Knicks · A young free agent with room to grow and blossom under Phil/Hornacek? Brandon Jennings. (page 1)

We've discussed how hard it is to get good young free agents because of the cap and RFA. Guys don't hit unrestricted free agency until they're 27, 28, 29.

But here we have Brandon Jennings who has had some great moments - kid had a 56pt game against Steph Curry a few years ago. He's bounced around a little because of injury. Seems like a tough NY point guard, who is also smart and savvy.

I really love Brandon Jennings, have always thought he could be a great PG in this league. I think he could truly Blossom here. Particularly under Hornacek.

He's still only 26, buried in Orlando. He played great in Detroit before his achilles injury. I think he's a really smart young kid who in the right setting could flourish. If we had Rambis, I would not be on board with Jennings coming here. If we have Hornacek? SIGN ME UP. Horny developed Dragic, Bledsoe, Knight, Booker into true backcourt weapons. Jennings is a lefty like Dragic.

Look at Dragic's trajectory with Hornacek - the season before Hornacek took over in Phoenix Dragic was at 14ppg 44%fg. His first Hornacek season? 20ppg 51% fg. One big reason for Dragic's success? Playing with sweet shooting big man Channing Frye. Frye took 5 three point shots a game for PHX and really opened up the interior for Dragic and Bledsoe. They ran a lot of motion cuts and backcuts, which I'm sure Phil took notice of.

I think you put Jennings here with the sweet shooting big man KP and Melo playing a super-charged Markief Morris role... we could build an even better version of that Phoenix team that won 48 games in 2013-4. I think the ceiling would be much higher than that PHX team because KP is far better than Frye and Melo is far better than Morris.

I'd give Jennings a "show me" deal of 2 years - team option in year two. $10-12M in year one. $12M TEAM option in year two.

Sign Bazemore with the rest of the money. Or maybe Courtney Lee. Keep Afflalo and Dwill as 6th men for continuity. If Afflalo wants to start and won't sign up to be a sixth man, tell him that's fine, thanks for your service. See you around.

The roster below has the sort of guard depth you need to really compete in the NBA these days. Allows Afflalo or Bazemore to slide down to the SF spot at times and play Melo 4, KP at 5.

PG - Jennings / Grant / Wroten
SG - Bazemore / Afflalo / Galloway
SF - Melo / Lance
PF - KP / DWill
C - Rolo / Hernangomez

That'd be the 12 I'd roll with. That team is definitely a playoffs team in the East, maybe a 4/5 seed if KP, Grant, Jennings all blossom and click.

compulsive behavior!

mreinman wrote:

compulsive behavior!

This'll be my only Jennings thread. I just thought he deserved as much face time as Seth Curry.

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:

compulsive behavior!

This'll be my only Jennings thread. I just thought he deserved as much face time as Seth Curry.

can you put in the salaries that you would pay them?

mreinman wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:

compulsive behavior!

This'll be my only Jennings thread. I just thought he deserved as much face time as Seth Curry.

can you put in the salaries that you would pay them?

I don't know what to say about Bazemore - I tend to think we can't actually get him.

But I put my salary for Jennings. Though I see what you did there.

Would you rather give Seth Curry 4yr/$40M or Brandon Jennings two years $24M, with the second year a team option?

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

mreinman wrote:

compulsive behavior!

This'll be my only Jennings thread. I just thought he deserved as much face time as Seth Curry.

can you put in the salaries that you would pay them?

I don't know what to say about Bazemore - I tend to think we can't actually get him.

But I put my salary for Jennings. Though I see what you did there.

Would you rather give Seth Curry 4yr/$40M or Brandon Jennings two years $24M, with the second year a team option?

I would say def seth and if we don't like him, we stretch the loser!

Crzy the answer to our problems is right under your nose. And it's one of our favorites. It's not Jennings.

It's Lin. Cheaper and infinitely more basketball IQ.

If Dolan is out of the equation 100% Lin's return makes sense

gunsnewing wrote:Crzy the answer to our problems is right under your nose. And it's one of our favorites. It's not Jennings.

It's Lin. Cheaper and infinitely more basketball IQ

I don't see him coming back here for a variety of reasons. 1) Dolan 1A) Melo

crzymdups wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:Crzy the answer to our problems is right under your nose. And it's one of our favorites. It's not Jennings.

It's Lin. Cheaper and infinitely more basketball IQ

I don't see him coming back here for a variety of reasons. 1) Dolan 1A) Melo

Beat me to it as I was editing my post. I answered it

As for Melo you'd hope he's matured somewhat as a team first player to not make a fuss about it in the media questions Phil's decisions

I would love to sign Jennings for a 1-year contract. I'll give a long-term deal in the 15 mil per year range to Fournier, Crabbe, or Bazemore to secure the position for many years, and give Jennings 10-12 mil for 1 year to re-establish his value and evaluate for a season. That way in 2017, we can look at our options again.

C-LOpez

F KP

F Carmelo

G Crabbe 4 years 58mm

G Curry 4 years 32mm)

C Maker (draft pick # 25 acquired restricted 1 to 17 (2019)

F Derrick Williams

F Lance Thomas 2 years 6mm

G Jerian Grant

G Aaron Affalo

C Oquinn

F Willy G

G Tony Wroten G

G Michael Gbinjie G acquired pick 36 for 2 futures 4 years 4mm

G Bryn Forbes acquired pick 48 cash 4 years 4mm

-----------------------------------------------------------

G Derrick Jones (acquired pick 57 cash D league for 2017)

waived Calderon Early Galloway--obviously I cant speculate if affalo or Williams will opt out so this is until they do

Thesis--compete hard now but with 100% eye for the future. Build assets

Jerian Grant and Wroten are the only young pgs that should be growing with Horny. Brandon Jennings should be classified as a journeyman bench player. Injuries prone and alot of miles.

Galloway plays hard and showed flashes of great 3 pt shooting early in the season. I would keep him.

EnySpree wrote:Jerian Grant and Wroten are the only young pgs that should be growing with Horny. Brandon Jennings should be classified as a journeyman bench player. Injuries prone and alot of miles.

I get the vibe that Phil is really focused on big guards late in this draft. I think he feels he can get one that would add the 3pt shooting and D we need. In FA I think he's thinking the same way. Big Guard, SF that can pass and shoot. Jerian and Wroten can push the ball and get to the rim. They can work on their shooting but if we add better SG's that will make it all work IMO.

BRIGGS wrote:C-LOpez

F KP

F Carmelo

G Crabbe 4 years 58mm

G Curry 4 years 32mm)

C Maker (draft pick # 25 acquired restricted 1 to 17 (2019)

F Derrick Williams

F Lance Thomas 2 years 6mm

G Jerian Grant

G Aaron Affalo

C Oquinn

F Willy G

G Tony Wroten G

G Michael Gbinjie G acquired pick 36 for 2 futures 4 years 4mm

G Bryn Forbes acquired pick 48 cash 4 years 4mm

-----------------------------------------------------------

G Derrick Jones (acquired pick 57 cash D league for 2017)

waived Calderon Early Galloway--obviously I cant speculate if affalo or Williams will opt out so this is until they do

Thesis--compete hard now but with 100% eye for the future. Build assets

you *do* understand that Crabbe is a RESTRICTED free agent and cant be acquired through money alone? You understand that no matter what we offer Portland gets to match? You do understand that RFAs rarely leave teams because they only way to get them is by so grossly overpaying the current team just wont match? Portland knows Crabbe better than you do. The only way he's on the Knicks is if you offer something so stupid they don't match, or they don't match because they know he's not the play you think he is. Just wondering how much thought goes into your player fixations

fishmike wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:C-LOpez

F KP

F Carmelo

G Crabbe 4 years 58mm

G Curry 4 years 32mm)

C Maker (draft pick # 25 acquired restricted 1 to 17 (2019)

F Derrick Williams

F Lance Thomas 2 years 6mm

G Jerian Grant

G Aaron Affalo

C Oquinn

F Willy G

G Tony Wroten G

G Michael Gbinjie G acquired pick 36 for 2 futures 4 years 4mm

G Bryn Forbes acquired pick 48 cash 4 years 4mm

-----------------------------------------------------------

G Derrick Jones (acquired pick 57 cash D league for 2017)

waived Calderon Early Galloway--obviously I cant speculate if affalo or Williams will opt out so this is until they do

Thesis--compete hard now but with 100% eye for the future. Build assets

you *do* understand that Crabbe is a RESTRICTED free agent and cant be acquired through money alone? You understand that no matter what we offer Portland gets to match? You do understand that RFAs rarely leave teams because they only way to get them is by so grossly overpaying the current team just wont match? Portland knows Crabbe better than you do. The only way he's on the Knicks is if you offer something so stupid they don't match, or they don't match because they know he's not the play you think he is. Just wondering how much thought goes into your player fixations

In an odd way this is the year to go hard after RFA's IMO. Sure you might lose out but if you strike early and hard it puts teams in a tough spot cuz they only have 3 days to match when they also have more big ticket FA's to worry about signing. They have to decide if they want to lock up that cap space BEFORE they even get a chance to pitch the bigger FA's.

nixluva wrote:

EnySpree wrote:Jerian Grant and Wroten are the only young pgs that should be growing with Horny. Brandon Jennings should be classified as a journeyman bench player. Injuries prone and alot of miles.

I get the vibe that Phil is really focused on big guards late in this draft. I think he feels he can get one that would add the 3pt shooting and D we need. In FA I think he's thinking the same way. Big Guard, SF that can pass and shoot. Jerian and Wroten can push the ball and get to the rim. They can work on their shooting but if we add better SG's that will make it all work IMO.

It well keep Sasha, Calderon and Gallo off the court too. Hope Affalo doesn't come back

EnySpree wrote:

nixluva wrote:

EnySpree wrote:Jerian Grant and Wroten are the only young pgs that should be growing with Horny. Brandon Jennings should be classified as a journeyman bench player. Injuries prone and alot of miles.

I get the vibe that Phil is really focused on big guards late in this draft. I think he feels he can get one that would add the 3pt shooting and D we need. In FA I think he's thinking the same way. Big Guard, SF that can pass and shoot. Jerian and Wroten can push the ball and get to the rim. They can work on their shooting but if we add better SG's that will make it all work IMO.

It well keep Sasha, Calderon and Gallo off the court too. Hope Affalo doesn't come back

UGH! Can't wait for AA to opt out! There's gonna be a major shift at guard IMO. sounds like Phil is going hard after big SG's that are athletic and can shoot the 3! This is a good draft for that.

="fishmike"]

BRIGGS wrote:C-LOpez

F KP

F Carmelo

G Crabbe 4 years 58mm

G Curry 4 years 32mm)

C Maker (draft pick # 25 acquired restricted 1 to 17 (2019)

F Derrick Williams

F Lance Thomas 2 years 6mm

G Jerian Grant

G Aaron Affalo

C Oquinn

F Willy G

G Tony Wroten G

G Michael Gbinjie G acquired pick 36 for 2 futures 4 years 4mm

G Bryn Forbes acquired pick 48 cash 4 years 4mm

-----------------------------------------------------------

G Derrick Jones (acquired pick 57 cash D league for 2017)

waived Calderon Early Galloway--obviously I cant speculate if affalo or Williams will opt out so this is until they do

Thesis--compete hard now but with 100% eye for the future. Build assets

you *do* understand that Crabbe is a RESTRICTED free agent and cant be acquired through money alone? You understand that no matter what we offer Portland gets to match? You do understand that RFAs rarely leave teams because they only way to get them is by so grossly overpaying the current team just wont match? Portland knows Crabbe better than you do. The only way he's on the Knicks is if you offer something so stupid they don't match, or they don't match because they know he's not the play you think he is. Just wondering how much thought goes into your player fixations

All we can do is try. I'm not interested in Branden Jennings. I like currys smarts and Crabbe's touch and size. I'd even go higher on Crabbe. I'd be willing to go as high as 16 for Crabbe and 8 for Curry. In the draft I'm looking at 7-1 6-7. 6-7. 6-3 which would make us one of the biggest teams in the league and would give us a plethora of young legs. I want guys to stay together long term. In essence this free agency is a big one. That's why I'm willing to pay more At some point Portland might just say we can't do that we have to max mccolum and lillard.

Portland NOT paying a player they like is as likely as the Knicks signing Westbrook and Curry. Do you not follow the NBA?