And this is why Wall is not opting out of his money this year or next. Walker is now on the bench and gave his money away like a simp.
Facts. But Wall has more in the tank than Kemba. Wall is a very competent defender, he blocks shots, he gets steals and he can keep his man in front of him, Kemba is a one way player, he can score and that's about it. If he's not having a good shooting night he is useless and his plus/minus shows it. If Wall takes a buyout, there's a chance he has two more good contracts after this one (won't be anywhere near in value but Wall may play another 4-5 seasons. I don't know about Kemba, Thibs is about defense first, and at this stage in Kemba's career he can't play solid defense, he can barely bend his knees. If I'm the knicks I'm on the phone with the blazers right now trying to agree to a deal in principal before the 15th, "you can have R.J, Fournier, Kemba and all the picks you want for Dame" Great news
I agree. When you decouple Wall the contract from Wall the player there is value. At this point, the best we can hope for in Wall is that he plays well enough off the bench that it raises his value enough that he will be compelled to negotiate a buyout next year.
I think 2 or so years ago, the idea of trading for Kemba was brought up here and I said that his hip was irredeemable and he'd never be the same. Flash forward and that's all true. He's slow, has no burst and can't defend a traffic cone. That buyout is looking really really bad on his end. (Still better than Russ tho)
Reminds me of when we picked up Ty Lawson. Seemed like a low risk high reward move, but exactly as somebody else said, those small guys can't afford to lose a step at all.
