Week-End Mailbag (Part I)

Lots of questions rolled in over the last few weeks. Let's get to some answers.

Good morning! The Finals start tonight. Who ya’ got? I’m pulling for Dallas, but am worried that Luka’s magic might not be enough if Boston is on their game. Then again, when’s the last time the Celtics lived up to expectations over a full playoff series?

Let’s get to the newsletter, starting with some news…

News & Notes

🏀 Ian Bagley had a report yesterday that is sure to put a smile on the faces of many fans. While acknowledging Leon Rose’s history of trading first rounders on draft night, Begley said he doesn’t “get the sense that they are fully committed to moving their 2024 picks.” He continued:

In some of New York’s recent draft meetings, discussions have been centered on finding players in the draft who can fill a void.

In the aftermath of their Game 7 loss to the Pacers, there has been internal concern over the Knicks’ roster depth in the postseason (particularly against Indiana). So in some of these recent draft meetings, the focus has been on finding players who can bolster the back end of the roster.

You can only survive so long in the NBA without adding #meaningful talent through the draft, so this report probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given that New York is down to just two rotation players - Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson - who were drafted by the team.

In potentially related news, primo defender Ryan Dunn worked out for the Knicks yesterday per his Instagram feed. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto told me last week that around the league, New York is viewed as Dunn’s floor with the 24th and 25th picks in the draft.

Hartenstein Mailbag

This week was a lot. Last week too, for that matter. For as much as I love contemplating how front offices make their decisions and the logistical considerations that accompany those conversations, it can be overwhelming, even for the biggest cap nut.

For that reason, I’m ending this week by going through all of the questions that have been generated by the last eight days’ worth of newsletters. They’re enough to cover two days worth of content, so today I’m keeping the focus on I-Hart-related stuff, and tomorrow I’ll branch out to more general topics. Anything I don’t get to by tomorrow will be covered soon, I promise.

We start off with a question from Chris Bacon, who gets our gold star for the day:

Can they afford to max Paul George in a sign & trade if Hartenstein signs for four years at his max ($72.5 million) and OG signs for his market value?

A+ job by Chris for sniffing out something fishy in one of my newsletters from last week.

After going out of my way to extoll the virtues of being a fiscally responsible team, and even noting on Friday how teams get hard capped at the first apron if they acquire a player via sign & trade, I never put two and two together to realize that George, Brunson, Randle, Hart, DiVincenzo, Hartenstein and OG would, by themselves, take the Knicks over the $178.6 million apron next season. That means a sign and trade would be impossible without breaking up the core, and even then it would be hard.

Thankfully, the Paul George dream (which was on life support to begin with) still has a pulse. He’d simply need to opt into his $48.7 million player option and agree to an extend and trade to New York.

Crisis averted.

Now onto some more relevant questions, starting with one from Dylan:

Is there any stipulation against giving I-Hart a two year deal for $34 million with the second year being a player option? I just think that's the closest to “best of both worlds” we can get to, if that's allowed.

There is no such stipulation, although I wonder if Hartenstein would really opt for this.