Hoo boy. As a Knicks fan, you finally think you’ve hit rock bottom… Not even close.
FWIW, The Knicks have tons of cap space, Dennis Smith Jr, an unprotected Mavs 2021 1st rounder, and a protected 2023rd 1st as a result. They also have all their own future picks.
Seemed as if Porzingis wanted out. I can only imagine, after the debacle of Phil Jackson’;s years, the impression that NYK was willing to put him out there for Anthony Davis cemented his resolve.
I’m not optimistic that NYK can seduce two max players this summer, and they can’t get a higher than 14% chance at Zion. That said, I’m still willing to give Scott Perry, the GM, the benefit of the doubt. Don’t blow all your money on 2nd and third tier players if the KD/Kyrie/Kawhi/Klay’s of the world don’t line up to play at MSG. Keep it going w/ the slow build, play your rookies, and stay liquid.
Meanwhile, if KP is actually healthy, the Mavs should be a fun team. Honestly, I was not convinced KP could carry a franchise. Every game against Lauri Markkanen of the Bulls last year, as an example, KP seemed outclassed. Even Marcus Smart shoved KP in his school locker on defense. Still, if Luka can run the show, KP can absolutely shine. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.
The only way this deal makes sense for NY is if they have it from Durant or his agent that he’s coming.
Which would also be massive tampering. But with the way the players like LeBron are all having dinner during the season and pitching about joining-up, whatever. B
But still, Knicks fans better hope it’s tampering. Otherwise, ownership is just hurling the dice in the air, and this could easily end horribly.
Also some rumors coming out now that Porzingis ALSO may be just spending a year in his new home before moving to free agency angling for elsewhere. Which I really just can’t figure out; you’ve got to assume the Mavs offer him the max, so why the shenanigans, unless he genuinely didn’t want to end up there?
Would be pretty weird of the Knicks wind up coming out ahead on this one.
I read some crazy scheme in Sports Illustrated or somewhere else that the Knicks were going after Durant and Kyrie. No idea if that’s grounded in any realism or if it’s just the writer’s fantasy. That opinion is worth what I paid for it, which is nothing!
But that sort of plan could extreme the Knicks, uh, strategy here.
I mean, Jimmy Butler wanted to play for the Lakers ended up in Philly, Kawhi wanted to play for an LA or NY franchise, ended up in Toronto.
In both of these cases the owners are assuming they can win over the players with the maximum guaranteed money.
From what the situation with KP in Dallas is.
Hey, KP, this franchise is fun, young, Luka Doncic will play Dota with you or whatever, and did you know that Texas doesn’t have state income taxes? I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to stay on the Mavericks, they look to be getting very competitive, and they can offer you max money, why not?
The Mavericks are hoping to re-sign the 7-foot-3 Porzingis, who will be a restricted free agent, to a long-term deal this summer, and they are confident that Doncic and veteran Dirk Nowitzki can play significant roles in making that happen, a source told ESPN.
Sounds like they hope to make him a franchise guy. I don’t get the weird hubbub about him wanting to play somewhere else next season. As far as I can tell, the Mavs are a team on the upswing, they have an owner who (while kind of annoying) actually cares about winning. Porzingis wants to be a big name, Mark Cuban can make that happen for him.
Yeah, for what it’s worth, I also think most of these guys are being silly, but then again, I sorta don’t get the point of LA versus proper cities that are cold and grey instead of hot and brown (see also where to live in America thread)
Despite being one of the worst-run franchises in basketball, I have some sympathy for the Knicks here. Porzingis has always struck me as someone with plenty of diva in him…combine that with the difficulty of keeping 7-foot-plus guys healthy, wanting to move on from him doesn’t seem insane despite the chance that they wind up with nothing this summer.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy, been quietly posting All Star caliber shooting numbers for years.
Couple quotes from the press.
Bucks’ Khris Middleton, after earning first All-Star trip, says he is committed to Milwaukee despite market size: “Giannis has been here his whole career and he hasn’t told us or made us think he wanted to leave. From everything I’ve heard, he wants to be here his whole career and I feel the same way. For us, it’s not being in the right market, it’s being on the right team. This organization — they’ve done everything they can to make sure we succeed.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo on Khris Middleton being named an All Star: “I’ve been his teammate six years and I’ve never seen him smile that big.”
This is true, and getting rid of KP, the kind of player you HOPE to get in a draft, is just too Knicks-y. However final judgment is TBD. If they strike out on KD et al, but manage to stay calm, only sign one 2nd tier player, ala Tobias Harris, keep cap space, and picks. ie, don’t panic and invest poorly, I can live with it. It takes a long time to build a winner, and it doesn’t have to happen next year.
Yeah, this deal really will take years to judge if it was worth it.
If KP stays in Dallas, and the Knicks land KD, this could have been worth it. If th Knicks can’t attract any free agents… well then… They continue to tank and accumulate picks and wait for the next year of Free Agents, and they continue to be mediocre for more time.
If KP’s health never recovers, the Knicks look good. If KP becomes Dallas’ franchise big man to compliment Luka Doncic, the Knicks look foolish to trade an All Star for picks and an older guy.
We will see. I know 2020 was the year they were shooting for an NBA Finals win, but this might have to be the year to pull the trigger. The only ? on the roster going into 2019 is Khris Middleton, and it sounds like he wants to stay if they pay him well enough.
Right now, the Bucks get better by putting even better shooters on the team to surround Giannis, making the starters impossible to defend. Leave Giannis alone, he freely scores under the rim, leave the shooters alone they rain down 3’s. It is working so far this year, and Middleton and surprising Brook Lopez are leading the way. Brogdon has been Clutch with a capital C this year, and DJ Wilson has been a surprising 6th man off the bench.
I mean, what does next year’s free agency look like? Give me a Klay Thompson to round out the shooting.
So, the information right now, on the Pelicans/Lakers front is that the Pelicans never intended at all to trade Davis before the trade deadline, and strung the Lakers along as some sort of payback for the tampering done earlier on.
Well, it really fucked with the Lakers, who were standing on pretty fragile ground anyway. Now all of their young players are not happy because they were basically all thrown up as trading chips, or not important to the future of the franchise, and the Lakers got nothing out of it.
The Bucks dealt Thon Maker for another first round pick washout Stanley Johnson, and that trade rolled into the Bucks picking up Mirotic from the Pelicans.
I think the Thon trade is great. I like the guy, but it wasn’t working out on the Bucks, maybe a new team will help him out, same goes for Stanley Johnson, this is basically a wash…
And then they end up dealing Stanley Johnson for Mirotic the next day. This is great, a slightly better version of Brook Lopez for a young guy with a possible high ceiling and some 2nd rounders.
The Raptors too landed a star in Marc Gasol, to keep competitive in the east. Really looks like Bucks/Raptors/76ers are the teams to beat now.
As a Bucks fan, I am elated. We didn’t end up trading anyone of value, and got a big upgrade in outside scoring with Mirotic. Anything to space the floor for Giannis power-dunks or Bledsoe cuts to the basket is fine by me.
The East is still mostly garbage but it’s looking fun up top. Toronto picking up Marc Gasol is pretty sweet, and Philadelphia made some moves too. Throw an underachieving Celtics squad into the mix and I think the semi-finals and finals are looking like a couple great series. It must be nice to no longer have LeBron squatting on the conference and his current Lakers squad isn’t going anywhere this year in the West.
