I think these are good points. Trade filler. Practice fodder. Watch the game in a suit. Nice work if you can get it.
In the meantime Connaughton is saving up a nice little nest egg to live on when he finally switches over to his minor league baseball career. Good for him.
In theory couldn't we cut Pat and sign a D-League guy to a non-guaranteed contact and then trade that D-League guy at some point (if we needed to)? Pat's deal is guaranteed on July 25th. Not sure I would keep him just at the chance of a trade.
Absolutely, they could, but.... that D-Leaguer will not know the plays, and will not make the rotation, and will not earn significantly less. So, not a lot of incentive there. OTOH, there is an advantage to having a roster spot too.
I would replace Pat with Marshal Plumlee who the Knicks just waived....the kid is going to be really good from the 2 summer league games I watched him play..pure hustle...diving for balls...defensively pesky and seems like he'll be better on offense than Mason ever will.
Pat is buried behind several players at his position who have earned their PT. Layman simply hasn't shown he belongs in the rotation. They're end of the bench players, so no big deal. NO drafted them and there's every reason to see them develop over their rookie deals to see if one turns out to be a gem. They're both 2nd round picks.
