07 Feb 2017 21:31:52
New York/ Minnesota

Knicks get Ricky Rubio and A. Payne

T-wolves get Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings.

1.) 07 Feb 2017
07 Feb 2017 23:36:03
Why would Minny do this?

2.) 08 Feb 2017
08 Feb 2017 03:22:52
Good deal for both, wrap it up and get Rubio to New York.

3.) 08 Feb 2017
08 Feb 2017 06:58:34
Lee is playing well, but last summer, Thibs refused to give Lee more than two guaranteed years because of his age. NYK signed him for four. jennings does not add value. MIN says no - you need to provide actual imcentive.

4.) 08 Feb 2017
08 Feb 2017 08:01:57
I think Rubio to NYK would be a smart decision regarding off the court aswell, the NY teams have bit of a following in Hispanic followers, look at David Villa in NYCFC.

5.) 08 Feb 2017
08 Feb 2017 16:52:01
I like the idea of Rubio to NY as well. I also think Minny might be a really interesting spot for Melo to land, even though he likely would never consent to the trade. For the money, Melo for Rubio, Aldrich and Muhammad would work, and I think that would be almost as good a package as the Knicks are likely to get for Melo.

The Wolves would look like this with a healthy LaVine:

PG-Dunn/ Jones
SG-Lavine/ Rush
SF-Wiggins
PF-Melo/ Hill/ Payne/ Bjelica
C-Towns/ Dieng/ Pecovic

They would want to move one of those guys like Pecovic or Hill for a wing player, and everyone is locked up past this season other than Rush. That would be a fun lineup, with a LOT of scoring. The only thing that would make this strange is that Thibs is the coach with his defensive mindset.

The Knicks would wind up like:

PG-Rubio/ Jennings/ Rose
SG-Lee/ Holiday/ Baker/ Vujacic
SF-Muhammad/ Thomas/ Kuzminskas/ Ndour
PF-Porzingis/ Hernangomez
C-Aldrich/ O'Quinn/ Noah/ Plumlee

Obviously this roster needs a LOT of trimming, and a lot of the pieces that you want to keep are the ones whose deals are up this year. I think it's worth it though. You let Rose go, bring back Jennings, and depending on what you think of Holiday, you might let him go too. You'd pretty much choose between him and Baker. You need to move at least one of those Centers and SFs, and they're all locked up. Part of the interest in this trade would be bringing back Muhammad, so let's assume he's back. You're stuck with a few of these guys, but you can probably move O'Quinn and Thomas at the deadline this year for future assets and expirings. That leaves you at 12 going into next year with:

PG: Rubio/ Jennings
SG: Lee/ Baker or Holiday
SF: Muhammad/ Kuzminskas/ Ndour
PF: Porzingis/ Hernangomez
C: Aldrich/ Noah/ Plumlee

Ndour and Plumlee are really cheap, and you could dump them if you need to. Hernangomez is also more of a C than a PF, but he's definitely a quality big and part of the future.