First, characterizing these as personal attacks is surprising, but I certainly didn’t mean any of what I said to be personal, and apologize if you took it that way.

I don’t have the energy to find all the posts that you made referring to the strong possibility of losing Mitch for nothing and how devastating that would be, but my guess is that it numbers in the triple digits. Mitch was an UFA and could have signed anywhere. He chose to stay here. That suggests that the FO is accomplishing what it had hoped to…making NY a destination for free agents…even their own.

You are “surprised” that a shrewd operator like Cuban let Brunson go for nothing, but what does that say about Leon and his team? It’s the single biggest FA get this year, and the Knicks pulled it off. Yet another sign that NYK has become a destination city for FAs.

There are ample reports that Donovan Mitchell preferred to come to NYK. The trade didn’t work out, but it easily could have. What does that say about a) whether we have the assets to compete for top players when they come on the market and b) whether they want to come here? Seems like a very positive development to me. But of course, no such player will become available in the future, not will he want to come here, because we’re bad and our FO doesn’t know what it is doing.

That you would call RJ’s contract “fairly close to the max” sort of makes my overall point, which is that you have a very jaded, black and white view of the overall NYK situation that diminishes the positive and exaggerates the negative. The max for RJ was for a guaranteed $193M over 5 years, with incentives up to $231M. It starts at $33M and goes up to $44M. RJ signed for only 4 years, starting at $24M and goes to $29M. That’s nowhere close to the max and you know it. Furthermore, per Fred Katz, it’s right in line with the median of what surveyed executives around the league said he was worth ($25MAAV). So again, RJ wanted to stay here, rather than test the market and hold out for a better deal as a RFA (see: DeAndre Ayton.) Yet another example that Leon’s approach is working.
Is it perfect? No. But it is far from a “bad” situation. Leon is employing the Pat Riley approach: make your team a preferred destination for disgruntled stars under contract and free agents, and be in a position to have either the cap space or the assets to pounce on opportunities as they arise, while avoiding an overpay that would eliminate future flexibility. Leon wavered by almost overpaying for Mitchell, but he didn’t break and said FU to Ainge by extending RJ to a reasonable extension.

And we get to see what we actually have in RJ, Obi, IQ, Grimes, Mitch, Hart, and even maybe Reddish before putting all the eggs in one basket. The team is more balanced and deep than it is top-heavy and talented, but aside from the uncertainty with Randle, it’s far from a bad situatlon. We’re not trapped here.

“You didn’t want to max RJ and he wasn’t even close to maxed.”
He was… fairly close to maxed? The contract is going to be bad if he doesn’t get a hell of a lot better. Definitely stand by everything I said about the risks of giving him a large contract, which we did.

Noble, the contract isn’t as bad as it was first announced. RJ has 3M in incentives each season, if he makes All NBA, All Star and All Defense (1M per). This takes down the guaranteed money to a more palatable 108M across 4 years. The usually mentioned Mikal Bridges signed a 4/91M extension last season. RJ signed a year later, so if we take into account that the cap is expected to rise by 10%, the adjusted Mikal contract would be 4/100M. RJ signed for 8M more guaranteed, so it’s “only” 2M per year. Seems kind of fair value to me. And if he makes the incentives, the contract is a bargain.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to spend $500 on a cappuccino because it has to cost something to get caffeinated in the morning.

(Technically it was the 13th pick, btw.)

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He squandered the 11th pick in the draft to clear less than $7M in cap space.

True, but not all team view various assets the same way. For example, if a team lost its starting PG to injury and was in contention, they might prefer Brunson to the pick. Conversely, had Dallas signed Brunson to the same deal we did and then offered him to us for our 2026 unprotected first, I would think we’d jump on that deal, especially when we have lots of other picks.

It simply means that Brunson was highly valued by a highly respected GM and worth the cap gymnastics it took to wrangle him away from the Mavs. That Leon was able to pull that off without relinquishing a single asset of note (in fact, acquiring net assets in the process) is, even in your own words, a significant win. Seems like nitpicking to me.

Thoughts?

The only prime assets on that list are the unprotected picks.

Obi, IQ, and Grimes could each sweeten a trade.

I actually think Derrick Rose could be an attractive target for a contender in the middle of the season if he is healthy. He could fetch a Marcus Morris-like return if we are lucky.