Isaiah-Hayward-Melo-Porzingis-Horford

[Nef-Oracle]

Per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne the Knicks were trying to include Noah's salary in possible Porzingis deal. Knowing that the asking price for Porzingis was high we can lower it by absorbing one of their bad contract, not Noah but Melo. In any possible deal we'll likely loose one or two good players (AB/Smart and Jae) and at least a valuable pick (LA/Sac) and others (LAC, own #1). While trading for George could be a possibility there's no guarantee he will resign here, he even refused to commit to the spurs and his attitude lately shows he's not a leader at all. On the other hand getting both Zinger and Melo in a Two-in-one deal is the best at the moment and gives us the best shot at signing Gordon Hayward. Melo is one of the best scorer, is clutch and a solid rebounder. His contract expires in 2 years and will earn less than George whatever is contract will be. Once it expires either one of Tatum and Brown will take over...

That lineup with IT-Hayward-Melo-Zingis-Horford is a contender and we'll still have a 2nd unit of Rozier-Brown-Tatum-Ojeleye-Zizic and the nets pick. Thoughts?

[dysgenic]

If you can find a way to do the deal without including the Brooklyn pick I'd do it.

[hodgy03038]

I do not understand how the salary cap works but if this is possible without losing too much like Jaylen or Jayson or the BKN pick I would do it. As much as I would hate to lose Smart I would do it if we can also add a Hayward.

[Surferdad]

I think if Danny Ainge wanted to do that deal, it would have happened by now.  Phil Jackson would love to unload the Melo boat anchor, and also has spoken about trading Porzingis.

Beyond that I have never been a Melo fan.

Also, I love our draft class and hope Tatum and Semi get decent PT this season.

[LilRip]

I would hate to give up Smart but Porzingis is only turning 23, making him younger than Marcus. It's a great deal for the C's if you ask me, especially since we're keeping JB, Tatum and the BKN pick.

Melo gets a really bad rap but if he buys in - and it's possible given that he's willing to waive his NTC for us and he's nearing the twilight of his career - he's still one of the game's deadliest scorers and is downright clutch. Honestly, Tatum could be the next Melo and that's a good thing if he can avoid being a ballstopper.

[Nef-Oracle]

If you can find a way to do the deal without including the Brooklyn pick I'd do it.

This is the one then 😊

[Nef-Oracle]

I would hate to give up Smart but Porzingis is only turning 23, making him younger than Marcus. It's a great deal for the C's if you ask me, especially since we're keeping JB, Tatum and the BKN pick.

Melo gets a really bad rap but if he buys in - and it's possible given that he's willing to waive his NTC for us and he's nearing the twilight of his career - he's still one of the game's deadliest scorers and is downright clutch. Honestly, Tatum could be the next Melo and that's a good thing if he can avoid being a ballstopper.

Melo can pass but most of the time he don't because none of teammates can score, so he just take most of the shots. He will be a great mentor for Tatum regardless.

[Nef-Oracle]

I would hate to give up Smart but Porzingis is only turning 23, making him younger than Marcus. It's a great deal for the C's if you ask me, especially since we're keeping JB, Tatum and the BKN pick.

Melo gets a really bad rap but if he buys in - and it's possible given that he's willing to waive his NTC for us and he's nearing the twilight of his career - he's still one of the game's deadliest scorers and is downright clutch. Honestly, Tatum could be the next Melo and that's a good thing if he can avoid being a ballstopper.

As for Smart he's traded to match salary but also because we won't be able to resign him and Porzingis

[BitterJim]

The money on this deal just doesn't work. First thing first you'd need to sign Hayward (creating space by declining all nonguaranteed deals and moving a salary that is as high as Smart's or higher - due to the later trade needing tons of salary, Smart is the best choice for this). Then you need to come up with salary to match Melo+Porzingis in a deal. Given that they make ~$30 million combined, you're looking at ~$24 million on outgoing salary. AB+Crowder gets you to $15.6 million. We would still need to add another $8.4 million. The only way to do that is either including Horford (in which case you can take AB/Crowder out of the deal), or including 2 of IT/Brown/Tatum (in addition to AB+Crowder)

So while it's technically possible, the only way to do this deal is to way overpay for Porzingis and absolutely gut our team. So, no, taking on Melo would not make Porzingis cheaper to acquire (unless we don't sign a FA and can absorb Melo into cap space)

[Nef-Oracle]

I think if Danny Ainge wanted to do that deal, it would have happened by now.  Phil Jackson would love to unload the Melo boat anchor, and also has spoken about trading Porzingis.

Beyond that I have never been a Melo fan.

Also, I love our draft class and hope Tatum and Semi get decent PT this season.

Waiting till now was probably the best option. We had a solid draft, got one more lottery pick and replacement for any player we loose if there's any deal. Definitely a smart move

[jambr380]

This seems unlikely, but not unheard of if all other plans fall through.

As SL pointed out in another thread, acquiring PG and extending him (while also signing Hayward) was going to cost us AB, Crowder, Smart, and Tatum - a total of ~$25.7M. Of course that's not a deal Danny would do just to extend PG when he can just essentially trade Crowder and AB for him, but acquiring Melo and Porzingis would put us in a similar - even worse - situation to that one because of Melo's salary/trade kicker. We would also need to take into account Porzingis' salary. This would be about $34.7M total ($30.17) + $4.5M). As you can see, a trade still couldn't be consummated because salaries are not close enough. Adding Rozier might get you there, but I think we are still a few hundred thousand dollars short.

I think in the above case, Danny could consider it if he REALLY loves Porzingis, but I have my doubts. That package above - this year's #3 pick, Smart, Rozier, AB, and Crowder isn't so far off base for Porzingis. We could even bring in a third team to take AB and/or Rozier and send another 1st to NYK if that's what they desired. We would then basically be 'absorbing' Melo's salary, which is only for two more years. As BJ mentions above, though, it does totally gut our bench/team , and for what? Melo?

Again, I don't think this is Plan A, or even Plan B, but it's not an unheard of scenario.

[hodgy03038]

Let me ask a question about salaries and salary matching for trades, etc. Free agents can be signed anytime if they are not already with a team correct? I mean guys like Sully or this German kid, etc. If that is true can they sign a Sully (or whoever) for say 9 mill (one year) only to include him in a trade?

[KGs Knee]

Forget about Porzingis, it's not happening.

[jambr380]

Let me ask a question about salaries and salary matching for trades, etc. Free agents can be signed anytime if they are not already with a team correct? I mean guys like Sully or this German kid, etc. If that is true can they sign a Sully (or whoever) for say 9 mill (one year) only to include him in a trade?

No, since we are signing Hayward in this case, he would already take up all of our salary space. This includes letting KO, Zeller, Young, JJ, and Mickey go.

We could sign somebody using the room exception, but that player couldn't be included in a trade this summer.

[BitterJim]

Let me ask a question about salaries and salary matching for trades, etc. Free agents can be signed anytime if they are not already with a team correct? I mean guys like Sully or this German kid, etc. If that is true can they sign a Sully (or whoever) for say 9 mill (one year) only to include him in a trade?

You can only sign and trade a player that was on your roster at the end of the previous season, to avoid situations like that (more specifically, the rule was added after Dallas traded Keith Van Horn, who had retired years earlier, in a deal for Jason Kidd)