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[New York Post] – Mon, 01 Jul 2024 04:27:00 GMT
- Knicks will be ‘rebuilding again’ when Mikal Bridges deal backfires: Draymond Green
- Golden State Warriors Star Slams New York Knicks Trade
- The Nova Knicks are history in the making. Can college champs win an NBA title together?
- The Knicks Mikal Bridges Trade Wont Have a Fairy-Tale Ending
- Analyzing Knicks salary cap entering free agency after Mikal Bridges trade, OG Anunoby signing
[New York Post] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 18:25:00 GMT
Ex-Knick Obi Toppin signing $60 million contract with Pacers
[sny.tv] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:34:59 GMT
Knicks Notes: New York has ‘virtually no interest’ in including Miles McBride in Mikal Bridges trade
[New York Post] – Mon, 01 Jul 2024 03:56:15 GMT
2024 NBA free agency live updates: Signings, trades and news
[hoopsrumors.com] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 21:41:00 GMT
FA/Trade Rumors: Okoro, Pistons, Lakers, Lopez, Grant, Knicks
[Posting and Toasting] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 14:00:00 GMT
- Knicks Make Decisions on Team Options & Qualifying Offers
- Knicks involving Jericho Sims in trade talks
- New York Knicks Make Minor Free Agent Moves
- Knicks pick up club option for developmental center
- Knicks Make Minor Free Agent Moves
[New York Post] – Mon, 01 Jul 2024 06:11:15 GMT
- Isaiah Hartenstein meeting with Thunder in Knicks worry
- FA/Trade Rumors: Hartenstein, Ingram, Harris, A. Holiday
- Knicks NBA free agency special, plus latest on Isaiah Hartenstein | The Putback with Ian Begley
- Detroit Pistons Tied to Knicks Big Man Ahead of Free Agency
- Knicks will make Isaiah Hartenstein their primary target in free agency, but can they bring him back?
[Sports Illustrated] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 23:12:23 GMT
- New York Knicks Target Signs with Division Rival
- Sources: Drummond to join 76ers on 2-year deal
- Chicago Bulls in free agency: Andre Drummond signs with the Philadelphia 76ers, Patrick Williams reportedly re-signs on a 5-year deal
- Source: Big Penguin returns the Sixers are signing Andre Drummond
- Ex-Pistons All-Star signs two-year deal for second stint with 76ers
[Posting and Toasting] – Sun, 30 Jun 2024 12:00:00 GMT
Who Wore It Best? Knicks #25
[CBS Sports] – Mon, 01 Jul 2024 09:28:00 GMT
2024 NBA free agency tracker: Paul George, James Harden top NBA free agents, signings, news on Lakers, Knicks
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 01 Jul 2024 08:30:44 GMT
Paul George Signs With New York Knicks Rival
89 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.07.01)”
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Morey made the move he had to make. For the Sixers, it’s going to be all about health and depth. Annoyed that they signed Drummond, as he seemed the most obvious plug-and-play center for us if/when iHart goes. He and Eric Gordon will definitely be helpful for Philly.
Also worried that waiting on iHart’s decision could cost us a shot at Goga. I’d almost suggest offering Goga the taxpayer midlevel no matter what, but I doubt he’d agree to it without a meaningful path to playing time, which we won’t know about until the iHart thing shakes out. It appears the new rules about tampering are actually working, which has complicated our lives a bit.
Question: in the fairy tale ending where iHart takes less money to stay, on what player or type of player would you want to use the taxpayer midlevel?
I’m actually wondering if we will be better next year if iHart leaves.
On the days Mitch is healthy, we should be. When he’s injured (which should be often), we’re probably not.
Alan, I can’t even wrap my head around the question. The stakes are just too high, in the sense that if iHart returns, who really cares what non-rotation player they sign with the mid-level…but if he doesn’t, then it’s a freakin’ monumental decision because we’re in effect talking about replacing a starter. Yes, Mitch seamlessly moves into the starting lineup, but then you have a gaping hole on the bench that Goga is the best answer for, but not really a great answer, and as you said, might be gone.
But in good faith, I’d put the following players on my wish list in no particular order: Burks, Precious, Saddiq Bey, Kyle Anderson, Mo Bamba, DSJ…
Wait – if IHart re-signs, do we even have the tax payer mid level? I thought if we can avoid the first apron issue we’re then capped at the second apron and will use all the difference to fit Hart’s first year salary in?
I used to be pretty good at this cap stuff but all these apron restrictions are just too much to keep up? I still don’t quite understand why we can’t make the bridges deal then sign Hart and OG with bird exceptions – it’s the same thing over-the-cap teams do all the time with cap holds. But since everyone seems certain we can’t do that, I guess we can’t…
So with Paul George in the fold, obviously the Sixers when healthy are a team to be reckoned with. I’m expecting that there will be lots of load management during the regular season, although that’s not really Nick Nurse’s thing. But if somehow they can fill in the blanks with their remaining cap space and keep their big 3 healthy, they will be a very difficult out.
I think the new CBA is definitely leveling the playing field, which is bad for us in the short term, but will make the league more competitive and entertaining in the long run. It looks like any playoff team can get hot at the right time and make a run at the title. It reminds me of the NBA of the seventies in that regard.
The big, unanswered question for me is: How good is Mikal Bridges? What is his actual ceiling as a player?
Unlike OG, who I strongly believe we obtained in a reasonably fair transaction and am fine with his salary number, I think the price we paid for Mikal is pretty extreme. It approaches the price that Minny paid for Rudy Gobert, which I believe to this day was a significant overpay. Is Mikal as good (i.e. impactful on winning) as Gobert?
I think Mikal has very special qualities…most importantly, he thinks the game at a very high level and has the tools to do whatever the situation calls for on either end. Is that enough to watch the Nets draft in our spot in 4 of the next 7 years? Plus, the Bucks aren’t doing anything to improve their position…might that be a pretty juicy pick next year?
I sure hope so.
I have decided that the fact that Hartenstein is not already a member of the Thunder suggests that he is coming back. Unless he plans to visit Orlando or whatever, the OKC pitch was really the pitch, right? And if they didn’t get a commitment from him, then that’s a very good sign, I have decided.
Briannnnnn! 😉
He knows what the Knicks have to offer. Now he knows what the Thunder have to offer. Unless he’s traveling to other cities, he should know by now what he wants to do, and if it was OKC, I don’t see how we wouldn’t know that by now.
Are you going for the Shlimazl of the century award?
If Claxton got what he got how is IHart not a goner? Someone is going to offer him 4/120 at least right? He was 13th in the league in EPM. The fairy tale we are discussing is him passing up 50 million dollars. It would be truly crazy.
Last year was a product of two guys, Brunson and IHart, being on extraordinarily cheap deals. It couldn’t last.
I like the Goga idea a lot. I have joked about how much I love B Ball Paul for years but anytime I watch him I get some Daniel Gafford vibes. He is always active on defense and picks up steals but doesn’t seem to have the length to be a plus interior defender, even considering who he steps in for.
Brian, it is possible that OKC was told what iHart wanted and is preparing a counteroffer. In other words, maybe they offered 3/$75M and he’s insisting on 4/$100M, and was told that they will get back to him in a couple of days. I am not assuming anything, other than that there’s still a chance that he stays.
So what would you prefer as a roster (I’m keeping I-Hart out of both for now):
Brunson-Donte-PG-OG-Mitch / Deuce Hart (and most of the Knicks’ assets)
Brunson-Mikal-OG-Randle-Mitch / Deuce Donte Hart
I would much prefer to have Mikal and Randle than PG13 on a 4-year max deal and picks.
I’m with you, Z-man. I think that starting lineup with PG would be great, but it’s an extremely thin, capped-out roster, and you are committing to pay 37-year old PG 57m in a few years.
Begley says he hears Goga has an offer on the table from Orlando that we’d have a hard time matching: https://x.com/ianbegley/status/1807753484537643299?s=46&t=mhUnoqe17aQ9qM7P-jrKqA
But he also said the fact that the Knicks let several centers go off the board yesterday seems like a slightly positive sign.
The Sixers will be a real threat if healthy, but to me PG new contract is… not ideal.
53M AAV for a 34 years old oft injured player (albeit a star at a coveted position).
No, thank you.
But Orlando didn’t play Goga in the playoffs, opting for Mo Wagner instead. Why would Goga feel confident that he’d get playing time or be in their plans?
The Washington Post likes our off season. In their article on NBA winners and losers in free agency, they graded the Knicks as winners.
See
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/07/01/nba-free-agency-winners-and-losers/
They declined their team option on Wagner, right? I know they say they’re still interested in bringing him back, but that’s got to be a good sign for Goga.
Hmmm is OKC moving on?
‘
They can still pay I-Hart, to be clear, and these contracts are not onerous, but they are starting to get a lot of salaries on the book for 26-27 when Chet and J Williams need to be paid.
Gone:
Drummond
Plumlee
Valanciunas
Supposedly something already lined up:
Bitazde
If the Knicks lose I-Hart, it’s Mitch and Sims (the latter may be going to the Nets as part of the Bridges deal to open Apron 2 space)
That’s a weaker injury prone C position.
That would kill an otherwise joyous off season unless they have something up their sleeves we don’t know about.
Does Leon have a super secret trade plan?
Yeah, again, to announce these deals while not announcing Hartenstein sure feels significant.
EnglishKnick… we did that with OG… but we don’t actually have iHart’s bird rights bc we only signed him to a 2-year deal.
1 year deal = no bird rights
2 year deal = early bird rights
3 year deal = bird rights
Early bird rights limit you to offering 175% of a player’s salary in his next deal. Hence we are capped at ~$16MM.
Another thing of note: aprons trigger hard caps and hard caps trump bird rights. So if the Bridges deal had capped us at the first apron, it wouldn’t have mattered that we had bird rights. Luckily it probably won’t.
Yeah, again, to announce these deals while not announcing Hartenstein sure feels significant.
yeah thought the same
No significant bird rights, but even players on one year deals have some minor bird rights (20% raise over their previous deal, and then annual raises from there, I believe).
Mo Wagner is grotesque but is a pretty good backup. Not a rim protector though…
As the resident pessimist 😉 , I would think that the OKC announcements are part of a “let’s see what we have left after we lock everyone in and then put together a final offer for iHart” strategy.
It looks like both OKC deals are early bird deals, so they can still use all of their cap space.
Ok wait:
OKC just re-signed Joe and Wiggins to long contracts… does that mean anything?
Edit: thanks Marechal.
Early bird rights limit you to offering 175% of a player’s salary in his next deal. Hence we are capped at ~$16MM.
(or 105% of league average, whichever is greater)
Can, but will they?
Did we let them go?
Drummond probably chose Philly, and we couldn’t afford Jonas.
I like your optimism.
We also know OKC doesn’t love to spend that much money…. they also presumably need to extend Caruso at some point.
Detroit still hasn’t spent any money and frankly that scares me.
I think Detroit has said they want to leave cap space to absorb contracts and get assets.
The thing that might sway iHart is that his non-financial situation in OKC would be nebulous. Presti is pretty cold-blooded in the Danny Ainge mode. He would definitely consider iHart, or any player for that matter, as a trade asset, and probably doesn’t care how the coach would use him. Presti has so much flexibility going forward that improving the roster, including at iHart’s expense, would always be a concern. With the Knicks, it is a far more stable position, being that they won’t have either cap space or picks, and that Thibs wants 48 minutes of paint/rim protection above all else.
But $20+M is $20+M. So who knows?
I can’t imagine DET signing iHart, nor iHart wanting to sign there. They don’t scare me at all.
I think it’s us or OKC, with ORL as a dark horse. Then maybe UTA.
DET is way down the list.
Damn! Jalen Smith was my midlevel target post-iHart signing, but the Bulls just snagged him.
Anyone know what trade exceptions we have? There seem to be three possibilities:
1)Rose FO thinks there’s still a decent or better chance iHart returns, and don’t want to sign a FA center who won’t play, even if there’s that risk of being left standing when the music stops
2)Rose FO has a trade in mind as the backup plan, rather than a FA signing
3)Rose FO believes way more in Jericho Sims (and/or in Precious if he’s re-signed) than we do, and/or Thibs is genuinely prepared to regularly play smallball lineups with Julius at the 5, flanked by shooters.
I do not believe there’s a “Rose FO has been caught with its pants down by all these quick signings” scenario. Whatever flaws this administration has, they always seem to have a contingency plan.
It’s funny, on offense, I think the Clippers might even be better off with one less mouth to feed (I hate these diminishing returns teams where it feels like it’s “your turn/my turn”), but their defense really really needed George, so they’re pretty much fucked.
I said:
Educate_the_weaksays:
And yet the Knicks picked up his option. Hmmmm.
Sims is 25 and still learning the game. I’m not an apologist but Leon and Thibs know what they’re doing. He doesn’t have much cap space value in a trade so they must like something about him.
Jalen Smith making 3/27m does not bode well for the Knicks getting I-Hart. Or maybe the skillset of spacing centers is that much more valuable…
Can we just get news, please?
Ugh, he’s gone.
so he got a lot more $$$ oh well
29m/year. Damn.
Well fuck, but holy shit, iHart secured the bag! Can’t blame him one iota.
GoGet Goga.
Other than Goga, I’m not sure any of the other available centers are better than Sims and Precious. Reed is better in many ways than Sims but he’s small (6’9”). Maybe the German guy we just drafted will actually help.
Say a prayer for Mitch’s ankles.
I could blame him!… either way, its moments like these that re-emphasize we, as fans, take “our” “teams” way too seriously…
Thanks Hubert – it was the ‘hard cap trumps bird rights’ bit I was missing. Not that it matters now…
What a blow! Well done Hart but that’s a big gap we need to fill now with not many avenues to fill it!
Wow OK well, he can’t turn that offer down. Sucks. Isaiah, we hardly knew ye.
I think we actually need two cromulent centers since Mitch’s health is so unreliable. Goga would be great, and maybe a Nick Richards type, too (if possible).
Well, at that money we couldn’t have done anything and it’s nobody’s fault.
Now we just (?) need a modicum of rim protection by our backup center, and then we’ll unleash a bit of Randle at the 5, Sims as the starter when Mitch gets hurt and Taj as a 5-minute breather here and there.
A bit depressing, but that’s life (Also: damn, 29mln/AAV for iHart is a bit too much, he’s not that good).
boo
Yeah the salary difference is stark. I think he had to do it.
Early bird rules suck, really. Who do they benefit other than the billionaire owners?
Kourtney will soon be doing modeling gigs for Sonic Drive In
But anyway good luck I-Hart, OAKAAK
It sucks indeed. That said, I would not want to be paying him more than Brunson, Randle, and Bridges. Good luck, iHart, hope to see you in the finals!
I thought I was one of the biggest iHart boosters there is but that’s objectively an overpay. Thing is, like us with Mikal, who cares? OKC has a great team now. You pay up for the final piece.
well that sucks. I hope that sports medicine guy we got knows what he’s doing
Sad to see iHart go. Happy to have a player I like get paid. Put Mitch in the hyperbaric chamber and get a backup. See you in the finals, Isaiah.
That thunder team is realllllly good
Good for iHart. In a way, an offer like that hints that he was willing to give us a discount. Just not a 45% one.
the final year of ihart is not guaranteed so it’s really a two year deal
Thunder adding Isaiah and Caruso is nasty
also do the pistons require their front office hires to inhale pesticides
Yeah and now they can bring Dort and Joe off the bench. They are a finals team if they stay healthy.
Unlock the death lineup and save mitch to attack the titans.
Obviously Tobias was going to get another contract, he’s a solid player, but 26 million is insane
The fuck with Detroit?
Tobias Harris may be the most undeserving bag-securer in NBA history
So the 2 guys who scored zero points in their last playoff games are being paid a combined $55million to play next year.
I will say that Hollinger’s BORD$ figures proved pretty accurate, more so than I expected. He pegged iHart at $28.3M, roughly what he got and Claxton at $22.5M. Claxton got $100M over four years which averages out to $25M, but the starting salary next year is probably close to the BORD$ figure. Valanciunas got a little more but Drummond is quite close to his BORD$.
I take the loss on this, I’m heartbroken and I never thought the offer could be this crazy.
But the difference in money is really too much and he’s a professional athlete, not a charity organization.
And thanks Brian, today’s comments must be your best jinx ever, well done 😀
So long Isaiah, to quote Josh Hart’s tweet “You’re dead to me Zay”.
Is the Pistons’ new FO somehow a downgrade? That would be old fashioned Knicks level luck, but we did manage to pull the “replace an idiot with an even bigger idiot” move off a few times e.g. going from Steve Mills to Phil Jackson.
It’s a two year deal, third year is a team option. I hate this.
given the reports that ihart’s third year is not guaranteed, then the deal would really look like 2/60 with no player option. this is far less of a risk for okc and does not leak into the year they have to extend chet and jdub. this make it less of an “overpay” than it looks compared to the 4/90 declining deal with a player option that seemed like the most dangerous option. although it could turn out to be partially guaranteed, so it’s hard to say.
Tobias Harris is the basketball equivalent of the guy who wrote My Sharona. Had one good week and never had to work again. (Just when the well dries up… “oh, look, it’s on the Reality Bites soundtrack, yay!”)
This is a nice get by OKC. They have to be prohibitive favorites in the west for the next 3 years. Knicks have their work cut out for them. I would shoot for Bitadze and also bring back Precious. Also, one thing I know about Knickerblogger is that it always vastly underestimates what players are “worth”. It’s the Umarrell Effect.
I suppose I’ll try to remember how I-Hart had very little impact against the Sixers and the Knicks had to go to a hobbled Mitch to the rescue.
I’m suddenly feeling a lot less confident. Our big situation (both starters injured) is shaky af, and it’s definitely possible that neither Randle nor Mitch will ever be 100% effective again. Argh! My inner Pags has awoken!
In the next day or so, maybe we will see if there is plan B.
DW, why’d you have to do The Knack dirty like that?
This is the biggest FA signing in OKC history. It looks like the days of big market teams poaching talent from small market teams is over.
Re new med staff. It’s old but Casey Smith was on a panel about how “new” data acquisition has “greatly changed” his ability to help players rehab from injuries as well as lengthen their careers (link below). He specifically mentions improved detection/care for tendinopathy and also discusses incorporating “other” data like sleep patterns and mental health self-reporting to keep players fit over a long season and career. IMO he’s saying all the right things but who knows if the previous Knick guys were basically the same.
Apparently for ~ 20 years Smith was on the bench and travelled with the Mavs, had “great rapport with Dirk, Luka” etc (presumably Brunson) so he seems hands on. In his last year in Dallas Smith was demoted, and the Mavs/reddit blogs are split as to why: Half “Cuban conspiracy hiding malpractice”: Half “it was time to move on.”
https://youtu.be/ZNIVzarJwPg?si=f5Oq8o-mLPOrbCN1
PS: Of note re Thibs, Smith also says something like “too little practice/playing time” can actually make a player more injury prone. I laughed.
Boston has some of the craziest contracts in the league, every starter makes 30m+, and it somehow works.
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