by asgsjb on Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:40 pm
Hey guys. Hope all's well. So I've continued to work on my original Knicks dynasty. Believe it or not, I've improved the team even more, adding Curry and Bosh at C. It took a bit of maneuvering to make it happen. But anyway, while the team is terrific, I did nothing for my salary cap and did little to address youth. Every draft, I focused on wining now by going after free agents and forfeiting my draft picks. So I decided to try a new Knicks dynasty and this time try to whittle down the cap better, even if it means I don't have 70+ or 80+ rated players at each position. So check this out:
I started with the original Knicks team, which is $56.81M over the cap. It starts Marbury, Crawford, Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas and Vin Baker, with Norris and Brewer as backup PG's, Penny and Houston as backups SG's, Shandon Anderson and Ariza as backup SF's, Sweetney and Jerome Williams at PF, and Mohammed and Sundov as backup C's. Many of these guys are getting old and are overpriced.
I made these moves (a ton of them):
- As Brewer and Sundov are wastes, I dropped them for roster room.
- I added Anthony Carter, knowing the 76ers like him.
- I traded Marbury to the Lakers for Kobe. This does little for cap, but I love using Kobe.
- I traded Tim Thomas to Cleveland for Ilgauskas, knowing centers are easier to trade.
- I traded Carter to the 76ers for Korver because I like Korver's ability with 3's.
- Wanting to lose Houston's contract soon, I traded him to Portland for Damon Stoudamire, as Damon's contract expires this year.
- I signed Bryce Drew, as PG's also are in demand.
- I traded Ilgauskas and Ariza to Charlotte for Okafor and Brezec, getting me a top young PF and cutting a ton of salary.
- I then dropped Brezec, as he was taking up roster space.
- I signed Lonny Baxter.
- I then cut more salary by trading Kurt Thomas to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace.
- I then cut more salary by trading Shandon Anderson to Charlotte for Eddie House. Charlotte now has little cap room.
- I then traded Vin Baker and Baxter to Atlanta for Josh Smith, another young talent.
- I then traded Mohammed to the Jazz for Raja Bell, cutting more salary.
- I then signed Monty Williams.
- I then traded Bell to the Spurs for Horry.
- I traded Horry, Sweetney and Monty Williams to Orlando for Howard and Stevenson, giving me another top young PF.
- I traded Stevenson to Denver for R.White.
- I traded White to Indiana for Tinsley, giving me a 26 year old PG who has the skills I like in a PG. He will replace Stoudemire when the season is done.
- I then traded Eddie House to Indiana for David Harrison, a young, tall, strong and cheap center.
- I traded Jerome Williams to Philly for McKie.
- I traded Mckie to the Lakers for Divac.
- I signed C.Blount.
- I traded Divac, Blount and Drew to Chicago for Curry, Trybanski and Wilks. The latter two are wastes to me, but Curry was the goal, so he can start at C for me.
- I traded Wilks to Philly for Willie Green.
- I traded Moochie Norris to Atlanta for Drobnjak.
- I traded Drobnjak to Cleveland for Wagner.
- Finally, I traded Green and Wagner to Phoenix for Barbosa and Voskuhl, giving me the backup PG I want when I let Stoudemire go after the season.
So I did a lot of work to change the team around. My Knicks team now looks like this:
PG: Damon Stoudemire (starting for now, but his $15.75M salary ends after this season).
PG: Tinsley (will start for me next season). $1.55M
PG: Barbosa (will backup Tinsley next season). $870K
SG: Kobe (starting for me for the next 7 seasons...one of my favorites to use in Live '05). $14.18M
SG: Crawford (one of the few holdouts from the original crew. I like him, but he is a bit pricey for a backup SG). $5.80M
SG: Hardaway (his $14.63M contract ends after the season).
SF: Gerald Wallace (starting for me). $1.38M
SF: Josh Smith (has similar qualities as Wallace). $1.27M
SF: Korver (love his 3's. Can play SG too). $620K
PF: Okafor (starting for me). $3.74M
PF: D.Howard (interchangeable with Okafor). $4.18M)
C: Curry (starting for me. Average D, but a force on offense thanks to his strength). $3.90M
C: Harrison (I will be developing him. He has good stats to start and should be a force once developed). $643K
C: Trybanski (I will likely not re-sign him after the season). $1.76M
C: Voskuhl (I am stuck with him for another season, so I will try to trade him in the offseason). $1.74M
The team has nice flow and plays well. I get great 3's from a ton of players, I have speed, I have steals, and I have strong front-court players who can pound opponents on both ends of the court. After these moves, I am now only $31.47M over the cap, so I chopped off $25.34M, much of it thanks to Charlotte and Utah. And after the season, while some players' salaries will go up slightly, I will be losing Stoudemire's and Penny's salaries, being another $30.38M. A little more maneuvering, possible by getting a cheaper backup to Kobe than Crawford, and a focus on youth and I should be in good shape...with a competitive team and a controlled cap. Very cool.