This is a hopelessly optimistic post but bare with me...It's not remotely guaranteed but there are a couple of variables that have come up this season that could end up making Mills and Perry look clever as hell once the trade deadline comes along. I've had the glass half-full theory that these log jams from the FO with 2 year contracts on team options were put together with a plan to make trades without completely hamstringing the roster and ruining the product on the court.
Variable one is an old one that I've mentioned before because it came into play a over a month ago. So skip this if you're familiar, but the China outrage is threatening future salary cap projections and beyond. That means cheap owners pushing against the luxury tax and teams that had planned to open up capspace at initial projections are being forced to make plans that account for a big potential dip in the cap.
If it comes into play, this becomes a bit of luck for the Knicks because:
1. They have a ton of potential expiring contracts for solid NBA talent that can be dealt. That can help teams that suddenly feel squeezed to reduce salary and we've seen this offseason that some salary dumps can come with first round picks (ie: Tony Snell to the Pistons).
2. If they stand pat, they'll have a chance to have a good amount of cap space to work with even after a salary cap contraction. They'll have some cap holds to renounce (most notably is Morris at 18 million) or re-sign guys (Dot and Trier being the most likely candidates) and they'd have to waive some of those options...but if there is an offseason target...they should have money to make a play. The problem on this end is that this FA class is really looking light. But it's noteworthy.
Now Variable two though is a new one. It's starting to look like a by-product of the 2 way contracts is a lot smaller talent pool for NBA teams to pull from in the G-League. That means they need to find other ways to improve. The Blazers adding Melo has been pointed out as an example of this...article below and a brief follow up after...
Two-Way Contracts Have Depleted Available G League Player Pool
The NBA's addition of two-way contracts has had a number of unintended consequences, perhaps most notably the decreased number of viable players available for teams to sign during the season.
"When you talk to league executives, they'll say that the G League has kind of been, because of the Two-Way contracts, has been kind of mined clear of NBA-ready prospects,"
said Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective podcast.
Windhorst's discussion came in relation to Neil Olshey and the Portland Trail Blazers signing Carmelo Anthony, who hasn't played in the NBA for a year. The Blazers had become perilously thin in the frontcourt with Jusuf Nurkic's continued absence and then losing Zach Collins to injury as well.
"One of the reasons why there's not that many options is even if they wanted to go get a young player, if they don't have him on their roster, there's only a handful of guys that aren't on Two-Way contracts that are NBA-ready, according to people I've talked to. I understand the desperation," added Windhorst.
In short, our boy got a deal because Portland couldn't find a cheap option otherwise. We're still almost three months out from the trade deadline, injuries will only accumulate and some teams are going to want to make a push. Some teams are going to want to address needs at low risk, that is/was the value of mining the G-Leagues. But what now?
Well...getting NBA caliber talent on deals with a team option attached could be the only alternative. We have Frank, DSJ, Payton and Allen at PG...Barrett, Dot, Trier, Ellington at SG...Morris, Knox, Bullock and Iggy at SF...Randle, Taj, Portis and Mitch as big men (also Rabb and Wooten in the G-league if you want to be technical). Basically, we can trade to a team with a need at any position and still have serviceable starters and back-ups in place. The rotation won't break.
So what happens if the Jazz bench continues to fail them? Or the Blazers still want more depth? Every team in the East is in the hunt for a postseason berth right now, what if a borderline squad wants to sure up their place in the postseason? We have something for everyone and it's all either low risk or young with bird rights. We're in position to be sellers and still maintain a rotation that can play competitive, something that hasn't been true of our past couple of firesales...remember when Lance and Amundson were our post deadline starters?
Either way...Perry and Mills' strategy looks bad because of our rotation issues right now, but could end up baring rewards when it's all said and done. Then again, I was hoping Vonleh or Hezonja or Mudiay would bring back a return and none of them did. So take this with a cup of tea but I think it's worth noting.
