The other bit of course is whether he'd even want to be here.
The only thing going for the Knicks at the moment is the whole hometown thing (born in New Brunswick NJ, college in Philly). Even if the Knicks could blow him away with money, he'd have to look at the fit.
There are 2 ball hogs (Randle/RJ), lack of a winning/playoff pedigree, and a lack of a clear picture of what the PG position looks like (an aging/frequently injured PG in Rose & Walker, some hungry young combo guards in Quickley/McBride/Grimes, plus veteran combo guard/wing Burks). Right now there's a weird pecking order between Quickley/Burks/Rose. Quickley and McBride are seemingly on the rise (Quickley looked too good for summer league last year and showed improvement to end the season; McBride looked like he already mastered the G-league).
The recruiting story would have to be along the lines of:
* Building the big 3 with Randle and RJ
* elite finishing big men Obi and Mitch
* hometown boy makes good story
* bringing back the Mecca
* side endorsement/appearance deals. :)
* the potential of the #11th pick to add to the arsenal.
The Knicks need to dump some of the redundant pieces (Fournier/Burks; Walker/Rose; Noel/Mitch). As much as I'd like to see Mitch return, he'd be an excellent option for a trade package for Brunson, as they both have value above and beyond last year's salary.
technomaster wrote:Uptown wrote:<snip>
Other than Mitch, Brunson would be our best finisher in the paint. He's a high IQ low turnover player that if given a chance, can run the show and in my opinion can have several seasons where he is a fringe allstar. He is not a number 1 option, and he still needs to play alongside an elite player or two in order for him/us to be successful, but it would help if his usage increased more than what it is playing alongside Luka.
Brunson can be much more than he's shown to date - consider Fred Van Vleet and Kyle Lowry. None of them look the part of an elite PG with their thick, less than elite athleticism bodies. But boy are they effective.
On the other hand, maybe he'll be along the lines of a Raymond Felton. If that were the case, is that good enough to spend big bucks on? Felton also brought NCAA championship pedigree. Averaged 17.1ppg/9apg/3.6rpg in 54 games with the Knicks in 2010-2011 with the Knicks/D'Antoni, looking very much like a poor man's Steve Nash in the process.
He was then was traded as part of the Carmelo Anthony trade and never quite regained that luster. He wasn't the same player after he was brought back a few seasons later (no more MDA, gained weight, was involved in that gun thing, and lost confidence).
I would take Raymond Felton for $80m, 4 years. Because I can really see Thibs, like MDA, getting the most out of the player and the other players performing at a higher level.
It's not just what does Brunson give us that others didn't- its how much more would Randle, RJ & Mitch give us with Brunson orchestrating the show.
Watching this game now- how can Dallas let him go?
