00:00All right. The championship offseason continues for the New York Knicks with more news coming late in the offseason to
00:07announce signings coming down or reported signings, I should say, coming down on Tuesday night.
00:14First up, the Knicks, and this was reported by Sham Sharania of ESPN. They are signing John Contra, veteran wing,
00:21eight year NBA veteran to a deal.
00:23Now, it has not been announced yet whether the deal is guaranteed or non-guaranteed. That will play a factor
00:29in how we discuss things more on that later.
00:32And then SNY's Ian Begley, friend of the show, he then reported that the Knicks are also signing Drew Eubanks
00:38to a deal.
00:40Now, spoke with our Stephan Bondi, who also reported this and that deal for Drew Eubanks, a center, forward center,
00:47guy, 6'10", veteran player there.
00:49That is a non-guaranteed deal. So let's talk about all of this as best as we can in totality
00:56around the New York Knicks.
00:58Now, a lot of fans know the Knicks. We talked about this on a couple of episodes of New York
01:02Got Game.
01:03What would they do with one of the final guaranteed deals they could sign to round out their roster?
01:08A lot of us said, OK, yeah, they got to go add for a center because we don't know if
01:13the Knicks want somebody to push Andre Drummond.
01:15Do they trust Andre Drummond with the backup center role? A lot of questions around that there.
01:20The thought was the Knicks would sign a third center.
01:22When you hear the John Contra signing and they get themselves another wing, it is interesting because the Knicks pretty
01:29much have a good amount of wings.
01:32But this is another wing with size 6'5", eight-year veteran, was traded from the Grizzlies to the Jazz
01:37in that Triple J deal last season.
01:40Played 26 games with the Jazz, averaged just under six points, excuse me, and just under six rebounds a game
01:47and three assists a game.
01:48When you look at John Contra, he's a guy that shot 35% from three for his career, but he's
01:53known to be a good rebounder for his size, a very good cutter, and can also defend both backcourt positions.
01:58So that is something that the coaching staff could like, and you're adding yourself another wing.
02:02Now, you might think to yourself, why would they do that?
02:04They have a lot of wings.
02:05One thing I would say for fans to consider is what are some trade possibilities down the road if the
02:11Knicks want to try to maybe upgrade a position like backup center, right?
02:15Here's another guy who's a veteran on a potential, if the deal becomes guaranteed, veteran's minimum salary that you could
02:23then aggregate because the Knicks are still below the second apron.
02:25They can then aggregate salaries to go upgrade.
02:27So that's something to keep an eye on, especially in a situation where Deuce McBride, and we've talked about his
02:33contract extension, just talked about in the last episode with EJ Stewart, what goes on with that?
02:38Will they extend him?
02:39Is he a possible casualty to be traded?
02:42There's a lot of questions around that.
02:44So when you look at John Contra, that could give you some cover and also flexibility, something the Knicks have
02:50been trying to do, keep their flexibility with this roster.
02:52As they near the second apron and begin their championship title defense.
02:58Now, in terms of the Drew Eubanks of it all, he's an option I mentioned a couple of weeks ago
03:03and talking with my guy, Brian Fonseca, about a guy the Knicks could look at as a third center.
03:08We looked at the options, the free agent options for the Knicks to possibly sign somebody to a third center
03:14roster spot here.
03:15And it was very limited.
03:17These were the kind of names you saw.
03:18You saw people like a John Contra, right?
03:20There wasn't that many great options out there.
03:23Not saying that Eubanks is a bad option, but he's a guy that can come in here if he could
03:27make the team and possibly push Andre Drummond, right?
03:31The Knicks probably would profile for somebody a little bit better defensively.
03:34I think they would like to challenge Andre Drummond, but this is the best option they can get.
03:39Now, Drew Eubanks is a non-guaranteed deal.
03:43So he would have to make the roster out of training camp for his deal to be guaranteed.
03:48Very similar to the kind of deal that Landry Schammett signed last season.
03:53Now, in terms of John Contra, it'll be interesting to see whether his contract is guaranteed or non-guaranteed.
03:59I'll refer back to Ian Begley, who had a tweet, and he talked about the fact that John Contra would
04:05not have came.
04:06This is Ian's words, would not have came to the Knicks if he didn't think that he had a good
04:10shot at making the team.
04:12So that tells me there's a shot to think he can make the team.
04:15Maybe he was not necessarily guaranteed, but said, hey, you have a chance to make this, whether we're looking for
04:20a wing or a center, and we'll see how that all plays out.
04:23But the Knicks roster is starting to shape around at least a training camp roster, and there will be some
04:28guys fighting for a spot, or spots, I should say, which is something you should want if you're a fan
04:34at the end.
04:34Will the Knicks go and carry a third center?
04:36Will they add another center with one of the two-way contracts they signed?
04:39This will all be very interesting, but John Contra, Drew Eubanks, two very interesting pieces that could be competing for
04:46a spot in training camp.
04:47Let me know in the comments what you think about it.
04:49We're going to talk about this more in the next episode of New York Got Game.
04:53We'll talk about these two guys, how they could fit, how they could not fit with this roster.
04:57It's all very interesting as the Knicks offseason, as they look to begin their title defense in just a few
05:03weeks, continues.
05:04So yeah, once again, let me know.
05:06What do you think of these moves?
05:07Let me know in the comments, what else should the Knicks do?
05:10Do you like this for their flexibility?
05:12A lot of things to discuss.
05:13We'll have more of that coming up on New York Got Game.
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