Breaking -- The human race has waived Josh Smith: 2014-15 regular season thread part 2

most of it started probably with the chandler trade. phil at that point genuinely believed the knicks had a playoff roster; if he had simply been trying to tank like he is now, he might have pushed for a real asset like a good pick or like, brandan wright. not shane larkin

Chandler trade really his only mistake so far but it's a big one

he can spin calderon off but it prob won't be for that much at this point

and the melo contract, tho his hands were kind of tied there

calderon has been soo bad and on the downslide

he can spin calderon off but it prob won't be for that much at this point

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 4:20 PM (5 seconds ago)

another second round pick perhaps!

and the melo contract, tho his hands were kind of tied there

― k3vin k., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 9:20 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it was still the right move, Melo's taking a season off and all but who cares

i don't fault phil for thinking they had a playoff roster and if you believe the rumors that chandler and melo essentially couldn't play together anymore then the decision to trade chandler wasn't horrible

the actual trade he made was poor but it won't hamstring them that much

i doubt phil had anything to do w/ melo

he should have tanked from the beginning tho, this is the year for them to do it

a ton of cap room+ a stacked top 5 + no pick in 2016

well, Denver's pick I guess but

oh the raptors have that too

from the fucking bargnani trade lol

and the melo contract, tho his hands were kind of tied there

― k3vin k., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 9:20 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it was still the right move, Melo's taking a season off and all but who cares

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 4:24 PM (6 minutes ago)

well it's clearly a disastrous deal in hindsight, whether one thinks it was a good deal at the time or not. it's a 5 year near-max for a player who in all likelihood won't be worth that much in a few years, which since they're rebuilding is when they will supposedly start to contend

i guess with the cap going up it might not be THAT bad but it still isn't great. tho again the options were melo or nothing i guess

still think they could have at least gotten SOMETHING for shumpert. it's not like he's gonna command a huge paycheck after this season, is he?

shumpert and melo are sins of the previous regime

they should've had a first for shumpert last year but the previous front office turned it down

the knicks were never not offering melo a contract, that's out of phil's hands

right i agree about melo

i guess phil felt that neither JR nor melo would ever be useful players. otherwise if the best you can get for the two of them is a second round pick, why not just roll the dice and hope they re-sign at a reasonable rate?

I think considering they don't have a 2016 pick keeping melo makes sense. Unless they could have swung a sign and trade or something.

What they do in free agency is really interesting, it's a great class.

it will be interesting if phil picks his spots instead of finding the free agent who is good enough to command max money but bad enough to only command max money from the knicks

trade melo

and while we're at it, ban wade

Brian Robb ‏@CelticsHub 1m1 minute ago
Celtics are still trying to deal Austin Rivers, so the guess here is Nate Robinson and a draft pick are coming back in 3-team deal.

B-)

wonder if phil and jeannie compare stories about how much they hate kobe/melo

it will be interesting if phil picks his spots instead of finding the free agent who is good enough to command max money but bad enough to only command max money from the knicks

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 5:11 PM (35 minutes ago)

(greg monroe)

:-/

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 26s27 seconds ago
Boston is sending Jameer Nelson to Denver for Nate Robinson, source tells Yahoo.

im unclear what the point of this is but

danny ainge is a goddamn dark mage if he can turn austin rivers into a draft pick

Nelson has an option and Robinson doesn't

jameer nelson isn't that good and nate rob is awesome, albeit not necessarily for objective basketball reasons

guess nates gonna get bought out

denver must be getting a pick or something or else there's no reason to do this

aw man

Woj sez maybe if Nate gets bought out clips will take him?

(greg monroe)

― k3vin k., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:48 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:-/

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:53 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why don't you believe in greg

it's a perfect fit

only real issue I can see with it is that this is a bigman heavy draft but mudiay isn't chopped liver

at what point do the knicks start playing defense tho

okafor or mudiay should help the defense a lot right?

obviously they'll have all the rookie defense issues

i mean monroe is fine. maybe they will get him at a reasonable price! if i were a knicks fan would i want them to pay greg monroe $60 million for 4 years. i'm not sure.

I think you were right about a melo-monroe-okafor frontcourt probably being a mess defensively tho

let's not dismiss the importance of being competent in one area of the game first tho!

I think you were right about a melo-monroe-okafor frontcourt probably being a mess defensively tho

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 6:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

any defense with okafor at center will probably be bad for the first year or two and then great after that regardless of who is around him

maybe this doesn't work for the knicks because of the triangle but if asik goes for half the price of monroe i think i'd rather sign up for that

oh my assumption was that melo would be the 4 and monroe the 5, so they wouldn't go for okarfor. a melo-monroe-okafor front court would be pretty crowded

monroe is a weird player since he's a near-7 footer who can neither shoot nor defend the rim. not sure it's wise to be spending much on those kinds of guys. plus going with that frontcourt forces melo, their best and highest-paid player, to play the 3 again where he's less effective

their future is weird because they want to win but also they're gonna be drafting a top 3 pick. it's hard to reconcile those two timelines.