FRIDAY, 7:28pm: The deal has been officially announced by Knicks PR.
7:37pm: Smith’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com that the deal will actually be worth the team’s taxpayer mid-level exception of $3.27MM (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 6:53pm: Jason Smith has signed a one-year contract with the Knicks worth $3.3MM, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Smith’s representation – Priority Sports – acknowledged the deal on Twitter. New York inquired about the free agent big man earlier this month; the Pelicans renounced their rights to Smith last week.
In 31 games played and 27 starts last season, Smith averaged 9.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and nearly one block per game in 26.8 MPG for New Orleans. After hurting his knee in mid-January, Smith underwent knee surgery in February and did not play for the rest of the season.
Thats good value for the Knicks there. As long as he stays healthy, he is a productive player. I wouldnt have minded seeing him come back to the team that drafted him
i was hoping he’d somehow come back to philly too. he never really got a chance here
Edit:oh you meant the heat
“the team that drafted him,” meaning Miami.
As a Knicks fan, I’m cool with this signing. We will still stink on defense but Smith’s game seems tailor made for the triangle. I looked at his stats and he shot around 50% from mid-range and took nearly 60% of his shots from there…perfect for the high post. Bargnani should actually be pretty decent in the triangle too. If we could only get these dudes to play defense though!