Let's look at your facts then: The Knicks STILL can't offer two max contracts -- they're close though. The only way NY could offer two full max contracts is if they bought out Eddy Curry and saved some money there. However, there was a recent article that quoted D'Antoni as saying Curry was in their plans and they hoped to play him this season ASAP. You're trying to equate Jordan Hill's measly $2.6M contract with Jared Jeffries $6.9M poison pill contract. Jeffries was the contract they had to get rid of to be able to afford another big FA. Do you think Walsh was thinking, "jeez I just GOTTA find a way to get Jordan Hill off the books! He's gonna kill us our hopes for next year!" Unlikely. I think you got too wrapped up into looking at strictly the financial side of deals -- if Walsh could do the same trade and not include Hill, I bet 100/100 times he'd do it. Further, there were no rumors of them shopping Hill for an expiring -- it was Jeffries they wanted gone. They had to include Hill to get rid of Jeffries, Hill wasn't included "as a throw in" or "to give NY $2.6M more cap space" -- that just doesn't make any basketball sense. It makes some financial sense, but little basketball sense. Think what you want. There were several reports that Walsh was hesitant to give up Hill in the deal. There were no reports that Hill was being shopped for an expiring otherwise -- there were also no reports that Hill was just included because of his contract, that was all speculation by you. You seem to be on a mission to champion this "New York wanted to get rid of Hill's contract" idea, but I just don't think there's any truth to it and I've yet to see anything to the contrary. Both Rockets and Knicks coaches were speaking highly of Jordan in practice, and last night we got a glimpse of the skill set he could bring to the table. Guys like that, on a cheap rookie contract, aren't thrown into deals just for the sake of saving a couple million. He could very well be offered to teams this summer in a SnT, but I still don't believe that means he was acquired as trade bait. If Aaron Brooks is offered to teams as well, would we say we drafted him as trade bait? Or Chase Budinger? I wouldn't. My problem with your assertion is you seem to strictly be looking at the financials of the deal and ignoring the basketball side. It seems you may have assumed (sorry if I'm wrong) that Hill wasn't that good (because he wasn't playing for NY; most assumed this) and New York would have rather had the extra $2.6M in cap space than keep him -- I completely disagree. I just can't see the rationale for trading a lottery pick on the first year of his rookie scale for "cap room" -- any room you get would be negligble and the guy you would be essentially giving up on could come back to haunt you (and Jordan Hill seems to have the potential/skills to do so). Jordan Hill was included in the deal so that the Knicks could get rid of Jeffries. The extra cap room they received by including Hill is a byproduct, but I don't believe it was anywhere near the reason why they included him or did the deal. Apologies, I thought you had been essentially calling him a thrown-in because New York wanted to get rid of his salary. If this is not the case, I apologize and the above is kind of irrelevant. I think he WAS a big part of the trade.. along with the 2012 1st rounder. When you consider the uncertainty of where 2012 could be, Jordan Hill was the best asset we got from New York up until this point. The 2011 pick probably won't be that valuable, as it will be a watered down class right before the lockout. 2012 could be the steal of the deal, but we won't know until two years.. so things could change.
I would not include Trevor in that deal, I'd rather keep Trevor over Battier at this point as far as defensive wing players go Trevor is one of the best.
They can be passed up, but they would for sure help...although I am not a fan of Amare of those 3 you mentioned. We're in win now mode with the window on Yao closing. Developing Hill or others may be good for future years, but if you have the chance to get a top 5 PF or top 5 SG/SF in the league, you jump on it.
via Larry Coon http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/behind-the-numbers-the-knicks-mcgrady-and-the-cap/ A lot was written about the Knicks cap situation after the trade, and the consensus from what I gather is that they will have to buy out Curry at a discount (1.7M less) in order to be able to fully offer two max free agents. Without that, they're hoping one FA will take a few million less.. essentially for the duration of their contract. You can cross out any Wade/Bosh/Lebron pairings.. though I hear McGrady would be willing to take the pay cut to play with LeBron.
No one knows for certain what next year's salary cap will be. No one will know for certain (other than the league's attorneys) until about July 8. Many GMs are looking at a cap of about $54M, meaning that the Knicks will be VERY close to being able to offer two max contracts. Within a couple hundred thousand dollars. (Hence, needing to clear that critical $2.7M of Hill's salary ) So, they'll maybe ask one of the two to take a very minor paycut. This is all academic, though, since I don't see the Knicks getting two guys who would clearly command the full max.
I think the cap has been rumored to be as low as $50-52 mil. Of course the season is not over yet and thing can change. So what does this mean? IT IS NOW THE DUTY OF EVERY ROCKET FAN NOT TO SPEND ONE DIME ON THE NBA!!!! The more the NBA income tanks, the worse it is for Knicks, and the better it is for the Rockets.
Not to mention, Walsh's great LeBron pitch: "Pick any other FA you want to play with!! .... Then I'll just round out the rest of the roster with 8 players paid the league minimum, and you can re-live your rookie days in Cleveland!" I think Miami's in the same boat.. they've got Beasley and... and... who else would you want to play with there? You're going to have to commit the max to one guy (Wade), then what? I think their best bet would be to split the remaining space among several FAs.. but I think Riley is going to feel pressured to try to sign another max/close to it FA.
It depends on the cap estimate he's using and the source of his salary numbers. Not even the Knicks are aware of the exact figure they''ll have until the first week of June. I know he authored the cbafaq site but I've noticed some of his info has sometimes been off in his published articles.
Just as I said about the salary cap not being determined yet, but Larry Coon is spot on with his figure for the actual max amount for Lebron James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh. The $16.57M figure is based on 105% of the players' prior year's salary. Since the salary cap will inevitably be going down next year, this 105% figure will trump whatever the actual percentage of the new salary cap is that would otherwise determine the maximum salary for those guys.
Wow I would not give up Scola&AB for Bosh. Sure hes a great player but part of him coming to houston is to have him play w the guys we have now. Thats what would make us contenders. WE need BROOKS. We can give up guys like Chuck&Shane plus sum bench players. Not are main offensive. Its not like Bosh is doing anything for Toronto cuz they still suck.
If you put Jordan Hill at the point, with a couple more Jordan Hills on the wings, and another two Jordan Hills inside -- it's over.
Huh? Which team? As far as I know, the Timberwolves nor the Raptors have ever had the 2nd seed. We could add Paul Pierce to the discussion too. He wasn't able to win it in the East, until he got 2 other stars.
we wont have to give that up maybe scola and some draft picks if bosh does decided to come to houston the raptors are cornered into getting something because as we all know he doesnt want to be in toronto. so i dont think they will be that demanding. If bosh wants to come here they pretty much have to take what ever the rockets whant to give him since he can just leave anyway
More long jumper shots for Brooks/Martin = less inside high probability shots for Yao/Bosh Simple math; whereas if it's Lowry, Yao/Bosh/Martin get empowered.
Scola is much of our heart on this team. Many folks would like to see him in a trade but not me. His effort and determination are great. If he does get traded maybe our potential third star will have that fire as-well. It would be nice to see him on the team when that third star arrives. Let see what the summer holds.
