing what Brunson got.
too funny z-man, i kept wondering who the heck brunson reminded me of, yep, prop joe is it…
I didn’t make it up but thought of it before I heard it elsewhere…
https://www.reddit.com/r/DanLeBatardShow/comments/uynsll/jalen_brunson_looks_like_prop_joe_if_he_grew_up/
I love that Beal is getting this crazy high contract because he “honored” the Wizards by sticking with them instead of pushing for a move to another team. It’s such a weird thing. “You actually want to stay with us? Here’s $250 million!”
It’s deep, but probably a good risk for a team like Philly…
Bamba no mo in play…
I assume he just had such a robust market that they had to go to three to match teams that were willing to go $30 for two years, but holy shit, that’s a long contract for a guy who I’m pretty sure is currently 45 years old.
If they don’t think Sims is even ready for a backup role, I doubt they think Obi is ready to start. I’m guessing we’ll have at least another half year of Randle.
True, but a) he’s not worth that and b) he can pull a KD at any time. Those supermaxes are freakin’ brutal!
i am trying to think on another pg with the physique/playing style of brunson….only one I can think of right now is timmy hardaway…
I read that Jokic’s extension includes a player option at 60m!
Yeah, the figures for even the amazing players are certainly…something. Jokic will be making $60 million in his final year of this deal!!!
It probably makes sense to view every acquisition as potential trade bait. Hart is very movable on that contract and bigger deals are definitely coming.
Sims is going to get opportunities, both in practice and when these guys get into foul trouble. If he outplays Hart, He’ll play.
Joker 5/264 Wowza!
Didn’t embiid make some comment about how they need dudes like PJ Tucker? Probably got that much to keep embiid happy
Tucker really is perfect for the Sixers, but giving a player that old three years is still a surprise. He’ll literally be 40 at the end of the deal.
Hart is a great pickup. A lot more versatile than Noel & Mitch offensively and still a pretty good defender.
Mitch & Hart & Kourtney >>> Mitch & Noel
Worth every penny. He is the best player in the NBA right now and he will continue to be a playmaker into his late, late 30s. Unless he starts shrinking and loses his eyesight, he will be a productive player until he can’t make a layup.
Also, Mitch is still an injury risk. I don’t want Sims/Taj platooning at C for extended time.
Hartenstein is the same age as Mitch & Sims.
About $5M for the room (backup 4?) and then convert Sims to NBA contract.
OKC is starting to commit long term to some players. Shai last year got 5/179M and today Lu Dort got 5/88M.
holy shit, we have a PG!
Even though centers aren’t valued as much I think a good team should have three centers. Mitch is our starter. Sims is our bruiser. Hart is our finesse guy who can give us a bit of shooting and passing. We don’t want a situation like last year to happen again where Noel goes down and we just have Mitch. Sims will get his playing time.
It depends on Brunson’s starting salary. If the contract starts low and increases, he’ll start at around 25.5M. If we add Hartenstein’s 8M, we get to 33.5M. As we have 36.3M before today’s deals, we’d still have 2.8M in cap to sign Sims without using the room exception.
KD is a piece of work, man. Guy literally doesn’t have a mind of his own. It’s like Kyrie has him under a hex. Lol. Now they want to be moved together?? What did Kyrie ever do for KD to help him. It’s weird.
Guess the Nets end up with AD and salary filler? Good haul for them.
I have us at only $32M free before signings. If there’s money below the cap it’ll probably be the minimum for Sims.
I just watched Brunson’s highlight reels, man he really fucks a lot of guys up!
Did you waive Taj or not?
As I recall, Nash was hired partly to manage all the egos. Its not working out that way.
You mean Russell “salary filler” Westbrook? 😛
No, did we waive him yet?
Yeah, managing egos is not easy. I think the best in the league at that, right now, is Tyronn Lue. He went to Cleveland and managed a pair of egos (Lebron and Kyrie), next stop Clippers and another pair of egos (Kawhi and PG13).
No, we didn’t. But i did in my spreadsheet. Poor Taj. LOL That’s the difference.
Lol, I think he’ll be just fine making $5M another year.
If there’s someone we want longer term, I guess we could waive Taj & re-sign him to the room.
I am so relieved we actually executed a plan and got a point guard too. We can quibble about draft picks but the overall picture is of a competent front office. Hooray! And I don’t think we overpaid either. According to the AI program projecting salaries for free agents, we did fine.
Tyus Jones seems like a real bargain.
the hesitation in announcing Brunson makes me wonder if there is a S & T in the midst…or I should say I hope!
One thing the Mavs love is Knick rejects. So I have some hope for a sign and trade.
7:02 p.m. ET: Free-agent guard Jalen Brunson, armed with a five-year, $106 million-plus offer from the Dallas Mavericks, is headed into a meeting with the New York Knicks within the hour, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Why wouldn’t they at least try to top the 4/110m that the Knicks are said to be offering? Not that I’m complaining…
C’mon, Dallas! Take Randle!
ESPN: “JALEN BRUNSON SIGNS A 4-YEAR DEAL FOR NEARLY $110M WITH THE KNICKS”.
Yawn. $27M. Not excited at all.
Mavs get JaVale McGee and Kings get Malik Monk.
I for one am shocked. Shocked!!!
Knox stays in the league:
-Shams
I’m sure someone on here owes someone else money
The biggest news of the night!
Free agent Kevin Knox has agreed to a two-year, $6 million deal with the Detroit Pistons, sources tell
@TheAthletic
@Stadium
i feel like we had to give them another second after
that
Can we still do a S&T with Dallas to send them Fournier according to the salary and other rules?
I believe Fournier for Brunson starting at $26M + a small salary like that of a French guy you probably have never heard of clears the BYC issues.
We actually need Fournier and he’s our most established three point shooter.
Rather trade Fournier and let Grimes. Brunson and Fournier would not be a pretty defensive back court.
Agreed. It would then give them a lot of cap room to keep spending.
Has our fearless leader finally bestowed upon us the power to post pictures? As a test, here’s our new point guard:
Officially official. Those terms are fine by me, now to find out if it’s ascending or descending…
Does that mean that they can’t do a sign and trade then?
As much as I’m meh about the Brunson signing it’s really worth reiterating how much of a fuck up this was by Dallas. It’s unbelievable that they didn’t sign him to an extension last year. They’re really a terribly run organisation that’s been bailed out he two great draft picks.
All of these free agency deals are handshake until the moratorium gets lifted on the 6th. Remember what happened with DeAndre Jordan a couple years back when he reneged on a deal.
Lots of deals get agreed to and then a sign and trade gets worked out after. It is still possible.
It’s a fine deal, he’s worth every penny and deserves the player option.
Grimes is not enough. He would be our only decent three point shooter unless RJ or Randle rake a leap from last year
Edit: I’m referring to the suggestion that we trade Fournier to Dallas in a sign and trade and rely on Grimes.
Hollinger:
Brunson is just a winning player, he’ll have a big impact on the young guys.
Marvin Bagley got 36 million? what?
Everyone praising the Pistons on draft night might’ve been a bit premature. Although I guess they’ll be in great shape to get another Top 5 pick next year too.
I think the Pistons did very well on draft night.
So now, do we want to try to trade Rose maybe into the Clippers trade exception? It is easy to forget he is even on this team but he creates some minutes problems if he stays.
I think that is a good move for LA and it gets him off our team and off our cap which is nice. It also makes moving Fournier less of a priority if we can rid ourselves of Rose.
Durant to the Knicks? Rumors swirl.
If we stay under:
1) $5M Room
2) $1.6M Sims (I think we can do this as a min contract despite not having space, don’t want to check)
If we go over:
1) $4M Biannual
2) $1.6M Sims (or remaining MLE)
3) $9M Kemba TPE
There’s nothing done until the moratorium ends so it may take a while to know.
Brunson deal is descending from 28 to 24 mil, probably won’t matter much but it is team friendly
Z-man I agree. BigBlueAl, I think its really the Puston’s strategy to get another good pick next summer. It makes sense to me. They would add someone good in the draft at same time that Burks, Walker and Noel’s contracts all expire and give them cap space.
So this would be the most we could pay Brunson before unlikely incentives and still make a S&T work:
1st yr salary of $24,066,000.
4yr Total = $103,727,468
If this is the case, then we’re waiving Taj to make the money work. I’m sure he’ll re-sign for the min or Room.
Nice piece already on Jalen in the Ringer by Kevin O’Connor, titled “Jalen Brunson’s fit in NY isn’t perfect, but it’ll do.”
Seems to reflect the hive mind…
Can’t complain about that Brunson contract, especially with all the crazy ones dealt today. 100 mil for Simons in Portland?! Nearly 90 mil for Dort?! And 50 mil a year for Bradley Beal?!!! Yikes…
it would seem – taj and drose no longer have a place on the team…
trying not to think too hard that we’ll be more than a .500 team next year…man, if julius just pounds the boards, defends, moves the ball and finishes at the rim…
rj gets a bunch more consistent and efficient – easy to squint/hope your way to a 48 win season next year…
Assault by strangulation, brain concussion, closed fracture of nasal bone, contusion of ribs, multiple bruises, strain of neck muscles. Sign this guy up I’m excited to cheer for him
Jesus. Miles Bridges should not ever play basketball again.
“Bridges, who played at Michigan State, also is a rapper who goes by the name RTB MB.”
Huh. I was not aware of this.
I’m just gonna bank on the hope that Hubert adjusts his thinking on this one, or Hubert is banned. For life.
Didn’t Charlotte give him the qualifying option? Can he still sign that and force Charlotte to pay him whatever that amounted to next year? He’s hopefully headed for a suspension regardless.
What about KD back to Golden State? Wiggins was an all star. I don’t know the numbers. Add Poole, Wiseman, picks?
apparently GS is the only team KD asked to not be traded to
Seeing the instagram post from Bridges’ wife was harrowing, what an absolute disgrace. All the strength to her for speaking up and I truly hope he’s held accountable for this crime and also by the NBA.
Watched a few Brunson highlights this morning
The word is Tough
Don’t nba contracts have an egregious behavior clause? it’s never enforced but if Charlotte, and Michael Jordan of all people, decide to enforce it is the player’s union really going to stand behind Bridges?
It’ll be a tough one. His girlfriend clearly wants none of what she is likely used to seeing out there when shit like this goes down, so she put ALLLL the receipts out there, making it about as difficult as you can possibly get to not expect the sort of suspension that leagues put out there to try to prove to the world that they actually give a shit, so there’s a chance. I think more likely he just doesn’t get a free agent offer, accepts the QO and misses this upcoming season entirely (while losing that QO money) and gets a chance to return the following year as an unrestricted free agent.
It’s been a good offseason so far. Can’t wait to see how we screw it up.
We got our guy for a change. I’m happy! 🙂
So..all that’s left to do now is re-sign Mitch, convert Sims, and put every effort into finding plausible trades for Fournier and Randle? I, for one, would rather keep Fournier and let him lead the 2nd unit with Quickley. But that would mean losing Rose, who I think is perfect in his role as long as we don’t have to stretch his minutes. I have gained so much newfound appreciation for D Rose since he’s been back on the team- I really don’t want to move him. But it’s probably best for the team as Brunson and Quickley are more durable and will be here and productive for a while. So, as currently constructed (and omitting Rose for now and assuming the retention of Mitch), we could be looking at a 10 deep lineup of:
C- Mitch, Hartenstein
PF- Randle, Obi
SF- RJ, Cam
SG- Grimes, Fournier
PG- Brunson, Quickley
Garbage time/Matchup guys: Sims, Deuce
I’m ok with that. I think Leon and Co did really well on the first day of free agency because the moves allow them to not be rushed in finding good trades for Randle and Fournier- if they intend to move them. I’d prefer just moving Randle for a 3&D SF and backup PF, and using the G League to cultivate talent in waiting
Or..we just rehab Randle’s value and use him in a bigger trade. I’m ok with that too because we know Obi will perform when given his time
So we had 36.3M on my spreadsheet, includes waiving Taj, and we spent 28M (Brunson) and 8.3M (Hart). We have no moves until the moratorium is lifted and we get to check if the Brunson signing is a s&t or not.
That’s some precise work on the money by the FO, as usual with this regime.
Hopefully it’s a s&t, because it’d bring some money to spend, like Hollinger said (Biannual [~4M], Full MLE [~10M] and Kemba TPE [~9M]). That’s 23M and includes keeping Taj on his current deal (good for camaraderie). If we can’t do it, we’ll only have the Room MLE (~5M) and can only re-sign Taj for the vet minimum.
Totes, that’s basically two competent players at every position, none of whom are old. It’s been a long time since NY had a team like that. It’s nice. You need backups for injuries too, so I think Sims and deuce are essential. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got Taj back too because Mitch and Hartenstein are only centers, not forwards, so your lineup only has four forwards in it unless you count Fournier or Barrett as a possible forward. For guards you list four, but if you add in Rose Deuce and Keels that’s seven, which is enough.
Totes, i have DRose as Brunson’s backup, Quick starting at SG and Grimes as RJ’s backup. Cam doesn’t deserve a place in the rotation for now. But i think we’ll make more moves. Maybe Randle did indeed ask for a trade, because some beat writers said he was possibly on the move.
How about Randle (he’s an all star! lol), Obi, Cam and 5 picks for KD? Can the Nets do better than that?
Team:
PG – Brunson, DRose;
SG – Quick, Fournier;
SF – RJ, Grimes;
PF – KD, vet min (LaMarcus? Otto Porter?);
C – Mitch, Hartenstein;
I don’t think a starting lineup of Mitch, Randle, RJ, Fournier and Brunson scares anyone on paper. I doubt that Grimes would start over Fournier if he’s still on the team, but in either case if you insert Grimes that waters down the starters even more. (sorry to those who think that Grimes is in Fournier’s class…he just isn’t yet, maybe with experience but not yet.)
Personally I hope we trade Fournier and Rose and give Deuce a shot as our backup. If Thibs wasn’t our coach that would be possible but unfortunately I just don’t see it happening (yet another reason why I didn’t want Thibs to be hired, but I digress…)
The mystery man in all of this is Cam. Will Thibs give him a shot to earn significant rotation minutes? Will he give him a chance to start? If you put him in the starting lineup instead of Fournier or Grimes and move RJ to the 2, that’s a pretty good defensive lineup and Brunson’s O might go well with Randle, RJ and Cam on the perimeter and Mitch in the PnR and/or dunker’s spot. But it probably won’t happen so long as we keep the same head coach.
Or maybe there’s more moves ahead and all of this is moot.
Yeah for now the rotation for me is:
Brunson, Rose, McBride
IQ, Fournier,
RJ, Grimes, Cam
Randle, Obi, Taj
Mitch, Hart, Sims
I think you gotta start IQ over Fournier for defensive reasons. But the starting line up’s success is going to be very dependent on Randle regaining his form (and 3 point shooting touch) and RJ regaining his 3 point touch as well. That bench unit though…
If it’s a sign and trade with Dallas and one of Fournier or Randle goes…then it’s a whole other ball game.
I’m really interested to see if Cam can tighten up all aspects of his game and hit a reasonable ceiling. He’s so physically perfect for a wing in today’s NBA and shoots 90% from the line. It seems that he’d be a perfect match with Brunson creating space for him. I would say that he’s the ultimate test for our FO’s player development program.
This team isn’t going to be great but man is it going to be nice not watching Elfrid Payton or Alec Burks trying to run point. I mean, Burks shot 44% at the rim last year and 37.8% from 2p range, whereas Brunson is a career ~55% 2p shooter and is a ridiculous 70.9% career shooter at the rim – crazy for a 6’1″ guy. The Knicks’ most obvious offensive weakness last year was in the half court especially in 4th quarters when the defense ratchets up — mostly because 80% of the time Randle would either post up from 18 feet, dribble the air out of the ball, and throw up a stepback long-2 or Alec Burks would drive into the lane and throw up a prayer from 8 feet. It’ll be much better at least having Brunson as an option even if Randle/RJ still get their chances at half court stuff.
The other thing that’ll be pretty interesting is watching Hartenstein and Obi play off each other. Granted it’s a small sample, but Hartenstein has shot 40.7% on about 80 3PA between the G-league and NBA, and perhaps even better is that someone has let him shoot 80 3PA — assuming the Knicks will at least try to stretch him out to the line, that’ll finally open up PNR possibilities for Obi. And Hartenstein is such a great passer out of the post that it’ll really play well with Obi’s off-ball cutting.
I guess Mitch is coming back, but I would not be sad at all to see a 50/50 split between Hartenstein and Mitch.
Best I can do, Jowles, is tell you I’m going away for the holiday so you won’t have to hear about it. Besides, even if I do, Big Bad Brian will just censor me again.
I think Miles Bridges is deplorable and what he did was heinous. I was very clear that my suggestion is amoral. But history indicates he’s not going to jail, he’ll play next year, and if he plays well people will cheer him. It’s disgusting, but that’s what is going to happen.
Collectively, we are very good at denial. You have swallowed your disdain for someone just as bad, if not worse, than Miles Bridges before. It’s just not acceptable to do it right away. First you have to say you never would, then you have to talk about how awful it is to have him on your side. It’s morality theater.
But eventually, when he strikes out the side in the 9th, you’re going to cheer that wife beater. And when he’s tearing it up on the court and leading your team to an unexpected 4th seed, you’re going to find a way to accept having that rapist on your team. And that’s just the truth.
Have a great holiday, everyone. And if I’m banned when I get back, go Knicks.
McBride was so bad on offense last year that he’s going to have to show he’s better in training camp to get many minutes at all and I think it will be hard for him to beat out Grimes, Brunson or Quickley. Fournier definitely has been better than Grimes and is taller too. I see him starting at the two because he’s our best volume three point shooter. I see Grimes as his possible backup. Reddish, I have no idea if he will earn minutes. What I am confident of is that Thibs will make them all earn their positions in pre-season. If Cam gets minutes it will be because he earned them.
I know a starting lineup of Brunson, Fournier, Barrett, Randle and Mitch doesn’t seem exciting, but Brunson is a big upgrade over either Walker or Burks. And overall it’s a big physical lineup that a lot of teams will have trouble with. And our bench is going to be fast and good. I think Quickley, Rose, Reddish, Obi and Hatenstein is a mobile lineup that will give a lots of second strings big trouble.
Have a good holiday Hubert. I’m looking forward to you being back.
YOU ARE BANNED. FOR VACATION. Just so you, like, have a good and relaxing time.