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00:15welcome back everybody to another edition of new york got game it's your guy dexter henry
00:20we are close to the start of free agency yes free agency begins this week tuesday 6 p.m eastern
00:28it
00:28all goes down so much has already happened in the knicks offseason it's been just over two weeks
00:33since the knicks won the title yes it still feels unreal they won the title they are the champions
00:39here in 2026 but the knicks getting some business done and some more business to do after the draft
00:45and so now we're going to preview what could free agency look like for the knicks who will be back
00:49who won't be back what could the knicks options be how does this all work around the second apron
00:54should the knicks exceed the second apron these are all questions we have to answer so i thought
00:59there was no person better to try to answer these questions with other than my guy from knicks film
01:04school he joins me now on this episode of new york got game the one and only jeremy cohen the
01:09host of
01:09cap or do cap on knicks film school joins me now jeremy how you doing man dexter doing great still
01:16feeling that championship buzz but see i like that but at the same time there's a new season the quest
01:22for repeat begins now if not already started with the draft yeah and i've been saying this i thought
01:28that um next season or this offseason would be maybe the calmest offseason that knicks fans could
01:35experience right and then next season might be a little bit of a relaxation but i think i've been
01:39proven wrong i've done some live shows i've done some other episodes and i'm really seeing from a lot
01:44of fans and it's like oh no no we we want to get this repeat which fans should want i
01:49be greedy i don't
01:51want to say be greedy you should get as much as you can out of this court at this moment
01:54now but
01:56fans are really feeling it and some of that has to do with some potential decision making from
02:01ownership which we will uh get into look fancy jeremy we can get into a lot of names we we
02:07can do that
02:08but i guess i want to start off with you on this what do you think is the bigger knicks
02:13free agency
02:13question who they could sign this offseason or what i just kind of alluded to whether this organization
02:20is willing to operate like a defending champion that wants to run it back and i mean this
02:25financially and exceed the second apron what do you think is the bigger question who they can
02:29sign or re-sign and bring back or whether this organization is going to actually act like a
02:34defending champion and bring all the guys back gotta go with the latter it feeds into the former of
02:40course and it starts with mitchell robinson but from there everything kind of moves out you've got
02:45your plan b plan c and all the other plans that come into place plan a in my opinion is
02:50you should
02:50run it back we can talk about the second apron limitations that come down the line you can
02:56acknowledge that there are issues in the future and still want to maximize this window of time
03:02because you just never know windows in the nba are often shorter than people think and losing key
03:07players on paper that's really challenging it's hard to win a title it's i mean we know it it's been
03:15over
03:1553 years and 53 years and now it was now it's zero which is great repeating is even tougher especially
03:22in an era that has the most parity that we've ever seen in nba history really so being able to
03:29take your
03:30team and add to it is important but if you can't add to it staying the same roughly great but
03:38reducing
03:38it as other teams get better that is the greatest challenge because you got to prove this wasn't a
03:46fluke and mind you this isn't a participation trophy the knicks or larry o'brien championship winners
03:51that will always be the case no matter what but we want more i mean we're new yorkers so what
03:58you
03:58were saying it's like yes i appreciate everything about what just happened i want more i want to see
04:03another championship i want to feel like this is a dynasty in the making and there are other teams
04:10that could get in the way but if the knicks are the ones getting in the way of it themselves
04:15that hurts too and that doesn't feel great as you try to proceed into the next year so you and
04:22i were
04:22talking about this before we started recording and i was listening to the latest episode you did of
04:26cap or no cap where you brilliantly broke down what the knicks could or couldn't do this offseason
04:32and we'll in the free agency and also with the draft and we'll get this was before the draft so
04:36we'll get
04:36into a little bit of that i came to i was at the same conclusion that you were that i
04:41took at the end
04:42of that episode which was if the knicks don't exceed the second apron here that it can be okay if
04:50this
04:51team operates smartly and they're very cognizant of what they're doing and they could have good
04:57reasons for not wanting to exceed the second apron but there's still things they can do
05:00to make this roster competitive enough to run it back where you think they can actually defend their
05:04title i was with you on that's early that was earlier last week we heard the comments from james
05:13dolan following the championship goes on wfan talks about he doesn't want to go into the second apron
05:18and all the reporting we see now around it my own colleague stephan bondy has talked about this with
05:24me sounds like james don't doesn't want to go in the second apron has that changed your mind in any
05:31way
05:31or your feeling about what the knicks should do here this offseason and whether they should exceed the
05:37second apron or not knowing that this is not from necessarily the front office but it's coming from the
05:42ownership in james dolan that's the challenge with where i was at i felt how you balance the present
05:49and the future there is a prudent argument to not going above the second apron this year and pushing
05:55that down the line but if it's purely an ownership decision and not a front office decision that's where
06:03i disagree with how the team is moving because if that were the case brock allar and his team are
06:11among
06:11the best if not the best in the nba they would have figured it out they can do that but
06:16the other
06:17concern gets to if you are uncomfortable paying to go into the second apron after you've won a
06:24championship are you going to be comfortable doing that the next season the season after that right season
06:30after that at what point if you're james don't especially when you see all of this revenue being
06:36realized from winning the title when do you fully invest in the team because it's not a luxury tax
06:44thing the knicks are already well above the luxury tax right so yes there is money being saved of course
06:51by spending less there's no doubt about it but that it doesn't seem like it is a team reason for
06:57why the
06:58knicks would be limiting their spending based on the reporting that is out there it feels much more of
07:03there's an uncomfortability with paying what it is and that's that's james dolan decision if that's
07:08the case as we were saying prior to this it's not our money right but we as fans because it's
07:14not our
07:14money we should be interested in the team spending as much as the team possibly can so not having the
07:21ability to run it back and then some it just it forces the front office to be more creative on
07:27a
07:27budget and they can do that to be clear but from the fan perspective it's really tough
07:34there's an opportunity cost there's several opportunity costs that could happen and no matter
07:38how you slice it the knicks get worse on paper and i think you and i listen we we understand
07:44this this
07:45is the this is the nba and where they are right now right jeremy and we we understand with the
07:50second
07:50apron it's it is tougher to keep teams together longer your windows are necessarily shorter
07:56but the point you said there is disappointing to the fans and that's a longer conversation i think
08:00you can have especially when you know what prices cost you know this to go to to go to i
08:05see you at
08:05msg sometimes for tickets at msg for concessions we also know that the building is always full no matter
08:12what if the knicks win or lose so the knicks have always been making money you made a fantastic point
08:17about the money that has been made through this run now even after this run when we talk about
08:22championship merchandise that a lot of us and some of us still have on the way okay there's a lot
08:29of
08:29that still being made so i guess this leads me to the next place when it goes how do you
08:34think fans
08:34because you talked about the fans and i think that matters so much here how should they understand the
08:39second apron is this mostly about james dolan's tax bill which the luxury tax the knicks have already
08:44exceeded and in the past have been paying or is it really about the roster building penalties that
08:49could come down the road with it how should knicks fans understand why or why not the knicks may want
08:54to exceed the second apron it could be both i to start with absolutely if james dolan is unwilling to
09:01pay to keep the team together then that is a focal point that said there are other avenues that can
09:08open
09:09up should the knicks not be above the second apron uh the thing is with the second apron especially if
09:15you're above it seven years out your first round pick is frozen and you can exceed the second apron
09:20after that for one of the next four seasons and the pick that you would go above the second apron
09:25that pick is frozen too it thaws when you have left the second apron for enough years and to me
09:33that i
09:33should say the third season after that where if you if you're above the second apron for three out of
09:38the five years your draft pick automatically drops to 30 let's assume it's 32 if there are two expansion
09:44teams so that can be tough to me the concern isn't how do the knicks rebuild i'm worried about what
09:52would be really 10 years from now that's not my concern my concern is hey if you have that pick
09:57and you can or those picks and you can use them in any way to add to this current core
10:03to keep getting
10:05more bites at the apple with jalen brunson that to me is the real win being able to trade more
10:11of the
10:12future for the present it's just unfortunate that that might have to be a silver lining as opposed
10:17to the intentionality of the play so yes it can unlock things and it can make things better it truly
10:25can there there is a world here where james dolan despite the fan belief of he should spend could
10:32actually walk away looking wise if the player or players that walk are not as impactful for their
10:40teams you simply never know a frugal decision could wind up actually benefiting the knicks it's the
10:47fact that if it feels like the reason for going into that isn't smart pragmatic planning for the team
10:54as a whole but instead for the person footing the bill that's where the fandom comes into play and
11:01fandom is not always rational but in this case i don't see why it wouldn't be
11:08fandom isn't always rational but you know you want to go through all these hypotheticals here
11:14and you can james dolan for the most part you know this has stayed out of the way which has
11:23maybe
11:23shocked a lot of us uh in new york and people who root for the knicks or cover the knicks
11:27recently
11:28and now this is going to feel for a lot of people like he's kind of coming back in the
11:34way now again to
11:35your point he could be frugal and he could be right that's possible he could also be frugal and
11:42be dead wrong and it could prevent the knicks from maybe uh keeping the window open as long as they
11:49would like it to be so i don't know find a variant we'll see we'll see though right like time
11:56will tell
11:56and we will know not too far from now now we know how the knicks operated the draft they operated
12:02like a
12:02team that clearly has no interest in going above the second apron jeremy or at least trying to stay
12:09close to under it as possible the front office they already took care of jose alvarado on a team
12:16friendly multi-year deal we saw them do the same with mohammed diawara i personally felt diawara
12:21had to be a priority i was glad to see how they took care of him so quickly but the
12:26alvarado move with
12:27him extending his deadline and then them taking care of him on the multi-year deal what does that
12:32move tell you about how they're going to put it this way trying to thread the needle because this
12:37is what the knicks are doing you're threading the needle when you are trying to either avoid or stay
12:41under the second apron so what did that move tell you about how they're trying to thread the needle and
12:45how they might approach this offseason where free agency is beginning in a couple days totally with
12:50you keeping diawara and alvarado huge wins for the knicks uh in terms of diawara and actually alvarado
12:57we don't have the full contract details i know that's been reported or multi-year and and uh you
13:04know in diawara's case i believe it was 10 million plus and something along those lines and for alvarado
13:09i think it was 14 million plus so there can be some potential flexibility for diawara we don't even
13:16know how many years it is we don't know if it's a four-year contract we don't know if it's
13:20a
13:20two-year contract we don't know if it's going to be out of the taxpayer mid-level exception or if
13:25it's going to be without having to dip into that of course using the taxpayer mid-level exception
13:29that would have hard capped the knicks automatically so there's some flexibility which is good and can
13:36tell from how it moves but in terms of it seemed that the knicks maybe had their eyes on a
13:42couple
13:43players thought high in the sky can we get someone who we feel projects as better than alvarado
13:49cheaper than alvarado over the next several years um of course that player even if they're better
13:56they likely wouldn't be better from the jump and this is a knicks team that needs veterans that can
14:00propel them further so i say better i mean more down the line but it doesn't matter because this
14:06is the time to win so alvarado pushing it back shows the ability for him to say hey well if
14:14something
14:14happens i have an escape but if something doesn't happen i have more in my control because he could
14:19opt in and be traded on draft night especially that didn't happen alvarado couldn't sign an extension
14:26until september so what he did seemingly was opt out and sign for the same amount roughly as his player
14:34option and tack on another two years and that was lower than i would have thought i thought he was
14:39going to opt in perhaps and maybe extend for seven or eight million dollars but the one benefit that i
14:46think we're seeing with the cba and maybe a hometown discount comes into play here too with alvarado
14:50is role players we're starting to see the opportunity cost and there's just a lot of talent in the league
14:56and i think the market for those guys is shrinking a bit where you put your money towards stars that
15:01are
15:01worth it and you have to fill in the gaps but the second apron and we're seeing with a team
15:05like the
15:06knicks that doesn't have to do this is already looking at the dollars and how they don't spend
15:12the thunder are doing the same thing yeah their look teams are looking at that second apron and
15:17they're saying i don't know is it really worth it and it's a effectively a soft hard cap is the
15:23best
15:24way i can describe it so the knicks with those two guys made the right moves and they still have
15:29to fill
15:29out the rest of the roster of course but those were the right steps uh or the steps in the
15:34right
15:34direction for them to continue with this offseason i was glad you you mentioned the thunder there too
15:39because so much of the talk when i was doing live draft shows this week was fans were talking a
15:44lot
15:44like this was exclusive to the knicks and i wanted to be like no no no no no no this
15:47is not exclusive
15:49to the knicks the thunder just won a title the previous year and they've already sold off two good
15:54players right because they're trying to create themselves more flexibility so they could bring back
15:58i say a hartenstein who they just extended uh that obviously the knicks fan base knows very well
16:02this is going to impact a lot of teams that have either won recently like the thunder and the knicks
16:09or are knocking on the door and very expensive cleveland is another team you can look at that
16:13they traded out of the first round uh laid out the first round right to save some dollars there too
16:17so
16:18this is impacting a lot of teams in the nba and it's very interesting now you mentioned this at the
16:22top jeremy mitchell robinson he is the big domino that you're talking about around everything with the
16:29knicks right now if the knicks lose him because they're trying to stay under the second apron
16:35do you look at that as cap guy i gotta ask you this is that a responsible cap decision or
16:41is do you look
16:43at it if they lose him this is just a championship team getting worse i do see it as a
16:47championship
16:47team getting worse with that said i think the mitchell robinson is effectively a starter he's a
16:54starter playing backup minutes but there's the health component and this is not oh you know well
17:01if he walks here's the pr type of information that you put out there to make yourself feel better about
17:07not signing him but just looking at the facts this is someone who has dealt with significant injury
17:13over the course of several years um there have been a lot of things whether it's because of his own
17:18doing or because someone may have injured him uh that's just the way that it goes but there's also
17:25something to be said of is this player as good as he is is he worth retaining and the answer
17:32could very
17:32easily be yes but then dexter the question i could ask is what is the threshold for mitchell robinson where
17:38it's simply too much at what point is there a dollar figure where if you are a knicks fan and
17:44again
17:45not our money but just from a the team perspective and how you build everything what amount is simply
17:52too much for mitchell robinson to return and your mileage is going to vary from fan to fan but this
17:59is someone who over the last three seasons has seen over a thousand minutes once last year and it's
18:05because he didn't play in back-to-backs and at a certain point especially with again the opportunity
18:10costs and the other players if there were a player to lose from your top seven right i don't know
18:20if
18:20it would necessarily be mitchell robinson but because of the the contract and the availability
18:25the argument starts to swing in a different direction because again on paper he is the best
18:31player the knicks could possibly have with the limited avenues of how to get anyone to even fill
18:36his shoes those would be big shoes to fill but i do worry over time is it the soundest of
18:44investment
18:45and how can you move with that contract on your books it's a challenge i'd still retain him but the
18:52sky isn't the limit and there are other players that need to either get paid or are being paid so
18:59that's what i wrestle with too is what you said there which is what's the threshold for him right like
19:06and i'm not sure i have the best answer for that i i what do you have a lot like
19:12again it's not our
19:13money we're out here talking like this is monopoly money i get it it's not it's not our money but
19:18if
19:18you were is there mitch you made a you know what a little over 13 million dollars last year
19:24the talk around the league there's been interest lakers interesting you're interested in him you've
19:29heard about the kings um you're thinking he's probably getting this is just me from what we've been
19:35reading and hearing 15 mil right are you willing to go that for somebody you said starting caliber
19:42center no doubt the injury history is what it is you're and on this next team he's going to be
19:51a
19:51backup yes so for you would i'll ask you i'll just throw this to you as a follow-up would
19:57you exceed
19:5715 mil per year to bring mitchell robinson back would you just do it and say hey i'll worry about
20:04the rest down the road would you maybe front load the contract a little bit more to give yourself
20:09flexibility um down the road what how would you how would you play it i would definitely go with the
20:15descending contract i thought the the contract that they signed him to last time which was also
20:20descending and yep was the right move but you know if you're descending does that mean that you
20:24have to to your point raise the first year to make it equitable and then here's the other thing how
20:30many guaranteed years are you giving mitchell robinson because another team if they like the lakers or
20:36even the nets if they step in and say yeah we're comfortable giving four years guaranteed if you're the
20:42knicks mitchell robinson i believe is 28 years old are you comfortable paying mitchell robinson when he's
20:4831 years old you may be you may not be by that point could you potentially move his contract yes
20:56but there's also something to be said of okay what if you are looking at a team that wanted
21:04mitchell robinson but now if mitchell robinson's hurt there's not a whole lot of interest and you
21:09have limited assets so now are you using your assets when you look for an upgrade to get a contract
21:15that is skewing a little bit more negative to being a positive or are you just getting to a
21:20neutral point and if you're getting to a neutral point how can you get that neutral contract to a
21:25positive when you've just it's there's so much that goes into it that's that's the risk though right
21:30jeremy i was bringing this up with stephan bondi during the live show and i was telling him i'm like
21:34i hear you on wanting to bring him back and run it back i i'm it seems like you and
21:39i having the same
21:40deliver i'm with you but the risk is just because you signed somebody does not mean two three years
21:45from now you can say oh it's just easy to get off them what if he's more injured yes than
21:50he has been
21:51before and now it's harder to move that contract as you just brought up it's a it's a great point
21:55and then are you trusting a third string center and how are you paying them because you need a reliable
22:01backup for your backup you know carl anthony towns right now he's been very healthy which was good
22:07for the knicks he's knock on wood he's been that guy for this team carl anthony towns is also
22:14turning 31 years old he does have mileage on him at what point do we start to see him not
22:21be a beacon
22:21of health and if that's the case now your center depth is really hurting because you've got perhaps
22:29towns who's not doing as well and again this is all hypothetical and i hope that it doesn't even get
22:34to this point but father time is undefeated and if you if you are in a position where you are
22:40down
22:40two big men and you're starting your third string center whether it's a party or anyone else how are
22:47you able to then field a not just competitive team but a championship caliber team you need reliability
22:54availability is the best ability they need to be talented too but if one of your best players
23:01is also one of your highest paid players because he'd probably be fifth if josh hart's contract is
23:09declined from the team option and let's say he signs for less if mitchell robinson is your fifth best or
23:14fifth most paid player and he's missing a lot of time and this core is getting older that hurts too
23:22you could even argue that that hurts more than simply not going above the second apron and having to be
23:27creative we just simply don't know if that's going to be the way that it goes or if that's just
23:33clearly a hypothetical which it is it is it's a risk though it's looking it's trying to look at
23:40everything as best as you can and then making a decision now again we can't predict how it's all
23:47going to play out none of us know but let's talk about this let's talk about potentially replacing mitch
23:53this is a tough conversation that nobody really wants to have but we have to have it
23:57we've seen some names out there gogo patate eves misi who's a name i would really like would have
24:03to happen in the trade but i do think there are some pathways to that uh musa dibate interesting
24:09just because the hornets just got naz reed so that's interesting nick richards who's been linked
24:14to the knicks for a long time i think a couple years ago you and i talked about him on
24:17a trade
24:17deadline show um andre drummond as well too i'd probably pass on that um they've all been connected
24:24to the knicks as options of those names i just mentioned or you can give me another one if you
24:28have which one do you think makes the most basketball sense or which one do you think
24:33or makes the most cap sense or is there one that works for both that makes basketball sense and cap
24:38sense what do you say about those names so i know that diabate is the name that has most been
24:42kind of
24:43bandied about recently in the knicks universe i very much like diabate a couple things number one
24:49do i see a world where the hornets are trading him i probably don't i don't uh and number two
24:55let's say he were to be on the block the same issue that we're talking about now dexter just happens
25:01next year because diabate is an unrestricted free agent and he will have made very little and now he's
25:08up for a lot of money so yes he's younger he's a good player but if the knicks are unwilling
25:14to go
25:14the second apron this year what is stopping them or what what encourages us to think that they're
25:20going above it next year so it then kind of spirals from there and next year yes you could
25:25you've got carl anthony towns who's got a player option i would expect him to decline it and sign
25:30a friendlier deal you've got josh hart on that team option i wouldn't be surprised if the team option
25:36goes away and it's replaced with an extension that's at a lower cap hit per year and then you've
25:42got deuce mcbride who needs an extension as well and i will say this also relates to mesey because
25:47i've seen oh you could move mcbride for mesey or that type of deal and in my mind it's okay
25:53so the
25:53outgoing is mitch walking and deuce being traded to replace mitch's replacement that feels like a net
26:02loss to an even greater extent and i i don't dislike eve's mesey there's the film stuff i'm not as
26:08crazy
26:09about uh from what i have seen but the numbers do show promise so that's where the the intersection
26:14of the x's and o's and uh the analytics might come into play but he's young and i think there's
26:20room
26:20for growth especially with someone like mark bryant who has been a great big man whisperer so
26:25there's potential there but with that said it's how are you able to keep everyone in house and probably
26:33stay below the second apron again next year diabate is not going to be that guy richards is the type
26:39of
26:40player where i think his stock has really plummeted quite a bit can get you on the offensive uh rebounding
26:45side but the rim protection just kind of dropping off a bit drummond same thing an older player who
26:51i just i don't think it's there a big body can rebound the hell out of the ball but it's
26:57just not going
26:58to be that rim protector that you need uh bataze i've looked into that because i like bataze i do
27:05and the thing is the way that the numbers work it's tricky it's tricky to get around that because
27:11his contract isn't that large and you can get creative with how you package salaries but then
27:18it's filling out the rest of your roster and another player that of course comes into play here
27:22is landry shamit because if you're retaining shamit then there's further opportunity cost
27:27with the margins you have to fill out your roster you can get to 12 players and then wait two
27:32weeks
27:32into the season to sign 13 and 14 but usually those guys are making a very small amount anyway
27:37so how are you doing it to get bataze um one creative way could be sorry john cut you off
27:44of
27:44course bataze his contract how many years does he have left and how much is he making again he's got
27:48one year left this upcoming year uh and he's making 7.6 million dollars so okay theoretically if you're
27:56the knicks you could move dotty a salary at 2.9 million uh really just about three you could
28:03trade someone like kolek and then what's interesting about the offseason is you can sign and trade salary
28:10away with a player that's not on your roster so any of the two-way guys you could do exactly
28:15what
28:15the knicks did with trying to get carl anthony towns and they're successful uh so that is an option
28:22but then it's okay so you've got bataze in the door how are you then squeezing the rest of your
28:28players in how much is shamit making how are we working backwards from there who are the minimum
28:33guys because you've just hard capped yourself the second apron the way that it works with the knicks
28:39is it they want to it seems be below the second apron but they could theoretically be above by a
28:45little bit and then skirt it at the trade deadline but if you sign and trade players away you're
28:52automatically hard capping and you can't go above that so you know there's one other player there's
28:58some other free agents too you know there's kavan looney who could be a potential option but i don't
29:02know if the health is really there uh which is a bit of a concern use of nurkic could be
29:07another guy
29:08where uh he's uh he's a broad player who can rebound really well he's not one of my favorite options
29:14in general but but for the money if we're talking about what's there it's a possibility if you also
29:19had to pay these guys a little bit more than the minimum you could dip into the taxpayer mid-level
29:24exception and that's fine but a player that i really would love to see the knicks go after because
29:29again the options are just limited across the board is ryan kalkbrenner who plays for the hornets
29:35as you mentioned dexter the hornets just got another big in nas reed that was really the one
29:41archetype that i thought the hornets were missing of course now they're missing a starting point guard
29:46unless it's kobe white but they they did not have a stretch big to really help them and this means
29:55that with diabate who as we both think are not is not going to be dealt and nas reed on
30:00the floor
30:00that they're going to find time for each of them to play separately and together which then makes me
30:06wonder where is the minute load for kalkbrenner he's a good backup he's young he just finished
30:13his rookie year but he actually among players who uh were played at least 25 games he was third in
30:20the
30:20nba in contested rebound percentage mitchell robinson was second so this is someone who can get boards
30:27is a really good rim protector not going to be good on the perimeter the next point of attack defense
30:31needs
30:32to get better there but what i really like about kalkbrenner is any issue of salary goes away
30:38because he's under contract for cheap for three more years so you can have him and you can have
30:43huck porty and to say that kalkbrenner and huck porty is better in the aggregate than mitchell robinson
30:49i don't even agree with but from a dollars and cents perspective and how you have to play the rest
30:55of
30:55the game while balancing these salaries to me that is threading the needle the best that you can
31:00so on paper i don't necessarily want kalkbrenner i want mitchell robinson but dealing with the
31:06realities of everything here there aren't that many guys nisi is another one where you're paying them
31:12as they're on the up and up they're younger so there's less wear and tear and they're still able
31:18to give you what you want and someone like kalkbrenner who's a tremendous play finisher and can play
31:23really well on the offensive half court that's the type of guy where again he's not the most ideal
31:28but if he is a solid plan b or plan c it's worth it and if he gets played off
31:33the floor in the playoffs
31:34like luke cornet which could be a possibility if he's a little more slow-footed then it's okay well
31:39we've got huck porty to at least share some minutes we can play cat a little bit more there is
31:44no
31:44foolproof option because if there were it would have been solved so it's just what's the best that we
31:51can do if we're the next i think some fans are not going to want to hear that that's not
31:56the way
31:56they want to look at it but that's kind of what the situation is the other problem with that is
32:01i like kalkbrenner too as an option for the reason you said even though i have concerns about him
32:06defensively and how he could hold up in the playoffs particularly but the rebounding i don't even know
32:10he in the contested rebounding rate that he was third that's that's actually really impressive as a
32:14rookie um the problem is what's the cost going to be right the same the same applies for me see
32:20i've seen a lot of people say oh yeah you can just do this and you could have deuce i've
32:25seen
32:25that name brought up although i do agree with you that's doesn't really help the team because you're
32:29losing shooting and point of attack defense that you probably really don't want to lose but let's
32:34just say you do that or dotty a colex some combo of that for kalkbrenner and and that too any
32:40something
32:40like that with one of those three players yeah but what picks you attaching to that i know the
32:44nicks just picked up uh sick was five six second rounders in this draft it's his year's draft i get
32:50they've got some stuff to trade but none of this stuff is easy and here's the other problem jeremy
32:57all the teams know what you're trying to do they know that you need to get a backup big so
33:02everybody's
33:02going to know you're desperate and if i know you're desperate i'm going to say well you're going to have
33:06to pay up a little bit more man you're going to have to give me a little something more here
33:09um to get this done i just want to step aside from mitcher robinson for a second because you
33:15mentioned something that's also right the big question is where does landry shaman fit into all
33:19of this right especially after what we saw from the playoffs he did not miss a three for like a
33:24month
33:24he was hot um mike brown always trusted him he trusted him all season long so it wasn't new in
33:30the playoffs even when he fell out the rotation do you look at him i already heard how you feel
33:36about
33:37mitch but do you look at him as a must bring back role player or does his return depend entirely
33:42on what happens with mitchell robinson i do view shaman as a must return in a different way so yes
33:51i would prefer between mitchell robinson and landry shaman to retain mitchell robinson shaman had a career
33:58year in many ways and there's something to be said of that he doesn't quite get to this level that
34:03said
34:04i know the front office really mike brown loves him he loves being in new york i think they can
34:09find a
34:10way to make this work but it's also when you look at the money that's there i don't know who
34:16the knicks
34:16are signing to the taxpayer mid-level exception that takes up the same chunk of salary where you're
34:23getting a player who's as good or better than landry shaman and there are some names of course that
34:29are out there and happy to discuss them but the free agent market is going to be fairly dry and
34:35what we're looking at is who's a reliable wing because yes you could have diawara come in there
34:41but you do also need someone who can put the ball on the floor and there aren't a lot of
34:45guys who are
34:46going to be available that you trust that work with what you're doing and they have to be free agents
34:51because you're not going to be able to trade because the thing about the taxpayer mid-level exception
34:55that's different from the non-taxpayer mid-level exception is you can use the non-taxpayer mid-level
35:00exception to acquire a player into it you can trade for a player you can't do that with the
35:06taxpayer mid-level exception so you have six million dollars of money to spend exclusively on the open
35:11market now the thing is and we haven't even talked about this the knicks do not have to solve
35:16their backup five until the deadline they don't have to would we love for them to do it from day
35:23one of
35:23course there's a lot of time between now and the deadline but if they found a way to scrape by
35:30they could do that not ideal by any stretch of the matter but we saw it yabusele was not in
35:37the
35:37rotation and the knicks still used his salary to get alvarado which led them in many ways to a
35:44championship so there there can be a delay in how the knicks go about this but you also don't want
35:51to mess with a key position and if there's not a lot of backup there so and i've even looked
35:57at can
35:57you get someone like a bataze mid-season you can but the margins get slimmer because you have to
36:04basically set your team up now to create that avenue to do that and that isn't going to be the
36:10easiest
36:10thing either but it's not impossible but to shift back with shamit i think you do need to retain him
36:16because he is going to likely be better than anyone you're signing at the taxpayer mid-level exception
36:21the only difference is does his salary push this team to such a breaking point where they then can't
36:27fill out the rest of the roster it based on some of the math i was looking at if he's
36:32exceeding seven
36:33and a half million and there's some math to play with but if he's going higher than that the knicks
36:38are going to have a really tough time filling out the rest of the roster with mitchell robinson leaving
36:42so now you're looking at a world where mitch is gone shamit's gone how are you maintaining how are you
36:48able to be that team that is championship caliber when two of your key bench players are just gone
36:55with nothing to show for it i would like to also add to that that a lot of some people
37:00going to hear
37:00you say that and say who's going to give landry shamit that much money somebody will because he could
37:08get higher than the seven and a half million you mentioned there he could get eight or nine million
37:12there's going to be a team that's going to value shooting his championship experience let's also talk
37:17about this because he's a guy who's been on non-guaranteed contracts the last two seasons
37:23he's looking to cash in this may be his last chance to really cash in mitchell robinson we know of
37:29his
37:30injury history this may also be his last chance to really cash in and for both of those guys if
37:36i was
37:36their agent i'm like you guys are just coming off of a championship you just were integral in helping
37:42his next team win so when we talked about james dolan's money we cannot fault these players who
37:50have a very not saying that you are jeremy because i know you're not but they have very limited shelf
37:55life to do what they do at a high level and these guys are going to try to cash in
38:01do you think
38:03do you think there's if landry can't return to the next because his numbers is interesting and it does
38:08as you mentioned hinge a lot on what happens with mitch um because big question how do you replace
38:13the shooting how do you replace the on-ball defense do you the free agent market is bare but do
38:19you
38:19think there's any names out there that could be a low-cost replacement for landry shaman
38:26it's such a premium position i mean the next yeah it's so lucky with shaman being a minimum player and
38:32i
38:32think there was an argument that i mean number one the fact that he was unsigned until september
38:37is it's crazy but number two to have just that amount that it was i mean the knicks got really
38:45lucky and it wound up paying off absolutely but you know it's you might be looking at we can't get
38:51a
38:51wing so do we look at another position and then try to move a player for a different position like
38:57mamu is is one example if you could if you're the knicks sign a player like him to the taxpayer
39:04mid-level exception and then you've got six million to play with at the deadline you could do that but
39:11now you're looking for a wing which is a premium position at only six million dollars how are you
39:18able to make that work it's really tough because you're gonna have to find someone who is backup
39:23caliber where then they're on a cheap contract but then do you have to pay them so i would hope
39:29that
39:29seeing someone like jordan goodwin who got a three or 19 million dollar offer uh that extension for uh
39:35third year was a player option that's around six million a year i would hope that landry sham it
39:40doesn't get a lot more than that uh but you just you simply don't know it takes one team to
39:47make it
39:47uncomfortable and i think there's another argument where sham it on a contract that's greater than say
39:53the seven and a half million dollar threshold is overpaid and it may not age well because this is
39:58also someone who missed 30 plus games i mean it's a little bit over 30 for each of the years
40:05that he
40:05was with the knicks and it's unfortunate that it was the shoulder injury and we could say one was the
40:09freak injury and the other was a hard screen and it it doesn't really matter because he missed that
40:14time objectively so there is the need to retain him but it has to be at a price point that
40:19works for
40:20everyone ultimately and this is not inside information or anything i just gut feeling feel
40:25like they do get there because i know that he wants to be here so if you can keep that
40:31in house
40:32that player on your team and then say hey this is why we are offering you this amount because we
40:37need
40:38to do this and that they're all puzzle pieces and it kind of falls into place but a lot of
40:43it is almost
40:43do you back your way into a landry sham it contract by you have to move forward of course i
40:49think he's
40:49the the first domino of everything but you also have to work backwards and can we get 12 13 14
40:57players under contract before the first game of the season and if it's under 14 do we have enough
41:03room to sign guys who are rookies at the cheapest salary possible to fitting in there like what the
41:10knicks did with diawara and what they even did with hukporti the year before how can we make this all
41:14work so sham it is truly a wild card in how the math maths it's crazy too because also just
41:23you just
41:24said to my question there aren't a lot of good replacements for him out there because the win
41:29position is shooting at his level it's just such at a premium and it's it's it's going to be it's
41:34going to be tough jeremy are there any other names out there that you believe the knicks should be
41:40targeting in free agency and i it's a really it's so tough this is maybe the toughest free agency
41:45preview i've had to do because so much hinges on whether or not these two players will go back and
41:50we could be sitting at seven o'clock on tuesday and being like yo what's going on here are the
41:56knicks doing anything i i don't expect a lot of movement from the knicks in the first hour we could
42:00be
42:00wrong but who knows are there any other names you feel like the knicks should be targeting you know
42:06there really aren't i mean the way that i see it is also you have to find a player that's
42:11comfortable
42:11taking the taxpayer mid-level exception and the starting five is set right and then you've got
42:16alvarado you've got deuce assuming he's not traded and then you somehow find a big and let's assume that
42:22the the replacement for mitchell robinson is not found with the taxpayer mid-level exception that it's
42:28through a trade or a veteran minimum signing you've got nine players with diawara so at what point you
42:39could probably find someone who's more of a three four but there's not a lot of playing time i would
42:45imagine the knicks want to put diawara and give him an expanded role he was a rookie came onto the
42:51scene now's the time to give him more of a chance so there could be a player that's trying to
42:57ring chase
42:58but are they so good that they're moving through and comfortable taking less than they might i mean
43:04there could be a gary trent jr but i think that the gary trent jr hoopla has hopefully passed by
43:09this
43:10point and i don't mean that disrespectfully to gary trent jr i just think that the idea of gary
43:14trent jr is better than who he has been in reality for the last couple seasons and maybe he buys
43:20into the
43:20role and maybe he fits but this is someone who in my opinion did not do anything in milwaukee
43:27to warrant getting more than the shade above the minimum uh exception that he would be earning with
43:34his player option so you're not spending your taxpayer middle level exception on him so yeah
43:40you could have him but now does that displace you smith bride and you're still losing some of that
43:44point of attack defense but that you would have had with sham it so there really aren't a lot of
43:49great options and you can get og og i was diawara he's so prototypical to og and bill that i
43:56i confused
43:56diawara and og but understood yeah of course but you it's you can have him be a flexible player
44:01positionally but there just aren't a lot of guys who can spell him for that cost who also aren't too
44:09old and because if they're younger they're going to want to make their money like yeah you could get
44:12keon ellis probably at the taxpayer middle exception but also what are you sacrificing you're sacrificing
44:18height you're sacrificing a you know a player who really didn't see time in the playoffs because he
44:25just wasn't trusted he's been on multiple teams and analytically he's a darling but clearly enough
44:31to the analytical king of uh kenny atkinson he didn't even trust keon he didn't trust him right
44:37i think we saw him coming game two and that that was really it yeah exactly so i just wish
44:41that there
44:42were better options but if there were better options they would probably be outpriced on the
44:46market which is why landry sham it's so important yeah and see this i had a feeling that's how you
44:52were going to answer that question and because i'm looking and i'm like i i just don't see it which
44:59i get it that answer is only going to stress knicks fans out even more it's only going to stress
45:05them out even more i guess we could wrap with this um i'm trying to give you a big picture
45:11question
45:11when free agency opens at six o'clock on tuesday what would make you say the knicks had a successful
45:20start to the to this offseason free agency period is it keeping mitch finding a cheaper center
45:25bringing back sham it or or simply just you know what you've brought up simply staying flexible enough
45:32that they're able to make another move later what would get make you determine this was a successful
45:39start to free agency what do the knicks have to do to for it to be a success assuming that
45:44mitchell
45:44robinson isn't retained and that james dolan doesn't wake up and say you know what second apron forget
45:51about it let's go above it the the way that the knicks can win the offseason for themselves is
45:59retaining landry sham it filling out their roster and setting themselves up in a way where number one
46:05they can find a center that works for them number two and or they find a player that helps them
46:14get
46:15a guy at the deadline if they're not a finished team and they need some reinforcements opening the
46:21door to have that down the line is imperative they have to be able to do that because it's one
46:28thing to
46:28just go into this season and say here's our team but it's another to say how can we use the
46:34resources
46:35the limited resources available to us to not only make a good team or a great team but a great
46:41team
46:41that also has salary avenues to get better because the buyout market in many ways is fool's gold jeremy
46:50sohan will always be a nick once a nick always a nick and a champion at that i don't know
46:56if he's ever
46:56going to put a shirt on but that's okay because he's still celebrating and i love that for him but
47:01sohan of course other than perhaps the intel on the spurs side uh there wasn't a lot there were
47:07moments flashes but there wasn't a lot that he was able to do because buyout candidates usually are not
47:14these incredible players that lift you so you have to look towards the trade market and if the knicks
47:19can set themselves up to start the season and have the flexibility to make even modest improvements
47:27assuming everyone's healthy in february that will be a success but they're working with what they have
47:34to and that's really that what do you think the chances are that we get to tuesday and we realize
47:42james dolan has changed his mind that he's like hey i'm gonna second apron be damned i'm going over
47:48i'm going past it i bring back mitchell robinson and landry sham it do you think that's likely or not
47:54likely just a gut feeling a gut feeling is i think what's what was said is what's going to happen
48:01i think if anything it's sort of like caving to public pressure which the knicks have never done
48:07before but even internal pressure james dolan has been told by the front office what happens and what
48:16needs to happen it's not like this was a spur of the moment thing where he goes to wfan and
48:21says you
48:21know what i i feel like not spending anymore there this was calculated so what would really have to
48:28change i mean the knicks won a title unless we forget if the knicks hadn't won a title and they
48:34pursued unfortunately they don't have to yana santa to cupo any trade that they would have made dexter
48:40would have hard capped them at the second apron because they would have aggregated salaries
48:43when they were poking around on eve's meese i understand the the reporting and i don't even
48:49disagree with it that the front office was surprised by dolan's comments but the knicks poking around on
48:55someone like meese dating back to the deadline yep to me that's like okay well was there always a
49:01consideration of what happens if mitchell robinson walks what do we do what if we can't pay him what if
49:07we can't stay below the second apron so it's not like my outside perspective is i don't think james
49:13dolan just made this up capriciously and that was it he knew what every angle was and seems made his
49:21decision and if that's the decision that's staying then that's the decision the knicks need to work
49:25around and as unfortunate as it may be it's the reality we're living in fans are not going to like
49:33that i've already been seeing i'm sure you have too um they're not going to like it i feel it's
49:38going to be uh it's going to be a very interesting tuesday very interesting offseason i'm with you
49:43though i i think they win the they win this free agency part of the offseason i will say
49:50if they allow themselves to still have some flexibility i i am going to take this error of
49:56where we are in the nba and understand it for what it is and understand there's some hard decisions
50:01that have to be made i don't love everything about it i don't know how it's funny i never asked
50:06you i
50:06don't know how you feel about the second apron jeremy and everything about it there are things
50:09i like about and things i do not like about it it's not a perfect uh system um i do
50:15enjoy the parody
50:16but i do want to see teams have the chance to legitimately run it back and keep their guys
50:22but also like see owners spend money all these things can be true all these things can be true right
50:27like the owners should spend money especially when they profit so much uh like the knicks owner does
50:34this is not a knock on him it's not my money and i understand all that but i do think
50:40it's a tough
50:40sell to the fan base after they waited so long to win a title and there is a world and
50:45i'm not wishing
50:46this on anybody where opening night could come and i likely will be there and you will be there and
50:52we'll see the knicks raise the banner and there could be booze for james or dolan after a title
50:58there could be but we'll see we'll we'll see how this fancy period there's not a lot of options
51:04i trust the knicks front office but they've also some kind of way they've been dealt a uh a tough
51:10hand i'll say here they've been dealt the kind of tough hand to play with but we'll see how it
51:14goes
51:14that everybody is jeremy calm please check him out with knicks film school does a fantastic job
51:19hosting cap or no cap hopefully he helped you make some sense of what happened for the knicks
51:24in free agency let us know your thoughts let us know what you think the knicks should or should
51:28not do in free agency should landry shannon be back should mitchell robbins be back do you think
51:32both will be back jeremy and i we don't know what's going to happen we just have to uh wait
51:36and see
51:37jeremy um i appreciate you man good to see you again i got to see you after the parade that
51:42was good
51:42and we chatted for a bit and i knew for you it was going to be right back to the
51:45cap sheet and right
51:47right there i almost feel like we barely got to enjoy any right back into it no rest of the
51:53weary
51:53i'll tell you i didn't even know that the draft was starting on tuesday until like four days
51:58beforehand i was like oh great i hadn't even figured out what time of day it was and didn't
52:03know the the second round was at night or during the day because it used to be during the day
52:06so
52:07uh but you know here we are we are right back at it all right everybody check out jeremy cohen
52:14as i
52:14said i'm dexter henry that's going to do it for this edition of new york got game we'll catch you
52:18next time where we will be talking about what the knicks have or haven't done in free agency see you
52:23guys then peace
52:26and thanks for watching new york got game
52:29boob shakalaka
52:30you
52:35you
52:36you
52:38you
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