Hi Yossi - question - let's say the Bridges trade is as reported with no additional players from NY, and they take on more salary, and hence are a 'first apron team'. Does this mean they are hardcapped at the first apron for all transactions this season($178m)? Or can they potentially use transactions available to 'first apron teams' to operate over the first apron amount (as long as they stay under the second apron)? So using the taxpayers MLE, vet minimum, second round exceptions, re-signing Precious and/or Burks? Or is it strictly a hard cap at the first apron?
Can you possibly explain why the Knicks acquiring more money in the trade makes them hard capped at the 1st Apron? There’s rarely ever a trade where the salaries are 100% exactly matching to the dollar, so wouldn’t this result in too many teams getting hard capped? There must be something that isn’t being mentioned, I would assume?
The new CBA made it so if a team is taking in more money than they’re sending out, they’re hard capped to the first apron. This could change for the Knicks if they expand the deal. For example, they can fold it into a 3 team trade where they’re sending Mitchell Robinson out, then they’re trading Bojan + Mitchell for Mikal, and thus can exceed the first apron
I'm a HUGE Nets' fan... and I'm sick! We did the right thing in trashing the retool and embracing the rebuild. I'm extremely concerned we just handed the knix a championship. And i HATE the knicks! 😡
Good quick analysis. I do think, as you've talked about on Twitter, that they are going to make additional moves to facilitate resigning OG while staying off the hard cap. Kind of the predictable moves such as dumping Randle, an expensive redundancy in an Mikal+OG front court. Thibs does appear to like Robinson more than Hartenstein as the starter when both are healthy. Robinson also have what is likely end up a much more favorable contract. The health concerns are very real, though: 90 Robinson games vs 157 Hartenstein games over the last two years. If you're trying to chase down the Celtics, health especially come playoff time and how Thibs works his players, is pretty important. So what they do at Center with those two is pretty interesting.
Couldn’t agree more. And it’s possible that the Knicks have a completely new center rotation next year. It seems like they could be looking to move Robinson regardless of if Hartenstein stays.
I relaly like Bridges but I think what you see is what you're going to get from here on in. A really good piece, but, only a near All Star. I think he has hit his celing with some ball handling and court vision improvements over the years. So yeah - they paid a bunch for him. But the one ability he does have is availability which these days is a valuable commodity. Look at Randle and OG.
He’s a great player for sure. I just need to see how the rest of the starters are played out. If they can parlay Randle into a great center to replace Hartenstein, then I’ll feel a lot better about all this.
This is already one of my favorite RU-vid channels keep up the good work Yossi. Question, have you considered live-streaming? it would be cool for fans to bounce trade ideas or signings off of you and get feedback in real time.
Yes! I plan on streaming during the draft today. Still practicing how to make it work smoothly but I think I figured it out. If it goes well, I’ll probably do it again during free agency on Sunday.
I just think at this point now that they lost Hartenstein, there’s an argument that they’re worse even though they got Mikal. iHart was so good and losing him hurts on both ends of the court. I think they need a significant upgrade at center and moving Randle makes the most sense to accomplish that.
Thanks for the excellent breakdown. What nobody is talking about is the fact that Brunson was expected to sign a big extension this off season. I don't see how that's possible now with all the moves we made and if we resign all of our players. People are saying it's less likely we resign Ihart now, but I think the Knicks are still trying to get it done. If we can get his 1st year pricetag down to 35 million or less, that leaves 18 million for Hartenstein, and we'll have like 12 million left over to fill out the rest of the roster and pay our draft pics.
@@YossiGozlanNBA ok thanks that is a good point. I read today that the Knicks considered including either Mitch or Deuce into the Bridges deal and that would allow our cap to be the 2nd apron which is $189 million. I think we consider doing this if iHart wants to stay. It all comes down to what he wants to do. If he leaves for the money then we can stand pat and fill the roster with lesser contracts. I did the math today and we have about 16.2 million left over with the rest committed to our top 8 players.
Yes! I finally got to understand the full details of this after I made the video. Good for the Nets! They can now bottom out for two years. They’re down two picks to Houston, but they more than overcame that with the Mikal trade. They now have 15 firsts over the next 7 drafts. Unreal.
10:48 - We can either sign Claxton and trade him by the deadline or convince him to allow us to sign-and-trade him to his desired team. I can't see us paying Cam Thomas to stay on this team... 😔
@YossiGozlanNBA You may very well be right. I'm not sure if Sean Marks is a big fan of Cam Thomas. I can see Sean Marks looking for his next D'Angelo Russell. We traded Brook Lopez and a Pick for him. Perhaps we trade a vet and a Pick for a younger stud under contractual control and flip Thomas for more assets and bad contracts
Unless the Knicks can leverage their remaining picks and Randle to bring in a lot of size I just don't think they can afford to lose him, OG is fragile normally and playing him at the 4 seems kinda scary for his health and Mitch can barely stay on the court as well, unless Randle + picks is bringing in multiple bigs they can trust in the playoffs, I just dont see it
Mainly because the Knicks and Nets haven’t made a trade in like 40 years. I also thought he would go to Houston but they were able to do another trade that got them their picks back.
Calling it, Knicks are Pretenders. Now, first of all, it's a great all in move if they keep the core intact. At minimum, they should be a top 3 seed. Anything below is a failure. But my reasoning why I don't trust the Knicks and anyone should be very skeptical is primarily injuries, and that plays into rebounding. Thibs has a curse that he ruins players' careers because he works them to the bone, causing multiple injuries throughout their career. So if, knock on wood, Mitchell, Randles goes down they're their best rebounders because they have size. The Knicks are small, scrappy, but small. Josh Hart is a great rebounder, but he's undersized, and nobody else besides Hart can effectively rebound.
As of now, the Knicks are worse by losing iHart. I think they need to trade Randle for a great center to replace him. I haven’t thought about who yet, but that’s the route I would go. Knicks aren’t better by bringing in Mikal and having him take away minutes from Donte. If the closing group is Jalen-Donte-Mikal-OG-and whichever center they could get (I’d try to get Jarrett Allen if I’m them), then this all makes sense.
@YossiGozlanNBA I agree. Losing IHart is lowkey a huge loss because he grabbed so many offensive rebounds and defended the rim very well. I don't know, but I find it hard seeing them trading Robinson or Randle at this time. There's nobody I can think of that makes sense swapping Randle for. Jarrett Allen for Randle seems like Knicks benefits the most, and it's in the same conference, so that lowers the chances of happening. I'm starting to think this move is very stagnant because they essentially have multiple small forwards Mikal, Josh Hart, and possibly OG. With no good frontcourt depth. I know OG can probably play PF, but his injuries are concerning. Idk, I don't like it anymore at this moment 😂
