Knicks · Zach Lowe at ESPN tackles the Knicks/Porzingis (page 1)

"Everyone needs to wait out the Warriors, anyway. (Seriously: waiting out Golden State's run of dominance is already a topic of conversation among team executives)."

I think we need to look at that somewhat in the east as well, with the Cavs. When LeBron hits a steep decline in a few years, will we be ready to compete and come out of the east? Obviously Porzingis just being 20 years old and showing the type of potential he is puts us in great position. Melo will help us until then, and maybe even as a complimentary piece when we get to that point, but we still need to figure out how to add young talent who fit with Porzingis. I think if we add one more player who can be a secondary star to KP, we will be ready to compete in 3 years. Cavs, Bulls, and Heat will likely be on the way down. Milwaukee is probably the other young team with the pieces in place right now to compete in 3 years if they are developed correctly, but that will be an unknown. But it will be very important for us to develop Porzingis into that transcendent star and finding another guy who can compliment him other than what we have on the current roster.

But should it change Anthony's place in the Knicks' long-term plans, or Phil Jackson's borderline religious devotion to an offensive system that looks outdated?

Porzingis will be able to function in any offense, but it's impossible to examine his skill set without dreaming of how he would look in a spread pick-and-roll attack. As one opposing scout put it to me: You can count on one hand the number of big men who are lethal both diving to the rim and popping for jumpers. Porzingis should join the club, and that flexibility makes him an ideal piece around which to mold a team.

• Houston Rockets: Now we're talking. An underachieving contender desperate to win before Dwight Howard can bolt. The four-man package of Ty Lawson (sunk cost on an expiring deal), Patrick Beverley (a perfect triangle point guard!), Terrence Jones, and Trevor Ariza matches the combined salaries of Melo and Jose Calderon almost exactly -- a key bit of math synergy, since Houston is hard-capped. Toss in a Rockets pick, and you have the kind of mega-deal that makes both sides a little anxious.

Make it happen!

Maxing out DeMar DeRozan, a mini-Melo with a bamboozling pump fake, would make it difficult for New York to come calling again for a max-level star in the summer of 2017

mreinman wrote:freakin awesome!

Maxing out DeMar DeRozan, a mini-Melo with a bamboozling pump fake, would make it difficult for New York to come calling again for a max-level star in the summer of 2017

Yeah, please no DeRozan! He's so overrated.

ChuckBuck wrote:This is what caught my attention:

• Houston Rockets: Now we're talking. An underachieving contender desperate to win before Dwight Howard can bolt. The four-man package of Ty Lawson (sunk cost on an expiring deal), Patrick Beverley (a perfect triangle point guard!), Terrence Jones, and Trevor Ariza matches the combined salaries of Melo and Jose Calderon almost exactly -- a key bit of math synergy, since Houston is hard-capped. Toss in a Rockets pick, and you have the kind of mega-deal that makes both sides a little anxious.

Make it happen!

The point of bringing up all those trades was how unlikely most of them were.

The whole point of the article was that building around Melo and Porzingis may be their best option.

You can see the conundrum: A realistic and fair Anthony deal is hard to conjure, and may require a number of delicate variables flipping into place at the same time -- including a third team to absorb extra salary. Porzingis is in many ways an ideal front-court partner for Melo -- a big who can protect the rim on defense, and stretch the floor on offense, leaving the elbows free for Melo's jab-steppy isolation game.

Striking a middle path in free agency may be New York's best option after all.

New York is defending at a borderline top-five level -- and holding its own on the glass -- when Porzingis and Lopez share the floor.

Unfortunately, they are also running up against the limits of their personnel. Calderon and the mercifully benched Sasha Vujacic can't stay in front of anyone; a bundle of New York fouls are emergency responses to drivers smashing through gaping holes at the top of the defense. Anthony has never really been up for chasing wing players, and he loves to swipe. The bigs are lurchy behemoths who hit people almost by accident.

mreinman wrote:article had me at this:

And who knows: with a little more talent, the triangle could work as antidote to small-ball and switch-heavy defenses.

Really good stuff.

A couple tidbits... kind of sheds some light on Melo's shock at the draft when Mill's said he was high on the Knicks wish list.

I like the path we are taking now. Im still a big believer in Grant as a future piece. I like the culture we have and I think we will churn out some good players via old school development. My god could you imagine if we landed Jordan to pair up front with KP? Sigh...

fishmike wrote:great read. Rarely does a sports writer actually articulate what is happening on the court and why its happening.

Really good stuff.

A couple tidbits... kind of sheds some light on Melo's shock at the draft when Mill's said he was high on the Knicks wish list.

I like the path we are taking now. Im still a big believer in Grant as a future piece. I like the culture we have and I think we will churn out some good players via old school development. My god could you imagine if we landed Jordan to pair up front with KP? Sigh...

Would've been incredible.

I wonder if Jordan would take that decision back if he could. I've already seen CP3 barking at him on the floor this year.

Knixkik wrote:Its a great article. Here is another part that stood out to me:

"Everyone needs to wait out the Warriors, anyway. (Seriously: waiting out Golden State's run of dominance is already a topic of conversation among team executives)."

I think we need to look at that somewhat in the east as well, with the Cavs. When LeBron hits a steep decline in a few years, will we be ready to compete and come out of the east? Obviously Porzingis just being 20 years old and showing the type of potential he is puts us in great position. Melo will help us until then, and maybe even as a complimentary piece when we get to that point, but we still need to figure out how to add young talent who fit with Porzingis. I think if we add one more player who can be a secondary star to KP, we will be ready to compete in 3 years. Cavs, Bulls, and Heat will likely be on the way down. Milwaukee is probably the other young team with the pieces in place right now to compete in 3 years if they are developed correctly, but that will be an unknown. But it will be very important for us to develop Porzingis into that transcendent star and finding another guy who can compliment him other than what we have on the current roster.

Posted the the same thing as quoted a few months ago. Cant remember which thread. Anyway, the Knicks stopped giving away draft picks like candy so they will be able to build a contender with a nice mix of youth and experience. My only concern is Phil leaving and Dolan going back to his old ways and fing things up again.

crzymdups wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:This is what caught my attention:

• Houston Rockets: Now we're talking. An underachieving contender desperate to win before Dwight Howard can bolt. The four-man package of Ty Lawson (sunk cost on an expiring deal), Patrick Beverley (a perfect triangle point guard!), Terrence Jones, and Trevor Ariza matches the combined salaries of Melo and Jose Calderon almost exactly -- a key bit of math synergy, since Houston is hard-capped. Toss in a Rockets pick, and you have the kind of mega-deal that makes both sides a little anxious.

Make it happen!

The point of bringing up all those trades was how unlikely most of them were.

The whole point of the article was that building around Melo and Porzingis may be their best option.

You can see the conundrum: A realistic and fair Anthony deal is hard to conjure, and may require a number of delicate variables flipping into place at the same time -- including a third team to absorb extra salary. Porzingis is in many ways an ideal front-court partner for Melo -- a big who can protect the rim on defense, and stretch the floor on offense, leaving the elbows free for Melo's jab-steppy isolation game.

Striking a middle path in free agency may be New York's best option after all.

Yes, if we can't find a suitor for Melo, then we'll have to phase him out gradually, and add solid role players in free agency and/or the draft to build around KP until he's at his career peak in 4 to 5 years.

It won't make them a title contender unless they coax someone like Durant or Russell Westbrook, but there are worse NBA fates than signing a B-level guy that actually fits your team, pushing 50 wins every year until Melo leaves, and developing the rest of the roster around Porzingis in the meantime.

fishmike wrote:

mreinman wrote:article had me at this:

And who knows: with a little more talent, the triangle could work as antidote to small-ball and switch-heavy defenses.

Fixed

please don't do that as if I quoted it.

Also, you cherry picked a bit. See that he is quite concerned over our old school mid range shot attempts.

FANTASTIC!!! article. Covered almost every point that has been irking the hell out of me. This guy absolutely gets the current game.

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:great read. Rarely does a sports writer actually articulate what is happening on the court and why its happening.

Really good stuff.

A couple tidbits... kind of sheds some light on Melo's shock at the draft when Mill's said he was high on the Knicks wish list.

I like the path we are taking now. Im still a big believer in Grant as a future piece. I like the culture we have and I think we will churn out some good players via old school development. My god could you imagine if we landed Jordan to pair up front with KP? Sigh...

Would've been incredible.

I wonder if Jordan would take that decision back if he could. I've already seen CP3 barking at him on the floor this year.

makes you think that we should have kept tyson (if we knew)

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:great read. Rarely does a sports writer actually articulate what is happening on the court and why its happening.

Really good stuff.

A couple tidbits... kind of sheds some light on Melo's shock at the draft when Mill's said he was high on the Knicks wish list.

I like the path we are taking now. Im still a big believer in Grant as a future piece. I like the culture we have and I think we will churn out some good players via old school development. My god could you imagine if we landed Jordan to pair up front with KP? Sigh...

Would've been incredible.

I wonder if Jordan would take that decision back if he could. I've already seen CP3 barking at him on the floor this year.

That Clippers team is an enigma. So much talent and yet they all seem to be miserable and hate each other...

ChuckBuck wrote:This is what caught my attention:

• Houston Rockets: Now we're talking. An underachieving contender desperate to win before Dwight Howard can bolt. The four-man package of Ty Lawson (sunk cost on an expiring deal), Patrick Beverley (a perfect triangle point guard!), Terrence Jones, and Trevor Ariza matches the combined salaries of Melo and Jose Calderon almost exactly -- a key bit of math synergy, since Houston is hard-capped. Toss in a Rockets pick, and you have the kind of mega-deal that makes both sides a little anxious.

Make it happen!

Between Melo's salary and No Trade Clause, he is a more likely candidate for the Amnesty provision then as a trade chip. This would also coincide with the 'patience' approach. If we spend our entire cap in 2016 improving the roster, we could then free up cap space again in 2017 by amnestying Melo. The 2017 FA class also looks a little deeper and we could build around KP, until then it is still Melo's team and personal stats will feed Melo's ball hogging ego.

H1AND1 wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:great read. Rarely does a sports writer actually articulate what is happening on the court and why its happening.

Really good stuff.

A couple tidbits... kind of sheds some light on Melo's shock at the draft when Mill's said he was high on the Knicks wish list.

I like the path we are taking now. Im still a big believer in Grant as a future piece. I like the culture we have and I think we will churn out some good players via old school development. My god could you imagine if we landed Jordan to pair up front with KP? Sigh...

Would've been incredible.

I wonder if Jordan would take that decision back if he could. I've already seen CP3 barking at him on the floor this year.

That Clippers team is an enigma. So much talent and yet they all seem to be miserable and hate each other...

Plus they have developed a very bad rep around the league for how they talk to refs and trash-talk opposing teams. And what's ever worse is opponents don't really fear them because despite their high talent level, they choke in the playoffs.

Rookie wrote:

ChuckBuck wrote:This is what caught my attention:

• Houston Rockets: Now we're talking. An underachieving contender desperate to win before Dwight Howard can bolt. The four-man package of Ty Lawson (sunk cost on an expiring deal), Patrick Beverley (a perfect triangle point guard!), Terrence Jones, and Trevor Ariza matches the combined salaries of Melo and Jose Calderon almost exactly -- a key bit of math synergy, since Houston is hard-capped. Toss in a Rockets pick, and you have the kind of mega-deal that makes both sides a little anxious.

Make it happen!

Between Melo's salary and No Trade Clause, he is a more likely candidate for the Amnesty provision then as a trade chip. This would also coincide with the 'patience' approach. If we spend our entire cap in 2016 improving the roster, we could then free up cap space again in 2017 by amnestying Melo. The 2017 FA class also looks a little deeper and we could build around KP, until then it is still Melo's team and personal stats will feed Melo's ball hogging ego.