2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

Big J 33 said:
I gave up hopes of this year being "worth it" after we got the #4. It was JUST enough for us not to get one of the two bigs or Russell.

I would have liked Mudiay, or convinced myself he was the better choice. Fills a need, potential even though he's not a shooter, and yeah.. I would have been happy with it.

But I don't even care to be upset at anything with this team anymore. How I felt with Walsh before was I was just happy we had a plan and a vision. It didn't work out, but at least we knew what we were doing. With Phil? I don't really know what the plan is. I would have preferred not to keep Melo, gain draft picks, and do a true rebuild through the draft and free agency with young guys. But we kept Melo, so with that you assume you're going to win now... which does make this pick harder to understand.

I just want a plan to follow, and so know what we're trying to accomplish. Clearly we're trying to win now, so the best case scenario is we can build around Melo, get another FA, Porzingis becomes a stud in 2-3 years and that's our time. I don't know. I've honestly just not cared since the lotto. I'm just going to be indifferently optimistic and detached, seems like the smart move.

I'm not completely sold on Porzingis. I have my concerns with his reaction/speed, size (although he'll obviously put weight on but how will that effect his offensive game and mobility), and how patient the team and fans can be. So I won't proclaim him to be THE next international superstar. But I see the potential. Block some shots, spread the floor, very high offensive potential, he could be the real deal. 
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It could turn into a great pick, who knows, but I just don't know what plan this guy has or what his vision is. That's the issue I have. But like you said, can't get caught up caring.
 
brendasdeadbaby said:
JRS acting like 31 is old :smh: if he was 34-35 with 3-4 years left on his contract I would be worried
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It's not old, but his window is closing. By the time this kid could be ready, Melo could be 34, and who knows where he'll be health wise at that point. He should age well, but you never know.
 
My thoughts on Phil seemingly flip-flopping his plan...

nobody thought we'd be THAT bad last season. We all thought we had a shot at the playoffs, and knew the east could go in any direction since it seemed like the Cavs were a year or two away. And then with STAT and Bargs coming off the books we could maybe use our "upgrade" over Felton, Calderon to attract Marc Gasol and someone else.

That failed pretty quickly and it was clear the plan had to change.

We're still stuck with Melo now, and I wanted someone to contribute instantly so we don't hand Toronto or whoever a ****** top 3 pick next season, but the most sensible plan imo is that we just need to take the L and accept that this rebuild is going to take years. We know from the 90s, a bunch of deep playoff runs without a ring to show for it doesn't mean ****. What's the point of going into win now mode when it's literally impossible for us to assemble a team that can compete with the Cavs for the next 4 years or so. It sucks but it's the truth. They have too much talent and just need an actual coach.

I honestly think we should leave Kristaps in Europe for another season. I believe the best way to build, use our advantages of NY as an FA destination, and Dolans pockets is to assemble a bunch of young talent with high draft picks from sucking, add high priced FAs, and then use the bird rights on your young players and Dolan's unlimited money to not worry about the luxury tax when you re-sign them. 

Leave Kristaps in Europe for a season or 2, and let that rookie contract kick in later on so that by the time the Cavs start fading out we can have the young players to add vets to and it'll be our era.
 
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Melo had knee surgery. That's a big question about his health in next 2-3 years. Hopefully Phil signs two-three good players from the free agency market to take burden off Melo.
 
krazyblunts said:
JohnnyRedStorm said:
From Herring's latest article:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/knicks-take-porzingis-with-fourth-pick-in-the-nba-draft-1435288190

"Jackson’s said the squad needs a player who can get to the basket and draw fouls, since the Knicks got to the line less than any NBA team last year."

So why did we draft someone who doesn't do that?
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we got jerian grant for that bro
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If you expect Grant to make that much of a difference, good luck. He's a solid player, but he's not going to come in and put up 15 and 8 and get to the line 7+ times a game. Grant's at his ceiling. Good leader, good player, but he is who he is at this point.
 
Kristaps' buyout is $850K euro & the team needs that money asap so it's almsot 100% he's with the team this season
 
Porzingis and GMO to start the offseason.


Dan Begley: Have to wonder how the Porzingis pick impacts Knicks reported interest in Greg Monroe. A Melo-Porzingis front line could use a plus-defender

Phil on Porzingis: “The risk is there, but the reward is there, too.”
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brendasdeadbaby said:
JRS acting like 31 is old
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if he was 34-35 with 3-4 years left on his contract I would be worried
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honestly, it's past peak. doesn't mean he's on a quick downward descent, but 31 is past peak. take into consideration another 3-4 yrs of team development and you wonder if it was really worth to spend that much money on a contract. not saying he isn't worth it either, but taking the team's path into consideration it's confusing at the very least.
 
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Trade Grades: Hardaway to Hawks
Kevin Pelton, ESPN Staff Writer

The Deal

Hawks get: Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (from Knicks), two future second-round picks (from Wizards)

Knicks get: Rights to No. 19 pick (Jerian Grant)

Wizards get: Rights to No. 15 pick (Kelly Oubre)

Atlanta Hawks: D

The Hawks could use more shooting on the wing off the bench, and as an Eastern Conference contender it makes sense for Atlanta to add an older player capable of competing immediately. I just don't think Hardaway is that player. After a solid rookie season, Hardaway regressed badly in Year 2, making just 34.3 percent of his 3-pointers and posting a below-average true shooting percentage.

Hardaway needs to be a knockdown shooter because he's such a liability at the other end of the floor. ESPN's real plus-minus rated him 94th out of 100 qualifying shooting guards in defensive impact, a big reason Hardaway rated 3.4 points per 100 possessions -- worse than the league average overall.

Perhaps the Hawks believe that in their system they can develop Hardaway into a capable defender. If so, he should get more open looks in Atlanta than he did with the makeshift lineup he played with in New York. Consider me skeptical, but Mike Budenholzer and company can pull that off.

New York Knicks: A

Trading the 24th pick of the 2013 draft for the 19th pick in 2015 is almost always a good deal, since the Knicks have added two years of cost-controlled salary on the rookie contract. Add in the questions about Hardaway's ability to contribute defensively, and this deal was a no-brainer to me.

Washington Wizards: C

I made the case against trading up this morning, and by that chart, the Wizards surrendering a pair of future second-round picks to go up just five spots will probably score as a slight overpay. Washington can make the case that Oubre is a little more valuable than the 15th overall pick -- he was 12th on Chad Ford's big board -- and the second-round picks are replaceable using cash, so no complaint here.
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Phil Jackson makes huge gamble on Kristaps Porzingis
Ian O'Connor, ESPN Senior Writer

NEW YORK -- Adam Silver announced the pick at No. 4, and suddenly a tree grew in Brooklyn. The 7-foot, 2-inch stick figure known as Kristaps Porzingis rose out of his seat in his absurd maroon suit, planted a New York Knicks cap on his head, and made his way toward the NBA commissioner under the kind of welcome Reggie Miller used to receive at Madison Square Garden.

Knicks fans old enough to remember Frederic Weis, with children old enough to recoil at the sight of Andrea Bargnani, were apparently expressing their lack of faith in another international big man of mystery. Maybe, Porzingis said later on the MSG Network, "they don't want a European on their team."

No matter what inspired this sad scene of men in faded Knicks jerseys moved to the brink of tears, the sentiment was misguided. Nobody has any idea how productive Porzingis will be in the NBA, or how long it will take him to max out his upside, including the $60 million executive who drafted him, Phil Jackson.

"Hopefully he's going to contribute to us," the Knicks' president said.

Hopefully he's going to do a hell of a lot more than that.

Jackson later made a move shaped by greater clarity and certainty, trading Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Washington Wizards for the rights to Jerian Grant, the explosive guard familiar to basketball fans for spending all that TV time at the home office of American sports mythology, the University of Notre Dame. Really smart move by Jackson, finally, and yet one that likely won't define his legacy half as much as his gamble on a teenager from Latvia.

And here's the good news on Porzingis for Knicks fans in dire need of some after enduring a 17-65 season: The kid gets it. He wants to win acceptance. He wants to be a New Yorker. He wants to embrace the challenge of restoring the Knicks to relevance, a challenge that has scared off so many older, more established recruits before him.

"A lot of fans weren't happy that they drafted me," Porzingis said. "But I have to do everything that's in my hands to turn those booing fans into clapping fans."

People who care about the Knicks can go ahead and feel giddy about this perspective. Nobody can look at his play in Spain, or at his pre-draft workouts before wowed scouts and scribes, and determine that the defensively challenged Porzingis was a better bet with the fourth pick than the other available contenders, Emmanuel Mudiay and Justise Winslow.

We know he is tall, and we know he is athletic, and we know he can shoot the ball from the perimeter.

We also know he is thinner than a geometric side of your average triangle, and vulnerable to getting bumped and thumped into oblivion when he tries to find his spot inside Jackson's one and only offense.

"I'm not ready to be on the court yet, knowing all the little details about triangle offense," Porzingis said. "But for me I don't think it'll be a problem to adjust to that offense."

Or to the marketplace. Porzingis was born in Liepaja, Latvia, population of 75,000 or so, and yet he very much wants to play in America's biggest and loudest town.

His agent, Andy Miller, initially expressed concern weeks ago that his client might not be a perfect fit for New York. "But as soon as he touched down here," Miller said Thursday night, "he fell in love with the city. He didn't really care where the Knicks were picking in the first round; he just knew he wanted to stay and play for them."

For a few minutes at the draft, after the Los Angeles Lakers picked D'Angelo Russell at No. 2, it appeared Jahlil Okafor might be available if the Knicks were so inclined. But when the Philadelphia 76ers took the Duke center at No. 3, Jackson could've dealt his pick, or selected the safer option in Winslow, or decided that Mudiay was the relative unknown who made the most sense. (Mudiay had told people he was confident the Knicks wouldn't let him slide past No. 4).

Jackson acknowledged that he was tempted by some trade offers, but that none offered him a return more appealing than Porzingis' upside, which he called "terrific." Jackson called his guy "an eye-opening athlete" and compared him to a young Pau Gasol, though with a better J. The team president predicted the fan base would ultimately take to him, and declared his pick ready to lead with his chin when confronted with his first round of Madison Square Garden jeers.

"We thought the risk-rewards were the greatest with this guy perhaps in the whole lottery," Jackson said.

So he had the commissioner, Silver, announce Porzingis' name at 8 p.m. on Willis Reed's 73rd birthday, hoping the Latvian would grow into the Knicks' first championship-winning big man since Reed, and its first franchise-altering centerpiece drafted in the first round since Patrick Ewing in 1985.

Maybe Jackson, newbie executive, found the most talented player in the draft Thursday night, or maybe he just made a catastrophic error in judgment. One time when he was head coach of the Chicago Bulls, the team's owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, allowed Jackson to make a draft pick against the front office's wishes, and that 1995 pick, Jason Caffey, taken 20th overall, was enough of a disappointment for the Bulls to trade him two and a half years later.

Twenty years later, Jackson faced much better odds at No. 4 long before he acquired the 19th pick and the nephew of one of his dynastic Bulls, Horace Grant. Jerian Grant got the cheers that Kristaps Porzingis will have to earn, and the Latvian sounds more than willing to earn them. He spoke of honoring New Yorkers' world-famous work ethic, and of doing all the "dirty jobs" on the court to prove himself a worthy teammate of Carmelo Anthony's.

"For me it's a dream come true to play for the Knicks," Porzingis said as he held up a white home jersey carrying his name and the No. 15. "I wanted to see myself in this situation. I've been visualizing it. ... I think I have enough talent to be that special player, you know, who can help the franchise get better results."

Following his Barclays Center news conference, Porzingis walked the hallways with a Knicks publicist and asked if he could wear jersey No. 6, his number from overseas. The publicist, Gregg Schwartz, told him No. 6 belonged to a restricted free agent (Travis Wear) and asked if he had another preference.

"I'll give it some thought," Porzingis said.

He has already given this whole New York thing a lot of thought and decided he wants in, all in. The fans shredded him on introduction, and he didn't even blink.

From Latvia with love, Kristaps Porzingis acts and sounds like a winner. Phil Jackson had better hope he plays like one, too.
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JohnnyRedStorm said:
krazyblunts said:
JohnnyRedStorm said:
From Herring's latest article:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/knicks-take-porzingis-with-fourth-pick-in-the-nba-draft-1435288190

"Jackson’s said the squad needs a player who can get to the basket and draw fouls, since the Knicks got to the line less than any NBA team last year."

So why did we draft someone who doesn't do that?
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we got jerian grant for that bro
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If you expect Grant to make that much of a difference, good luck. He's a solid player, but he's not going to come in and put up 15 and 8 and get to the line 7+ times a game. Grant's at his ceiling. Good leader, good player, but he is who he is at this point.
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good leader good player and lets say its his ceiling which is pretty good considering were not tanking again, thats not much of a difference compared to what we just had this past season?
 
Esse said:
 
melo still got atleast 3 prime years left
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And in those 3 years he'll never be as good as Lebron, or be able to have a cast around him that's better than Lebron's.

Reason I'm not mad we don't care about winning now. It's just not possible.
 
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krazyblunts said:
JohnnyRedStorm said:
krazyblunts said:
JohnnyRedStorm said:
From Herring's latest article:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/knicks-take-porzingis-with-fourth-pick-in-the-nba-draft-1435288190

"Jackson’s said the squad needs a player who can get to the basket and draw fouls, since the Knicks got to the line less than any NBA team last year."

So why did we draft someone who doesn't do that?
Click to expand...

we got jerian grant for that bro
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If you expect Grant to make that much of a difference, good luck. He's a solid player, but he's not going to come in and put up 15 and 8 and get to the line 7+ times a game. Grant's at his ceiling. Good leader, good player, but he is who he is at this point.
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good leader good player and lets say its his ceiling which is pretty good considering were not tanking again, thats not much of a difference compared to what we just had this past season?
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he's an upgrade and i like the guy but he's not going to solve our getting to the line woes.
 
some of yall acting like mudiay is a sure thing to be a superstar but quickly to **** on kristaps even though he just as skilled if not more skilled than the two bigs that went before him. yall make me sick forreal. dude is lightweight sure ill give you that but its guaranteed ll get stronger with nba training
 
Esse said:
 
Flyeed said:
 
And in those 3 years he'll never be as good as Lebron, or be able to have a cast around him that's better than Lebron's.
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melo was never as good as lebron

and lebron didnt really have a good cast, he just made them look good

you had people claiming love fell off because he wasnt putting up 26 & 12
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Lebrons cast was good. They were just injured.

Irving, Love, Thompson, Mozgov, Varejao, JR (moderated,) Shump playing with Lebron is a pretty damn good cast. Especially the first 4 players.
 
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