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Community Shootaround: Knicks’ Offseason

July 30th, 2023 at 7:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks, buoyed by the free agent acquisition of Jalen Brunson, had one of their best seasons in the last two decades. They won 47 regular season games, defeated Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs and lost to eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Now, the plan is to keep the momentum going into next season. Compared to last summer, the Knicks have had a relatively quiet offseason.

Perhaps the biggest offseason development was Josh Hart picking up his player option of $12.9MM, a somewhat surprising move that kept the valuable contributor off the market. He could eventually sign a lucrative extension.

The biggest offseason acquisition was guard Donte DiVincenzo, another all-around stat stuffer who was signed to a four-year deal via the mid-level exception.

New York also resolved the Obi Toppin dilemma by dealing him to Indiana. The former lottery pick could get more playing time with the Pacers after getting stuck behind Julius Randle in the Knicks’ pecking order.

DiVincenzo is a nice rotation pickup but not the star that some fans are hoping the front office will add. While the Knicks have been linked to some big names in recent months — Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns, Donovan Mitchell, among others — it appears the Knicks are content to run it back with a couple of tweaks.

Still, it’s tough to think the Knicks are done, if only because Evan Fournier is still on the roster. He’s essentially on an expiring contract, considering his $19MM salary for 2024/25 includes a club option. Fournier has no future in New York and expects to be off the roster before opening night.

The leads us to today’s topic: What do you think of the Knicks’ offseason thus far? Are they good enough to contend for the Eastern Conference title or should they make a big move to improve their chances?

Take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Atlantic Notes: Mazzulla, Bridges, Thibodeau, Rajaković

July 30th, 2023 at 1:48pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Despite moving 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and key reserve forward Grant Williams in separate summer trades, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla intends to employ similar defensive principles in 2023/24, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

Himmelsbach adds that newly acquired big man Kristaps Porzingis has always been a solid defender around the rim, and can aid Boston at that end of the floor, too.

“With Marcus gone, we don’t want our defensive identity to go out the door as well, so we have to really emphasize that at the start of training camp,” Mazzulla said. “I think what Kristaps can bring to us defensively, and the additions some of our other guys can bring to us defensively, I want to make sure that’s where we hang our hats this year.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

As the Nets’ No. 1 option, small forward Mikal Bridges is striving to hone his play-making this offseason, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link). “Yeah, you could do [drills] … but it’s more of a mindset, and having that mindset coming in and watching film,” Bridges said of how he intended to improve. “That’s the biggest thing, to have that mindset of playmaking.”
The 2023/24 Knicks roster has been constructed with an eye towards the preferences of head coach Tom Thibodeau, under whom the team has had its most success in years, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Braziller notes that the trade addition of Josh Hart and the signing of Donte DiVincenzo, two defensively versatile wings, plus the subtractions of talented-but-raw forwards Cam Reddish and Obi Toppin, all seem to be in line with Thibodeau’s ethos to team-building.
In an interview with Sportski zurnal (as translated by Eurohoops), new Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković explained how he has always had major goals in mind with regard to his coaching career. “Since the beginning of my coaching career, I have always been very ambitious, but at the same time I knew that a coaching career is not a 100-meter race, but a long marathon,” Rajaković said. “I have only just run half a marathon, I still have a long way to go. I am currently in my 27th year of coaching. of work and I hope that I will stay in coaching for as long as possible. I’m enjoying it and it’s nice.”

International Notes: Doncic, Embiid, Gobert, Lessort

July 30th, 2023 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Mavericks star Luka Doncic was introduced Saturday as the new captain of the Slovenian national team for the FIBA World Cup competition, writes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. He takes over for Edo Muric, who will miss the tournament with a torn ACL.

“I am honored to be the captain. The coach and the rest of the players made the decision,” Doncic said. “It is a pleasure to play for the national team. I have not played since April 10, so I can’t wait for the games.”

At 24, Doncic is already a veteran of international competitions. He was among the stars at the last Summer Olympics and competed twice in EuroBasket, helping Slovenia capture the gold medal in 2017. His team failed to defend its title at last year’s tournament, getting upset by Poland in the quarterfinals.

“As in every tournament, the goal is to win the championship,” Doncic said. “Last year’s failure in the EuroBasket did not make (me) too angry, but instead motivated me. You must look ahead. We don’t care what happened last year. I feel better this year. It is apparent. Much praise to the fitness coach pushing me.”

There’s more international news to pass along:

After saying earlier this week that he’s hoping to have Sixers center Joel Embiid for the 2024 Olympics, Team USA managing director Grant Hill expanded on those comments Saturday on Marc Stein’s podcast (hat tip to HoopsHype). Hill expressed guarded optimism about landing Embiid, who also has citizenship with France and Cameroon, stating that talks will continue as he puts the team together. “Joel Embiid is an incredible talent and he has options,” Hill said. “And I guess that’s a good thing. I’ll just say this: I’ve had some discussions with him, and he knows our desire to have him a part of our program. So we’ll see sort of where that goes. But we’ll certainly, as we get through this World Cup and start to sort of plan for next summer, we’ll continue with those conversations, and hopefully by then, I’ll have some numbers and percentages to give you in terms of where the possibility stands.”
Rudy Gobert had doubts about participating in the World Cup after the season ended, but now he believes France has a good shot at a gold medal, according to Eurohoops. Gobert said he continued to work hard after the Timberwolves were ousted in the first round of the playoffs. “The break after the end of the season wasn’t one,” Gobert said. “I trained a lot in June and July, I feel good and that’s also why I’m here.”
France may be without draft-and-stash player Mathias Lessort, whose NBA rights are owned by the Knicks, Eurohoops reports. Lessort has an ankle issue that will force him to miss an exhibition game with Tunisia next week.

How New CBA Has Impacted Summer Roster Moves

July 29th, 2023 at 9:23am CST by Luke Adams

The restrictions placed on teams above the second tax apron in the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement didn’t dissuade the Suns from further increasing their payroll in both the short and long term by acquiring Bradley Beal and his four-year, maximum-salary contract. However, the effects of the new CBA were felt by several of the league’s other top spenders, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Kevin Pelton, and Tim Bontemps outline in an Insider-only story.

Bontemps points out that the Clippers‘ decision to waive Eric Gordon before his 2023/24 cap hit became guaranteed saved the club $100MM+ in salary and tax penalties. Gordon ended up signing with the rival Suns, which wasn’t an ideal outcome for L.A.

The Celtics, meanwhile, were in position to keep Grant Williams at a fairly reasonable rate, but opted to sign-and-trade him to Dallas rather than bring him back on a four-year deal worth around $14MM per year.

The Warriors reduced their future financial commitments by trading Jordan Poole and his lucrative new four-year extension in a deal for Chris Paul, who is on a pseudo-expiring contract (his 2024/25 salary is non-guaranteed).

As Bontemps writes, forcing high-payroll teams to make difficult decisions on role players was exactly what the NBA intended when it introduced a more punitive second tax apron in the new CBA. Even the Suns, Bontemps notes, were impacted a little by those new rules, given that they opted to fill out their roster with minimum-salary players rather than using their Early Bird rights to re-sign some of their own free agents, like Torrey Craig and Jock Landale.

Here are a few more ways the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has influenced roster moves around the league this summer, per ESPN’s trio:

The new CBA requires teams to spend at least to the minimum salary floor (90% of the cap) before the regular season begins — if they don’t, they’ll forfeit a portion of their share of the end-of-season luxury tax payments (50% in 2023/24; the entire amount in future seasons). As a result, all eight teams that operated under the cap in July have already reached the minimum floor, as Bontemps and Marks observe. Free agents across the board didn’t necessarily reap the benefits of that change, since several teams used their cap room in other ways (trades, renegotiations, etc.), but Bruce Brown was one beneficiary, Pelton writes. The Pacers were able to get Brown on a short-term contract (two years with a second-year team option) by making him their highest-paid player ($22MM) for 2023/24.
The new second-round pick exception looks like a win for both teams and players. According to Marks, this year’s second-round picks have received a total of $47.1MM in guaranteed money so far, up from $36.4MM in 2022. And because the second-round exception requires a team option in either the third or fourth year, there’s no longer a risk for teams of losing a second-rounder to unrestricted free agency (the way the Mavericks lost Jalen Brunson).
The Kings and Thunder took advantage of the fact that the room exception for under-the-cap teams was upgraded to allow for a third year (instead of just two) and a much higher starting salary (it got a 30% bump, separate from its year-to-year increase). In past seasons, Sacramento and Oklahoma City wouldn’t have been able to sign Sasha Vezenkov and Vasilije Micic to three-year contracts worth between $6-8MM per year without using cap room (or the mid-level exception for over-the-cap teams) to do so. This year, they were able to use that cap space in other ways.
The Cavaliers and Rockets took advantage of more lenient salary-matching rules for non-taxpaying teams to give Max Strus and Dillon Brooks bigger starting salaries than they previously would have been eligible for based on the outgoing salaries involved in those sign-and-trade deals.
Hawks guard Dejounte Murray and Kings center Domantas Sabonis were the first two players who took advantage of the fact that veterans signing extensions can now receive a first-year raise up to 40% instead of 20%. It’s possible neither player would have agreed to an extension this offseason without that rule tweak. Knicks forward Josh Hart could be the next player to benefit from that change, according to Marks.

Eastern Notes: Knicks, Sixers, T. Jones, Black

July 28th, 2023 at 8:23pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks might not be championship favorites entering 2023/24, but they’re in a strong financial position going forward, without any of the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.

As Bondy outlines, the Knicks’ top earners rank just outside the top 50, headlined by point guard Jalen Brunson ($26.3MM, No. 52) and forward Julius Randle ($25.7MM, No. 53). Bondy hears Josh Hart will receive an extension next month in the neighborhood of $75MM over four years (similar to what Ian Begley of SNY.tv reported three weeks ago), while Immanuel Quickley is looking for more than that on a rookie scale deal.

Having good players on reasonable long-term deals should help the Knicks avoid the restrictive second tax apron for the foreseeable future, Bondy notes, and could help the club swing trades in the future.

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com answers several Sixers-related questions in his latest mailbag, writing that the Clippers have been “fairly unserious” in trade offers for James Harden to this point, a sign that teams around the league might not value the former MVP the same way they used to. Neubeck is skeptical Paul Reed will attempt many three-pointers in ’23/24, despite talk of a potential expanded role.
The Wizards‘ acquisition of Tyus Jones flew under the radar a bit due to the bigger names involved in the three-team deal, but he’s a solid player with plenty of desirable attributes. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington examined Jones’ career statistics to get an idea of what he might bring to the table next season.
Anthony Black, who was selected No. 6 overall last month by the Magic, recently spoke to Sam Yip of HoopsHype about a number of topics, including which NBA players he enjoys watching and what he needs to improve on entering his rookie season.

Bucks Re-Sign Thanasis Antetokounmpo

July 28th, 2023 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

3:58pm: The Bucks have officially re-signed Antetokounmpo, the team announced in a press release.

2:51pm: Free agent forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has agreed to re-sign with the Bucks, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The older brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis has spent the last four seasons in Milwaukee, averaging 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game (162 games) during that time. Prior to 2019, he primarily played overseas and in the G League, though he did have a brief NBA stint with New York in 2015/16.

According to Charania (Twitter link), Thanasis chose the Bucks over multiple other options, including the Knicks.

Given Thanasis’ limited contributions at the NBA level, it would be a little surprising if multiple teams were vying to offer the 31-year-old a fully guaranteed contract — we’ll have to wait to see what the details of his new deal are. Based on the Bucks’ financial situation, it figures to be worth the veteran’s minimum.

Milwaukee currently has 14 players on guaranteed contracts, so if the team plans to have Thanasis on its regular season roster, he would fill the 15th and final spot, barring additional moves. In that scenario, the Bucks would be carrying two pairs of brothers on their 2023/24 squad, with Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez also under contract.

Spurs Interested In Evan Fournier?

July 27th, 2023 at 9:35pm CST by Rory Maher

In addition to a few playoff hopefuls, the Spurs have also shown some interest in trading for Knicks wing Evan Fournier, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv.

As Begley outlines, Fournier shares an agent with fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of last month’s draft. Fournier spoke last week about being intrigued by the possibility of joining San Antonio.

The 30-year-old’s $18.9MM pseudo-expiring contract (he has a team option worth $19MM in 2024/25) wouldn’t be viewed favorably by rival teams after he was pulled from New York’s rotation early last season. Fournier appeared in just 27 games in ’22/23, averaging 6.1 PPG and 1.8 RPG while shooting career worsts of 40.4% on twos and 30.7% on threes.

On the other hand, Fournier started all 80 of his games in ’21/22, averaging 14.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.1 APG and 1.0 SPG while converting the fourth-most three-pointers in the league (241, a career high). He holds a career mark of 37.9% from beyond the arc.

After making multiple deals this offseason, the Spurs no longer have the salary cap room to accommodate Fournier’s salary outright, Begley notes — they’d have to send salary back to adhere to the NBA’s trade rules. The Knicks also haven’t shown any inclination to attach draft assets to move off Fournier’s contract, Begley adds, but presumably would be more open to doing so if they could get a potential rotation player or two in return.

Fournier has come up in a couple other trade rumors this summer, but he remains on the Knicks’ roster for now, although he certainly hopes that isn’t the case when the season starts. It’s worth noting that Begley’s article is a week old, and a report a few days ago indicated Fournier could eventually become a buyout candidate if New York can’t trade him.

Begley’s mailbag column also touches on a handful of other topics. For example, he expresses skepticism that the Knicks were ever seriously interested in Bulls guard/forward Zach LaVine this offseason, despite having exploratory trade talks on the two-time All-Star at the February deadline. Begley also hears the Raptors were shutting down trade inquiries on OG Anunoby — a player the Knicks like — earlier this month.

New York Notes: Randle, Knicks, Long Island Nets, Simmons

July 27th, 2023 at 1:40pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks All-Star power forward Julius Randle seems to be on the mend following his offseason arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle last month. As Belle Fraser of The New York Post writes, Randle shared a new workout video to his personal Instagram account.

Randle sat out the final five contests of the 2022/23 regular season after spraining his ankle in a late March bout with the Heat. He then re-aggravated the ailment during the closeout bout of New York’s five-game first-round series win over the Cavaliers.

In the regular season, the 28-year-old averaged 25.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 4.1 APG during his second All-NBA season with the Knicks, who finished with a 47-35 record and the No. 5 seed in the East last year. His numbers regressed mightily in the playoffs, in part due to the ankle ailment. Randle averaged 16.6 PPG on 37.4% shooting from the field, along with 8.3 RPG, and 3.6 APG.

There’s more out of New York:

The Knicks have shored up their wing depth this offseason, but will still face an uphill battle in a stacked Eastern Conference. Zach Braziller of The New York Post (subscriber link) predicts how the Knicks will fare this season, speculating that five Eastern teams will finish ahead of them.
The Nets’ NBAGL team, the Long Island Nets, have traded the returning player rights for swingman Alondes Williams to the Heat’s NBA G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, in exchange for the returning player rights of shooting guard D.J. Stewart to the Nets, the Skyforce announced in a press release.
Oft-injured Nets guard Ben Simmons is now completely healthy after rehabbing from the back nerve impingement that caused him to miss the last six weeks of the 2022/23 regular season, sources inform Ian Begley of SNY.tv. The 27-year-old anticipates that he will be able to fully partake in Brooklyn’s training camp in September.

Atlantic Notes: Reed, Simmons, Thibodeau, Keels

July 26th, 2023 at 8:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Paul Reed said that he didn’t expect the Sixers to match the offer sheet he received from the Jazz earlier this month, per Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire.

The three-year, $23MM contract was designed to be more onerous for Philadelphia than Utah because it puts the Sixers in danger of exceeding the luxury tax threshold and the final two years become guaranteed if Reed’s team advances past the first round of the playoffs. President of basketball operations Daryl Morey decided the gamble was worth it to hold onto a promising young talent like Reed.

“I didn’t know what was gonna happen to be honest,” Reed said. “I was a restricted free agent, so they had an opportunity to match. Then I seen they signed Trez (Montrezl Harrell) and (Mohamed) Bamba, my agent was like, ‘It’s probably not likely that they match,’ but when they matched, I was real surprised.”

As Reed noted, Philadelphia now has a logjam of centers behind Joel Embiid. But new head coach Nick Nurse has a expanded role in mind for Reed that will go beyond playing in the post.

“He talked about molding me into a Pascal Siakam-type player,” Reed said. “Somebody who can kind of do it all. Shoot the ball, drive, pass, but right now, it’s all about focusing on my shot mechanics. That’s the start.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Nets guard Ben Simmons is “as healthy as he has ever been since his last year in Philly,” a source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (video link from NBA Today). The source also said Simmons is in the “final stage” of preparing for the upcoming season and has been able to pass every health benchmark the team has set so far. Simmons has been dealing with back and knee problems over the past two years, along with mental health issues, and only played 42 games last season.
Assuming the Knicks have another successful season, owner James Dolan will likely talk with coach Tom Thibodeau, team president Leon Rose and other members of the front office about contract extensions, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (video link). Thibodeau is heading into the fourth season of his five-year contract, and much of the management team is on the same timeline, Begley adds.
The Knicks will retain the G League rights to Trevor Keels, who was waived on Wednesday, Begley tweets. Keels had a two-way contract last season and appeared in three NBA games.

Knicks Sign Dylan Windler To Two-Way Deal, Waive Trevor Keels

July 26th, 2023 at 7:00pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 26: The Knicks have confirmed the signing of Windler and the previously reported release of Keels (Twitter link).

JULY 24: The Knicks are signing free agent wing Dylan Windler to a two-way contract, agents Andy Shiffman and Mark Bartelstein tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

The 26th pick of the 2019 draft, Windler spent all four of his NBA seasons with the Cavaliers, who chose not to give him a qualifying offer last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN observes (via Twitter), Windler would previously have been ineligible to receive a two-way contract, but a new provision in the CBA means he’s only counted as having three years of service because he missed his entire rookie season with an injury.

According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link), even though it was reported that Nathan Knight would receive a two-way deal (and confirmed by Bondy himself), the team’s press release didn’t specify that he actually received said two-way deal. However, NBA.com’s official transactions log has Knight on a two-way deal.

Knight’s contract situation is relevant because the Knicks would have all three two-way slots filled if the big man is indeed on a two-way deal. Jaylen Martin and Trevor Keels occupy the other two-way slots, while Duane Washington could still accept his two-way qualifying offer.

A source tells Fred Katz of The Athletic that Knight is on a one-year, two-way contract, so the Knicks will have to either convert one of their players on a two-way deal to a standard contract or release someone (Twitter links).

Windler, 26, only appeared in 84 games during his time with Cleveland, including three games for just 10 total minutes in 2022/23. He holds career averages of 3.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 11.7 MPG.

The former Belmont star played 11 regular season games (22.2 MPG) for the Cavs’ G League affiliate (the Cleveland Charge) last season, averaging 12.2 PPG and 5.9 RPG on .523/.407/.632 shooting.