2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

[the gr8est]

A quiet 28. i still want Towns since we need size.

We dont NEED size. We can certainly ******* use some size out there but I wouldnt say we need it and it could be addressed elsewhere.

We NEED a PG. We need a cerebral floor general like D'Angelo Russell.

Love Ricardo Ledo also. D'Lo and Ledo in the backcourt next year 

Yall can laugh it off but that is 2 very young, highly skilled offensive guards in the backcourt with excellent size. I hope the Knicks hold on to Ledo, I can see him becoming a player.

Give me a backcourt of D'Lo along with Timmy and Ledo and hold on to Galloway and Shved as well and IMO thats some solid young pieces that can hold down the back court if given time to develop together. Maybe try and bring in a vet like Danny Green or maybe even Wes Matthews if his injury hurt his open market price, but if the Knicks draft Russell I like the idea of keeping the spending in the backcourt to a minimum, and then spend all our free agency money on building a front court to pair with Carmelo.

Give me Russell/Danny Green/Melo/Milsap/Gasol and all those guards off the bench and you got youself a goddamn young good team right there, even though that front court is admittedly unlikely to sign here...

In the event we draft Russell though my 2 favorite free agency manufactured front court combos are either Milsap/Gasol (each for the max or close to the max) or Draymond Green/Greg Monroe (and probably having a little extra dough to spend elsewhere espcially if we rid ourselves of Calderon).

Also I Am really warming up to the Knicks going after Kevin Love in the increasingly likely event of him leaving the Cavs. He really doesnt seem to fit that team or like them. Normally I would be VERY concerned about pairing someone who plays defense as bad as he does with Melo after the failed Amare experiment. And dont get me wrong, there are still serious concerns on my part, but there is something very attractive to me about the idea of signing Love away from Cleveland. Idk maybe that someone is bringing over a young talented player like Kevin Love who will hate Lebron and the Cavs and everything they stand for and have an enormous chip on his shoulder to carry into a nice little rivalry moving forward.

I think if Love leaves the Knicks would have to be considered a front runner. You must not forget that Love grew up a big Lakers fan and I think the chance to come to NY and play for Phish in the triangle, a system he would fit perfectly in ideally would be very attractive to him. Add in the fact that he gets to stay East and kick Lebron's ***, play with Melo who is far more effective than Kobe is at this point in their careers, as well as a top draft pick this summer, and I think that the Knicks would have a very solid chance at signing Love.

We would just have to be VERY careful about the pieces we put around him. You cant just sign any player who we can get with Melo/Love at the forefront. We need some defense in the fold. This would immediately cross off the prospect of signing Greg Monroe and/or drafting Jahil Okafor. That is just a nightmare of defensive issues and ball hogging and it would never work. If the Knicks signed love I am unsure of even Marc Gasol fitting next to Love and Melo offensively, even as good as he is defense. That just seems like too many slow big bodies in the front court. I think that if the Knicks did sign Kevrin Love we would either need to draft D'Angelo Russell and sign a rim protecting center or sign a versatile defender like Draymond Green, stick Kevin Love at center and start playing small ball with a Melo/Green/Love frontcourt. The other option would be to sign Karl Towns (or WCS if the Knicks fall in the draft or trade down) and then sign backcourt players to pair with Melo/Love/Towns or WCS.

Either way, I definitely would be lying if I said I werent intrigued at the possibility. Just need to be very careful about assembling the rest of the roster around Melo/Love but it can definitely work. Especially in a ball sharing offense like the triangle, we could make it work if done properly.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Idk man we've been trotting out 7 feet of **** for a while now all honesty we need both.

I just don't see us signing a big other than Love if he opts out.

 

[twinsnyc]

These bums really trying to win. Thank goodness they suck more than Min.

 

[twinsnyc]

I would love it but Gasol not coming to NY

 

[nick.]

the more i watch Towns the more i realize he's not "raw" offensively

granted he's playing Hampton, but he's had 2 nice post scores. nice footwork, used the glass nicely.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

He gets better each game and will fill out that frame nicely. Ideal would be Love Melo Towns and find some crafty efficient guards. Your Kerr/Fisher/BJ Armstrong types.

 

[the gr8est]

I mean I could definitely dig that. I love Karl Towns' game and I think he is the best center prospect to come into the league in some time. He would definitely be a great fit IMO. I just dont think his immediate impact would be as great as Russel's and like I have said multiple times I think that it is of greatest importance for the Knicks to find their franchise PG this summer. I also love the fact that Russell has the potential of bringing 2 things that Melo needs. A capable secondary perimeter scorer and of course a cerebral franchise PG. The more I watch him the more I see flashes of Steph Curry.

But id still be more than OK with Towns. Id be ******* ecstatic. I love his game and my infatuation with him only got greater when I recently found out that dude grew up a huge Knicks fan. Im a sucker for that sentimentality ****.

I could see Towns being our new Ewing. He has a similar skillset to Ewing at G-Town IMO. Long, athletic legit 7-footer with a nasty side underneath his quite demeanor who is capable of immediately anchoring a defense. Currently very raw offensively, but shows flashes of developing a great, versatile offensive game with a feathery shooting touch. Yup, I definitely see a lot of Patrick in Towns, and unlike Pat Towns wont have to deal with Michael ******* Jordan in his prime... Well, unless you consider D'Angelo Russell of course 

Is anybody still on the Okafor wagon? Or has it become a Towns/Russell driven debate? Because I could live with that. I see NBADraft.net even wised up to it finally. Okafor has been #1 in mocks consistently throughout the season.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

I would take Okafor over Russell. But I'm in the you always take the big man camp.

Either way, a top 3 pick puts us in good shape.

 

[the gr8est]

^ I mean you dont ALWAYS take the big. Hasheem Thabeet was drafted ahead of James Harden and Steph Curry and look how that worked out for them.

Personally I think PG is more important than center in the NBA today especially for a team basically starting from scratch around Carmelo, who has always needed a PG to succeed. But I get what youre saying. You dont ALWAYS take the big man, but in this case you like Okafor more than Russell. However, I respectfully disagree with you. Both as an overall prospect and especially as a fit on the current Knicks, I greatly prefer Russ to Okafor.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Thabeet was a special case wouldn't have taken him. Would've still taken Oden though. Before the injuries he was a really special defender with a soft touch.

I'm fine with any of the three. Just think we can address guard more easily than big. Either way it can't get worse than what we have now.

I like Okafor. Good scorer down low, reads defenses well on the block. Poor defender and foul shooter so obviously would rather have Towns but I'm confident in Okafor filling a need for us.

If we could pry away some bigs via free agency Id be down to draft Russell but I don't see any of them leaving.

 

[nick.]

anyone we take (Russell, Okafor, Towns) fills a need and will probably start from day 1

 

[the gr8est]

Agree with you about Oden 100%. He was arguably the best center prospect I can remember in a draft and any team would have taken him #1 in that same situation no questions asked.

You couldnt possibly predict Durant being as good as he would end up being (even though you had an idea that he was gonna be pretty damn good) but Oden had it all and really had no serious history with injuries at the time besides that minor wrist injury that kept him out in the beginning of his freshman year.

 

[you go boy]

i like russell a lot after seeing him yesterday im sure he can run an nba team.... but we need a big man more so im going with towns with the 1st pick if we get it

 

[harlemtothebronx]

@ Us losing.

you jinxed it

take it back

I noticed them coming back right after I said it.

Last time I comment this year. Keeping my mouth shut.

 

[onewearz]

GR8 i'd quote u but i don't want everybody gettin mad at me

after watching Russell last night night the more i can see him fitting this team with Melo. i don't think Melo will ever fit with a "big man" but a point guard with those skills and that size might just be the piece.

don't get me wrong , Okafor is good but for some reason i see him "getting in the way" on this team now. on another team he'll be great, but with us for some reason i don't see it. i'd still take him but my face would be a lil crunched up. i'm starting to think a Cauley-Stein, if he's available, would work better with Melo even.

Melo's a pain in the *** but i think he's worth it. we gotta put the right guys to match his game rather than just build a fantasy team ...

#wiping

 

[the gr8est]

^ Spot on. Agree with all of that, as I obviously do considering I have been preaching all of that for weeks now using a lot more words 

But yes, I totally agree that not only is Russell a fantastic prospect, but he is as good of a fit for this team as I could imagine there being for us to spend a top draft pick on. The fact that I love Karl Towns and the idea of bringing him in as our franchise center and I still like Russell the most in the draft, shows how highly I think of this draft class and how enthusiastic I am about the Knicks finally having a pick this year. But I think Russell is an ideal fit for this team both as a triangle PG to help evolve the offense into 2015 NBA, as well a game managing PG/secondary perimeter scoring option to pair with Carmelo and take a leadership role on this team immediately.

I still think the whole "we need a big man more than a PG" is a little bit of a cop out way of saying you prefer Okafor and Towns over Russ, I mean do you watch basketball in 2015? The game today is DOMINATED by guards. Look at the current standings and try and tell me that PG isnt BY FAR the most correlated position out there to measure team success. There are many mediocre teams out there getting by because great PG play makes everyone look better and there are many other teams underachieving because they lack a game managing PG to keep everybody in check.

All things equal I think the Knicks need a PG more than they need a center. I think they definitely need both, but I think that priority #1 this summer should be to find a PG considering that the game today revolves around PGs and Melo is always as good as his PG is. Carmelo's best years always occur when he is aided by good PG play and the best PGs he has had the chance to play with are Andre Miller, an aging Chauncey Billups, and Ray Felton/Kidd. This isnt rocket science. Just imagine the damage he could do with a cerebral PG as good as Russell is. Russ will be able to provide Melo with "good-JR Smith" like perimeter scoring help right off the bat. I know that comparing the future of our franchise to JR isnt a good thing but I use that comparison only to imagine bringing a 6th Man of the year JR scoring threat to pair with Melo, while being the opposite of JR in terms of his attitude/leadership approach, and also filling the role of potentially being the best PG Melo has ever had the chance to play with. That is a lot of needed contributions for one player and Russell has the potential to do all that and more IMO. He can be that special of a player, and I also think Fisher would be the perfect coach to guide him along in his NBA career. 

As you said, I think that Okafor can potentially be a very good NBA player, but I agree that he would kind of get in Melo's way. I think that okafor and Melo would kind of hinder each other, and unless Okafor was worlds better than the next available prospect, we should be looking to find not only the best prospect available, but also the kind of player who would fit best with our current franchise centerpiece. Okafor would not be a good fit offensively with Carmelo IMO and he would be a nightmare to pair defensively as well.

I LOVE the potential of Karl Towns coming to this team and anchoring the defense the way Tyson Chandler was able to do in 2013. I also think Towns fits in the offense with Carmelo much better than Okafor would but I dont see him making Carmelo a better player. I can really only see a point guard doing that. As much as I love Towns potential to be the Knicks defensive for years to come, I love Russell's potential to be the franchise QB on offense as well as a secondary perimeter scorer to make life easier for Carmelo in 2 key ways. I would be all in on the Knicks drafting Towns in almost any other year, and I would be ecstatic if the Knicks ended up with him, but i think we need what Russell would bring to this team even more than Towns at the end of the day,  There would maybe be a couple of years where I would want the Knicks to draft Okafor, but with a center option who I like a lot more in Karl Towns, and a potential franchise PG who I LOVE in D'Angelo Russell, Okafor is clearly #3 for me this year when looking at the Knicks and their current team needs.

 

[onewearz]

^ i'm wit u bro !!!

View media item 1453813

 

[you go boy]

MY only concern is if we skip on a center to pick russell then whos going to be our big man next year? we have to rely on free agency....only realistic options are monroe and milsap who are not centers and robin lopez whos decent at best... but at a good price i guess its worth a shot

 

[johnnyredstorm]

paul allen isn't letting anyone leave portland

millsap is a damn fool to leave atlanta to come here

monroe is staying put now that smoov is gone

 

[nick.]

@RJinVegas: FIRST TIME #76ers favored this entire season: Philadelphia -6 over #Knicks

we made it

 

[flyeed]

DJ Khaled Voice

*We Da Worst!

Who?

WE ninja"

 

[nick.]

@StevePopper: Would you deal the No. 1 pick if you're the Knicks for Sixers No. 3 and 11?

this is intriguing...

 

[hsalem]

Anybody give me a link to the Mavs game tonight? not for me......for my boy. But i don't feel like journeying into the other team threads.

thanks in advance!

 

[slime rawstein]

paul allen isn't letting anyone leave portland

millsap is a damn fool to leave atlanta to come here

monroe is staying put now that smoov is gone

We have money though. I agree with g8st

I disagree with the Monroe part. SVG likes shooters surrounding his 5 which is Drummond. Hes a coach who loves to play inside and outside, run and gun basketball. Which they obviously cannot play with 2 ball dominant centers. I do think if they can keep monroe for cheaper then face value, they will. Unless the Hawks get swept, milsap isn't leaving atl. I would love to have Dandre jordan on this team. He's low maintence and rarley has injuries. So I'm all for the Russell campaign. We just have to really go after some bigs in the free agency. I'd also like a guy like pat Beverly and Lou will in our backcourt. We need knock down shooters around melo and a rebounder who can avg 11+brds a game.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

We have money but that doesn't mean people are going to leave winning teams that are willing to pay them to come to this mess.

We'll see what happens Monroe. I'm not holding my breath that he leaves.