Just Say No To Bad Contracts!

Hey, don't get me wrong.  Chris Paul is an amazing talent.  It would be awesome for him to play with the current Knicks roster.  But obviously it can't go down like that; some of our best young players would have to go.  But that isn't what really scares me about all of this stuff.  Honestly, we don't have a single bad contract right now, including Curry's, since it's expiring.  DW, the one request I have for you is to maintain that.  Don't trade for Emeka Okafor or James Posey.  Don't give up 2-4 good contracts for one amazing player and a crippling 10-15M tax in bad contracts over the next few years.

I understand.  Given what has happened at various points in recent years (Miami's big signings, Boston's summer transformation, LA getting Gasol for nothing), we are led to believe that contenders are built overnight.  But you have to be incredibly lucky for a situation like that to unfold.  What is FAR more common is to slowly build a contender with young talent / good contracts over 2-3 years.  Think about the way San Antonio built their dynasty, or the 90's Bulls, or any number of past champions.  It took a little time, but it tends to last longer and allow for continued growth instead of being stuck with certain underperforming, overpaid players for many years.

So again, Chris Paul is decidedly awesome.  But entering a bidding war for one of the premiere talents in the league will most likely gut us.  As we have seen this offseason, it is actually much more effective to build your team through FA signings and the draft.  When a trade offer comes along that is an absolute steal (like Pau, KG, or even the recent D-Lee S&T, where we could have gotten nothing for him), you make it.  This New Orleans situation is not one of those instances.  One thing I hope is that a certain Denver forward doesn't do the same thing, because it will cause the same problem if he wants to come to NY.  I'm 1000% sure that it would be better to get a player like that through a signing where you don't have to give up half of your talent.

Here's the beauty of our current situation: if we keep the team as is, and then make a major FA signing next summer, we can not only have Amare plus the next guy, but the rest of our current roster as well.  With an average age of 23.75 years, that means we can continue to grow as a team over the life of Amare's deal by re-signing said players and going over the cap to do so.  If you trade half of those talented players away for a guy like Chris Paul, there will be no possibility for internal player development and we will be maxed out by players like Okafor and Posey.  Those guys aren't getting any better.  The Spurs thrived because they developed younger, cheaper talent within the organization around franchise players like Duncan and Robinson.  That way, when Robinson retired, Ginobili and Parker were there to improve and keep the team in contention.  This is the path, fellas.  Stick to the path.