Walsh has to convince 2 premier free agents to give up $60 million.

Sorry I still don't get it. We don't have a 2011 1st pick, how can we swap it with NY?

 

David Stern wont' let the Knicks lose their draft picks. He will rig the lottery such that they get a top 5 in 2011 and a top 1 in 2012. Call me a conspiracy theorist but anybody who has seen the first draft lottery would know the truth about how this group protects the big markets.

 

obviously you are misinformed.

It has been widely reported by all outlets including rockets.com that the switch is in 2011

 

It's really not that hard to figure out the odds when it comes to these big FA's.

-They can make the most money by re-signing with their current team

-If they do choose to leave, it benefits them AND the team to work out a S&T. The team gets something in return, and the player still gets the maximum amount possible.

-The least likely scenario is the player just outright leaving their current team and signing elsewhere (when it comes to max level FA's). This is what NY is banking on, and ironically they just traded us three assets to package in a S&T if we want to go after someone this summer.

 

I thought it was five years (new team) vs 6 years (SnT.. or just staying with current team)

 

Perfect from our perspective. I'll gladly take the second pick.

Btw, I can't wait until I see Perry Jones in a Baylor uni next season! :grin:

 

Scary thought

 

you are correct

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q46

 

i keep hearing this endorsements garbage everywhere..........LeBron is at a levelk where he'll get the endorsements regardless..........freaking charles barkley can get taco bell commercials and he hasnt suited up in over a decade

what endorsement could LeBron get in NY that he cant get now?? if he goes to NY and doesnt win, that hurts his image even more and might even costs him endorsements.......plus with the ny state income tax, just not worth it.

 

It's obvious that Walsh gambles on the upcoming FA. However, we shouldn't underestimate other ppl's knowledge, I am pretty sure Walsh know about this $30 million deficit...

If Walsh offer Lebron and Wade a 6 year Max contract with the 4th, 5th, 6th year a player's option, it would give great flexibility to Lebron/Wade and at the same time, the possibility for them to land 3 Max contracts during their NBA career instead of 2 Max assuming they can play till the age of 36...

 

Exactly...not sure what everyone is talking about here. Whatever endorsements are available to LeBron are available where ever he plays. Its not like playing in New York is all of a sudden going to interest Samsung, Duracell, Lacoste, or EA Sports.

 

Obviously the Knicks can do S&T, too... if, say, Wade, threatens to sign with Knicks outright unless Heat works out a S&T with NY, I am guessing Heat will take some consideration (probably nothing close to equal value) instead of losing him for nothing.

I believe that Rashard Lewis' deal was such a S&T. Same goes with Grant Hill to Orldando years ago. Detroit got a package of role players-- one of them turned out to be Ben Wallace.

Of course a S&T can be threatened with a team like the Rockets, too... but I doubt it's as much of a legitimate threat.

Wade to Riley: If you don't S&T me to Houston, I'm gonna.... sign straight up for 5 years $30 million!
Riley: ROFL LULZ.


So, it's useful to have cap room even if you can't really match the existing team's offer for a Lebron or Wade, and even if you don't have much assets to trade. If a team is choosing between Toney Douglas and nothing. Toney Douglas looks pretty good.

And there are also the Joe Johnson's of the world-- who are not exactly super-max players like Lebron worth the full max with the max increases under the Bird Right clauses. For these guys, the cap room should allow you to compete or beat any reasonable offer by the existing tream.

But here's the thing, a team like Houston don't have any meaningful leverage based on their MLE offer, but can still use New York's cap room to leverage, say, Miami or Cleveland. What we need is for Wade/Lebron to threaten to sign with NY for the max unless Miami/Cleveland trades him to Houston. Now, they are dealing with either (1) losing their guy for nothing to NY (or Chicago, or whoever has cap room), (2) do a S&T with NY (or whoever has cap room) for minor consideration, and (3) do a S&T with Houston for likely something more than minor consideration-- the Rockets, unlike the Knicks, will have to give up a bunch of players in such a scenario for salary matching reasons alone (teams under cap don't have to match salaries in trade). So, we are talking about at least Jefferies (the biggest non-core salary filler) plus some valuable assets (Battier, re-signed Scola, Brooks, Budinger, picks, etc...even maybe Kevin Martin).

Anyhow, it should be a fun summer for those of us who like figuring out the NBA salary/trade dynamics.

 

players always go where the money's at. that's their job, that's how they make a living.

NY may not be able to lure away Lebron nor Wade, but I could easily see them getting Joe Johnson, Bosh, Amare type of players. all all-stars, but not Lebron and Wade.

I don't think the picks are gonna be as good as you might, next years pick will be around 10 I think, and after next year, we might be looking at mid 20's for 2010 if they are able to sign who they want.

Kevin Martin, if healthy can help us a lot, he might be the guy that gets us into the playoffs this year, and he'll definitely help next year when Yao comes back, but we're relying on 2 injury prone players as the cornerstone of our franchise. I'm not sure if that's the right direction to go in. didn't we learn anything from the whole T-mac incident?

I'm happy for the time being, but very skeptical. we just signed an injury prone 2, who is tall but seems a bit thin and frail, glad we got Hill but he is what he is, raw, young, but has size and potential to get better.

Anderson, Hayes, Scola are and Hill hopefully will be good compliments to Yao and we can play Yao a la Shaq, 20 minutes a game and let the other guys play the majority of the minutes so he doesn't tire himself out and rest him for the playoffs.

Wings, Martin, Battier, Ariza, Budinger, Taylor look solid, you have yourself some players who excel on the defensive side while others who excel on the offensive side of the court.

Brooks and Lowry, I'm content with, and hopefully they can play clutch when they are called upon.

 

I agree. So I don't think NY is in such a bad position. And David Lee is not such a bad consolation prize to the team losing the max free agent, right? NY can't sign him and 2 max players anyway, so they will lose him. Might as well package him in a s&t. He will get to keep his birds right and get a higher % increase season to season during his next contract.

I do hope NY doesn't do well to maximise the draft picks the Rockets got, but chances are they will be able to sign enough quality players to at least make the playoffs in the east. And once they make the playoffs, the draft picks are.. well.. no longer the very high difference making draft picks we are all hoping for.

In fact, one almost hopes that they do sign 2 max players and be a team of 2 superstars and not much depth. Then if one of the max players gets injured... then there's our chance for the super pick. If they sign 4 players worth $8M instead, they will have a lot of depth and most likely will make the playoffs.

 

Of course having said that, you never know what DM can do with a pick in the mid teens to early 20s

 

Hmm. I don't think the top FA (James + Wade) are worried about the money. They will get a boost from being in NY. They will be worried about the total lack of talent on the Knicks roster.

I think the Knicks will be able to get a big man if they want. If they let Amare's agent know they're willing to pay the max, Amare will opt out and go to NY. The question for James or Wade: Is Amare + Gallo + D'antoni's system a better situation than their current one, or the one in Chicago, or the one in Houston.

 

the knicks will be good again; stern will make it happen.

and walsh said it's not out of the possiblity they keep the cap space for 2011 (isn't chris paul a FA by then?)

 

New York can still sign David Lee and 2 Max contracts because they have his Bird rights. They would need to manuever around the cap holds of their free agents though, which wouldn't be too hard. They would simply need to buyout or renegotiate Eddy Curry's deal. I think they would probably just buy him out.

TMac would have to be resigned to a tricky deal if they decide they want to keep him, but that is no problem. A 2 year deal for 15 mil, with the first salary the veterans min and the second a 13 mil players option or something similar. Maybe 3 years 20 mil, with the first year the minimum. Since the first year is would be what counts against the cap for this year, he would only eat up 1.2 mil of their cap space

In reality the players really arent losing $30 mil. They are shaving the last year off their deal which would be around 25 mil, and getting 5 mil less for the other 5 years. While it sounds like a lot, it is only 5% of their total deal. If a player feels like they could win multiple championships, I think they would be willing to give up that 5 mil. Also, the team could renegotiate after 3 years and they would only lose 3 mil over those 5 yrs.

The reason most players wont mind taking a year off their deal is the same reason why Bosh, Dwade, Lebron, etc. took a shorter deal than available last time. It gives them flexibility. Also, players know that if they use up most of the cap, the rest of the team will probably suck. Gilbert Arenas has already shown that players are willing to take less money than the team is willing to offer.

Also, I seriously doubt D-Wade will resign with the Heat. He wants to be a model and actor, and I think New York and their Spike Lee connections would interest him. He also doesnt like losing and seems a lot more injury prone when losing. Chicago probably has a leg up too, being that he is from there and played in college there and family.