Jerami Grant Chris Boucher Miles Turner Luguentz Dort Bobby Portis Mitchell Robinson Miles Bridges Whispers Some targets, some contingency plans, some discussions
Jerami Grant - for the $$ he wants, the role he wants, his declining defense, and inability to shoot, seems like there are better options elsewhere. Chris Boucher - Need a frontcourt starter. That's not really him. Doesn't shoot it very well either. Miles Turner - Would have been a very good fit next to Dame/Ant, but unless we do a S&T with Nurk (cap ramifications), that ship seems to have sailed. Luguentz Dort - Nice defensive piece but can't shoot a lick. Bobby Portis - Would LOVE Portis, but he loves MIL. Mitchell Robinson - Like some of what he does, but always come away seeming like there should be more. Miles Bridges - The absolute gem of this group, but what would it take to get him? Can't believe with his RFA status, they don't keep him.
Of them, I really REALLY like Dort (he's like a shorter, saner Ron Artest), but why would OKC let him go? The rest? Meh. Meh-est of all are Grant and Boucher, but I feel like they're the most likely.
why all the centers? are they unsure of Nurk returning? turner and robinson are surely starting caliber guys.
Yeh, agreed, Portis looks good, the best rebounder of the bunch and also the best three point shooter, by far and quite consistent with his shot last six years. Boucher, Turner and Bridges, all considered floor stretchers, shoot 33% or less on threes, that just doesn't cut it. Robinson has the best advanced stats both on D and O, but if he is so valuable why would his coach only play him 25 minutes a game? Are you hoping Bridges can get his 3 pt average closer to a year ago's .400? He does shoot over .800 on FT's so seems possible he could improve 3 pointers. He might have the best all around game, moderately good at assists, steals, blocks and rebounds. His advanced offensive stats are very good, but defensive not.
And a pipedream. The gymnastics needed to open up max caproom is not easy. I've been trying to work out the math for my offseason primer. So far, I have: Dame 42.492 Bledsoe 3.9 Ingles Hart Nurk Simons Nas 4.171 Winslow 4.097 Keon 2.668 Didi 1.876 Brown 1.563 Watford 1.563 #6 pick 5.962 #11 pick 3.757 That's 10 guaranteed contracts (including Bledsoe's 3.9) totaling about 72 mil. That opens about 49.9 mil capspace -You retain Hart as well, that's 13 mil added to 72. Meaning about 37 mil space. Enough for a max. -You retain Hart/Nurk/Simons, that's 43 mil added. Meaning about 7.2 mil space. Unless you get some sort of S&T magic worked out with Bledsoe's contract and a pick or some esoteric cap machination that I can't figure out, acquiring Bridges in FA and still retaining our existing FA talent is an impossibility.
* Jerami Grant - been discussed to death * Chris Boucher - He's UFA and he can probably be had for the tax-MLE. At 5-6 million he'd be ok, but still borderline meh * Miles Turner - hard to believe the Pacers would dump Turner after trading Sabonis...unless they believe he won't re-sign with them. Maybe Bledsoe + 6th pick would get it done. Nurk + Turner makes for conflict. I'd rather use #6 on a wing, but Turner is a good player * Luguentz Dort - why exactly with Dame, Ant, & Hart. Another 6'3 guard. Yeah, I know, defense, but the cost would be way too high IMO * Bobby Portis - IMO, the best player here when you eliminate Bridges as being unattainable. But he's very likely going to opt out and become UFA. Only way to get him would be thru S&T, and that's not likely at all * Mitchell Robinson - why exactly? * Miles Bridges - to dream the impossible dream not a very exciting list when you sort it for realistic
It does seem really unlikely to land bridges, but maybe a double S&T of him and nurk? Charlotte could use a C. Maybe that explains the Turner and Robinson interest?
And Bridges/Nurk are both Klutch guys. Charlotte was always one of my projected Nurk destinations. I would not be unhappy with a lineup of: Dame/Simons/Little/Bridges/Turner with another lottery pick and Hart coming off the bench.
I mean if you're targeting Portis you'd be counting on him opting out and us being able to convince him to take the full TPMLE from us instead of staying with the Bucks. That would be a fantastic situation. I really think all of this depends on where we end up in the draft but adding Grant with the Pels pick and TPE, Portis with the TPMLE and our first rounder to Dame, Ant, Hart, Nas, Nurk, Winslow doesn't seem like too bad of a rotation and would have a lot of flexibility. If that pick was 6-8 I'd be a little disappointed with the payoff that we ended up with for enduring this season and sending out the talent we did. If it was Jabari that we drafted that rotation becomes pretty exciting.
Excellent cherry picking. In the bigger picture, grander scheme of things, for his career, he has a .395 FG% and shoots .333 from '3'.
i would add julius randle, jimmy butler and gordon hayward to any potential list of targets if things flameout for their respective teams. hayward is a walking injury (missing the play-in) and is owed 60 mil for the next two seasons, but he could be had in a possible salary dump. every knick fan online wants to dump Randle and he seems like he's on the way out. Again, the appeal here could be the asking price. butler is an enigma, but he could probably mesh well with dame/chauncey for a year or two before he wears em out.
What if we land the seventh pick and all we have to do to land Randle is trade the seventh pick and Bledsoe for the twelfth pick and Randle? That would obviously mean that the Knicks really like whoever is available where we're drafting and that they really want to get away from Randle and his long contract.