What’s Next After The Mikal Bridges Extension | Knicks Update

What’s Next After The Mikal Bridges Extension | Knicks Update

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good evening and welcome to the NBA economy show again. This is Fritz. Uh just wanted to give you the latest news. It’s been about a week since our last show. Very very very happy. Uh Brandon Scoopy Robinson came through uh clued us in on some of the some of the rumors going around, gave us an update on Ben Simmons, uh gave us an update on K Thomas and uh yeah, we spoke about other things around the league. Uh was really really great interview. Really thank him for for really helping me out there. Um, yeah. So, I just wanted to give an update because ever since that time, we did have a update um where Mikuel Bridges had signed with the New York Knicks for four years, 150 million, which is 6 million less uh than the maximum amount he could have received this off season. Uh, so he took a slight pay cut. Um, you know, showed that he was is invested in the team. We saw that last year with OG and Anobi didn’t take the maximum amount of money. Um he could have um Muel Bridges the timing of it. Um he actually had time between um with signing a new contract. Um he’s ineligible to be traded for 6 months. We thought maybe he would wait till that six-month period crossed over the um NBA trade deadline, but no, he went ahead and signed that deal uh when it was announced. So, he will be trade eligible a few days before the NBA trade deadline. And what thing does that do for the Knicks is it keeps their options open just in case Giannis wants to um be out of Milwaukee. I wouldn’t read into it as if uh Giannis is leaving, but the Knicks want their options. They want to keep their options open. uh Mikuel Bridges wasn’t the only uh extension el eligible player on the Knicks. Uh we see that the other big signing could have been Mitchell Robinson and we haven’t heard anything about Mitchell Robinson. Um, and since for now, um, uh, since he if he did have an extension, he also would have 6 months where he couldn’t be traded. But now we have crossed that threshold. So if he signs with the Knicks, he will not be able to be traded this season at all. Where does that leave the Knicks? If Giannis was a real, you know, if they if they were really going to keep that open, I think keeping Mitchell Robinson, signing him, actually signing him before that threshold would have been a priority. Um, it looks like it it just didn’t happen. We’re not hearing anything behind the scenes. We we haven’t even heard of an offer being made. Um, I I do the one thing about a Mitchell Robinson extension, you can’t extend him for too much. I I think uh he’s such an elite player. He deserves a high price tag, but you can’t you can’t extend him from a large amount of money unless you’re sure he’s going to be healthy. And is there anything he can do to assure the Knicks that he’s going to be healthy? I’m not sure. Um the thing is I I think it’s between a rock and a hard place. You either pay him not like like an elite starter or you pay him as an elite starter. But you know it’ll it’ll you’ll be kind of upside down like no other team will look at that contract and say, “Hey, this is something I would want to trade for.” So you’re absolutely committing to Mitchell Robinson. You’re committing to the injuries. you’re committing to that that thought in the back of your mind that an injury can end his season at any time. Um I that’s why I’m very skeptical on a learn long-term extension. If there is an extension with Mitchell Robinson, I think it’ be short. Uh a two-year extension at the most. I think a two-year extension. I don’t think it’ll be a long extension. and I don’t think you could take that risk. Um the third player um that is extension eligible is Carlne Towns. So after this year he has another year on his contract but then he can add additional years. The one thing I it’s not a pressing need to extend Carl Towns. there’s no shouldn’t be a rush to lock him up. Um especially at the number he’s looking at now. He’s at the point of his career. Um he’s on that same like timeline as Devin Booker, but we saw Devin Booker stayed with his original team, so he was eligible for a supermax. cat is not just a little less. Um, but the Knicks should not be in a rush to lock in a player for that amount of money. Uh, even though he’s a great talent, the Knicks should be in the rush. Give it another year and then you extend him. So, those are the three players eligible for extension. Um, what else is going on? Um, let’s look right here. We see that Knicks have tried a few assistant coaches. they’re particularly looking for um an associate coach. So, this is not one just a coach on the bench. This is your main uh your main assistant coach. They’re really looking for an offensive coordinator. They’ve already locked down locked in uh who they want on defense. Um so, um Chris Jent still a candidate. Um, Mark Weiner is no longer a candidate. So, this still goes on. You know, they’re still going to talk bad about the Knicks not not getting their first choices, their second choices, their third choices, but they will find somebody. I I think who they’ll find somebody qualified. I wouldn’t be worried um that the Knicks be bad based on who they pick. The Knicks are going to find a competent coach. it just won’t be their their first choice. Um, like to thank uh Yeah, I see IKBM Dre in the chat. Ivory10 HRM. Um, we see Ivory 10 is it’s a Mitch fan. Maybe them the never traded Mitchhive. Um, and he’s saying that Mitch is going to his prime. Yes, he is going into his prime years. Um, he’s just had a lot of injuries. Um, what do I think they will do with Mitch? Um, I think the Knicks have a number. I don’t think they’ll exceed their number. I think if the Knicks have to go over that number, I think they’ll trade him. I don’t There’s There are some Knicks fans say, “Hey, just play the year. Just play the year. See if he’s worth it. End of the year, you make an offer. The problem with that is that you can get a year of Mitch hopefully healthy, but there there there could be a couple outcomes. You can play this year with Mitch and Mitch gets injured and then you hit next year and you’re against a rock in a hard place where you don’t want to pay him but someone else wants to pay him and you really don’t have any options so you let him walk. Um, another option is you can let Mitch play. Mitch doesn’t get in injured. He plays well. Maybe he plays just like he doesn’t last year, but he just doesn’t get um injured. He’s not doing double doubles. He goes into next summer, you’re at his mercy. Like you can easily be spending $25 million a year. You can easily be shorting your window. If you don’t do that, you lose him for nothing. That’s that’s that’s a bad scenario. Um, but the safest route the safest route if if he if he’s not going to take less is I know he’s valuable now. I can get something now. I can’t you probably won’t be able to get another center that whoever you’re getting is not going to make up for for Mitchell Robinson. But outside of Mitchell Robinson, what what other great assets do you have? The Knicks have Deuce, a nine-point scorer as one of their best assets right now. You have Tyler Kolic who looked not so great in summer league. you you have um Dier who didn’t play much last year. So you don’t have a lot of assets to play with if you’re if you need to get something back. You can’t you can’t dream of best case scenario cuz if your best case scenario doesn’t work out, you’re in a bad spot. So I I think if he doesn’t accept it, the number in my head and it’s just my head is maybe the Knicks offer 14 $15 million for, you know, times two. So 30 million over two years. If he doesn’t like that, you’re you’re going to have to see what you can get. Um would that hurt the defense? Yes. Um, but it’s safer than trying to play the year. And um, most of the scenarios are bad for the Knicks. Um, if you get rid of him, you still have an opportunity of trying to get under the second apron next year. You you still going to have to move some things around, but you you have an opportunity to get under the second apron. You’re not shortening your window. I think that’s the that is the less risky of all the options I see right now. Um, are there any players that I’m looking out in return for Mitch? No. I I I don’t think you’re going to give up Mitch and getting another elite center. So, I think you could take Mitch and you could patch up another spot. If you can get a wing, that’s great. That’s when you take That’s when you have to get creative. That’s when you have to you have to work the waiver wire. That’s when you have to think of free agents. Um, I I I still think until Utah makes that offer, I I I I think the Knicks, you know, are going to spin the block on on Walker Kesler uh until Utah pays him because he is a double double machine. Um, relatively healthy. No, he’s not a good free throw shooter. No, he doesn’t have range right now, but he’s a few years younger. He’s healthier. And you um as a team, I don’t think there would be an issue investing four years in Walker Kesler. I think there would be an issue investing four years in Mitchell Robinson. I’m just going to check out the chat real quick. Um, see crimes dad is in there in the building. Uh, HRM. Yep. Cat and Mitch um get injured almost as often. Uh, same health potential. Yes. Um, Cat has been Cat has been often injured in his career. The difference is Cat is elite offensively. Cat is the best shooting center historically and that’s something you can bank on. Like he he he that’s something you just can’t take away from him. Mitch I don’t his numbers aren’t prolific enough that you could take that bet. It’s it’s just not it’s not worth the bet. it it’s it’s too risky for the reward. Like you know what you’re going to get from Mitch. You’re you’re not all of a sudden gonna say, you know, Mitch took another step this year. I don’t think anybody’s expecting Mitch to take a a step. Uh like you know what he is, you know, he brings, it’s good, but there’s there’s nothing higher. And I I I think that’s that’s the difference. So, um, what’s next after Bridges? Well, we still have a Let me bring this up. We’re still at 12 roster spots. We have to remember um we haven’t signed a rookie. So that’s going to be number 13. And number 14, the Knicks have really been after Ben Simmons. I know at first a lot of people said that’s not true, but it is true. We confirmed it last week um with Scoop B. He described he described it as Mike Brown salivating over Ben Simmons. Just the the thought of Ben Simmons 610 could play point guard, could defend all the positions. This is something that he wants. He’s a new coach and usually the new coach gets a toy to play with. I think that’s Ben Simmons or where you you where where you do whatever you can. The problem is what the best in this can do is a minimum contract for Ben Simmons. So, Ben Simmons has brought his choices down to two teams, and the other team is the Boston Celtics, who who made a uh a deal yesterday uh to save money um and we we’re going to go look at their cap sheet and and see where they’re at. And you saw the the Boston Celtics has really trimmed their payroll down. Um have really trimmed their payroll down. Let’s look at their cap sheet. They’re at 14 players already. So they have a a spot for 15th, but they have this cap sheets time. So they have two non-G guaranteed contracts. They really like Jordan Walsh. So, don’t expect them. Hey, they cut Walsh. They’re not cutting Walsh. So, they there’s nothing wrong with signing a 15 player. A lot of teams just like keeping it open uh for the playoffs. We may see a situation where Boston doesn’t even make the playoffs this year, but their financial s situation is different than the Knicks. What they still have available to them is their taxpayer midlevel. So the TPMLE uh the money that we gave Yabuselli, Boston still has that available. So we can offer Ben Simmons um $2.2 million. Boston can offer $5.5 million. So what’s the question between $5 million, five and a half and two and a half million? The money is no question. Boston has the advantage. The question is role. Now Boston situation and our situation is different. If you’re going to sign for one year, you sign with the Boston Celtics, you’re going to look at a Celtic team as going to look it’s going to be looked at negatively this year. So, they’re going to be a winning team going to a bad team, and you’re going to know the fans are going to be down on them, and you know, they’re going to be longing for the days of Jason Tatum. The Knicks, on the other hand, for two and a $2.2 million, you’re getting a defined role on a team. So, you may not get as many minutes as you can get on the Boston Celtics, but you will be winning. You will have fun this year and the team will be looked at positively. So, when they’re looking at Boston and they’re looking for someone to blame, do you want your name to be in there? or when the Knicks are winning, do you want your name to be in there? Those are the two different things um that’s kind of being offered. Boston has more to offer uh financially. Knicks is a more positive role. So hopefully he chooses the Knicks. I know there’s a bunch of you uh in the chat saying, “I don’t want him on the team. I don’t want someone people in the NBA hate. But one thing you have to think about, the people who talk negatively about Ben Simmons are not his teammates. They’re other players in the league. Other players with podcasts, those are the players who are talking negatively about Ben Simmons. I think people kind of get it confused, but his teammates aren’t the people making the complaints that which I I really don’t get from a lot of people. He’s not the Ben Simmons of old, but we know what he does well. Defense. We’ve seen him lock RJ. We’ve seen him lock RJ out of games. We’ve seen him play multiple positions. That’s all we want him to do. We haven’t we been talking about we need another ball handler uh for Jaylen Brunson. Why does Jaylen Brunson have to be the ball handler? One thing we know about Ben Simmons is he can pass. One thing he was elite at was passing for open three-point shots. as a Nick fan, you should be really wanting Ben Simmons to come to the scene. So, that I I I I really uh reiterate that. Um it would be a really good ad. The problem there there is a problem on adding Ben Simmons’s team. Um we’ll look at that lineup again. And and a lot of people are saying um with Tibs last year, Josh Hart was one of his favorite players. He plays hard. Uh he leaves it out on the floor, but everybody says he should be a bench player. So if we assume that Josh Hart is a bench player is something he’s pretty much been his whole career, he’s on the bench. That makes three non-shooters on the bench this season. That’s Ben Simmons, that’s Josh Hart, and Mitchell Robinson. Hopefully Mitchell Robinson has three non-tutors on the bench of five. Most teams don’t have multiple players who are non nonshooters or nonwilling shooters. So that makes me think if they’re holding everything up for this Ben Simmons decision, is there a move to be made next? I I have to really think that maybe there’s something coming. Do can I speculate? Everybody can speculate, but there’s just so many there’s just um so many possibilities. I don’t even want to like put it in their minds that hey, Fritz says this is this is what’s going to happen. But Ben Simmons puts the Knicks in a situation where I really think that somebody will have to be moved because that’s a lot of non-shooting. That’s a lot of non-shooting. Um, so look out for that. So where does that put us? We’re looking for a coach. We’re looking to sign Ben Simmons. Also, James Naji has decided not to return to France. What does that mean? James Naji is an established player in France. Does he want to come to the to the New York Knicks because we do have his rights. So, he can’t just go pick a team. He’s going to come over to the come over to play basketball. If he doesn’t get a roster spot, an NBA roster spot, he would get a two-way spot. $40,000 a year. Do you think he would cut off France for $40,000 a year and being questionable if he’s that last signing this year? It has it has me thinking perhaps there’s some movement for him to make that decision now like last week that he is definitely leaving France. He has he he has an idea of what his future is. So there are decisions being made. It’s just there’s probably uh a move or moves that just haven’t been executed yet. So, James Naji, he could get a two-way contract, but that’s only $40,000 a year. He’s basically going to be coming to the NBA for free and not technically be an NBA player. So, I’m really thinking maybe there’s there’s more more to come. I’m just going to check in with the chat. I see 21 in the chat. Thank you. Please hit the hit that like. Uh if if if you like if you like the content. If you don’t like the comment, leave leave a comment. Um I will always answer your comments. Um let me see. Crimes dad. I I I Yeah, he likes his defense. Parish Duggar 610 could pass. Um can def dribble defend. Um Ivory 10 doesn’t think Mitch will be on the bench. One thing um I I really Mitch has started for us in the past. Um, but one thing about Mitch and you dig through the numbers, Mitch has never played more than 27 minutes a game. So, it could be more like one of those virtual starters. I can see that for Mitch where he starts the game in name only where he starts a game but he only plays 20 minutes a game. Mitch has never played more than 27 minutes a game. That’s what makes me and with that 27 minutes a game, he’s been often injured. That’s that’s what makes the investment hard. So, he could be a virtual starter, but I do will the next invest in him like he’s a real starter. Um, I really doubt it. If you have any questions, throw it in chat. Um, let me see anything else going on. Um, yeah, we we do see around the NBA a lot with restricted free agency. Unfortunately, a lot of these guys who automatically get like max deals in the past, these teams are not giving great deals. They’re not going to bid against themselves for the Cam Thomas’, the uh Jonathan Kamingas, uh the Josh Giddy’s, they would automatically back in the day get a max deal 36 million, but we see that these teams aren’t doing it. Um could the Knicks get one of those guys? Unfortunately, no, because it would need to be a sign and trade. Um, so unfortunately the Knicks couldn’t get it because if if signing trade locks you at um caps you at the first apron. So the Knicks are kind of out on that. Um so I think the Knicks could are really out on that. Um, one thing that could happen or if someone takes the qualifying or offer, so like the the one year the one-year deal and then the next do something next summer, that’s an that’s an option. Um, but really tough like things will really have to go the next the next way. Um, okay. Uh, frame frame by Julie. Do you think Kevin Love is going to LA? I think so. Um, when when the Kevin Love rumors came out, they said, “Oh, he wants to he wants to go to the boutique. He wants to go to the boutique markets.” And I I think it was unfair the way they did it. They made it seem like Kevin Love was uppidity and he only wanted to play for LA, New York because he’s so fancy. No, Kevin Love lives in Manhattan. Kevin Love has always lived in Manhattan since he played in Minnesota. He’s had an apartment in Manhattan. So naturally playing for New York or playing for Brooklyn would have been top on his on his list. Brooklyn is going with the young guys. So there’s no room for him. The Knicks were championship or bus where we don’t have really any spots available. So we were out. I think LA, you know, you know, with his wife, I think it would have been a comfortable transition for him. LA is probably the next comfortable thing for his family. Um, but New York’s name is only up there. Um, cuz he lives here and it would have been comfortable, but there just isn’t there just isn’t a spot for him. Um, one, what did the Knicks think about Monte Morris? Yeah, Mont Monte Morris. Um, decent player. I think once the Ben Simmons decision is made, if Ben Simmons doesn’t come to New York, they have to make other arrangements. Um, what we saw in summer league, Tyler Kolic isn’t ready. Tyler Kolic isn’t ready from day one. It could be that during the season he he he gets better, but I I would find it hard that the Knicks hand him the backup point guard on day one. Cuz what can happen is something unfortunately can happen and then now Tyler Kick is your starting point guard. Is he ready? He could struggle as a backup, but if something happened to Brunson, could he hold it down for 30 minutes for any amount of time? A couple weeks? No, not even. So, he’s not there yet. I I couldn’t give him You can’t give him You couldn’t put You couldn’t risk that situation with Tyler Kolic right now. Um, you have to put a vet there and then you hope Tyler Cole gets better as year goes along. Ben Simmons if he comes here for a year b you know at maybe he only comes for a year but that buys you enough time where Kick may be ready for the job. Um um also talking about the the Knicks um the Knicks really have to start thinking about the future. Um and that can that can come in the way of trading players who are key to this team for the future. Um, so we’re going to look at cap sheet uh.com again and we’re going to look at next year. So we had two big signings this year, I think, which are awesome. Jordan Clarkston and Yavi. And one thing about Clarkson, he signed a one-year contract, 2 point basically 2.3 million. He is not coming back next year. This is, you know, he got he got paid by Utah and basically he’s going to hang out in New York. He’s going to get his full paycheck between here in Utah. But next summer, he’s going to want more money. That’s more money the Knicks don’t have. So, look at Jordan Clarkson as a one-year rental. The other person, Yabuselli, last year he went to Philly. Uh, he went on a minimum deal to Philly. Um, just to get his feet wet in NBA, show he could what he can do. Philly didn’t appre I guess Philly didn’t Philly want to um pay Grimes. So they’re like, “We can only offer you this much.” So the Knicks had enough to give Yabooi one year’s experience. Yabeli is expecting to do better this year than he did last year. He may do the same thing again next summer. Hey, I I I want more money. The Knicks don’t have it. He’ll have to walk. If he doesn’t have an a great year, he’ll come back. So ve very easily if we have a good year the Knicks Yabuselli Clarkston won’t be back potentially Mitch won’t be back. So now you have to really think about making some moves and some investments and some players or who are going to stick around for a while. Do you have to use um a McBride to do that? Maybe. Um do you have to use a Kick to do that? Do you have to use a Hucki to do that? Do you do you take someone from Villanova? Do you take Josh Hart and turn him into two players? So that’s something to think about. So going forward, there’s a lot. The summer is almost over, but there is a lot to Nicks have to think about. Like Muel is not the end of the line. There is a lot to think about. Um and only um you know only um our president knows what’s in store. So he knows the plan. He’s not letting us know the plan. So I can’t predict the plan. But I just can tell you that Mikuel is not the end of the road. Um, that’s pretty much what I had today. Um, if there’s any news this week, I’ll go live and bring you news. So, Mitchell Robinson is there. If there’s any movement on Mitchell Robinson, we’ll talk about it. If there’s any Mitch rumor on cat, we’ll talk about it. If there’s any Ben Simmons decisions, we we will talk about it. So, please uh like and subscribe. uh really helps the channel. We’re trying to get a th000 subscribers by uh opening day. Um that would be great. Um we do have um I do have some social drink. So I do have a uh Twitter account, NBA economy. Um also have a cash app because I can’t take super chats because I we don’t have a thousand subscribers. So, if you do want to donate something to the channel, that’d be great. We can invest it in the channel and grow the channel. So, I really thank everybody for for coming through. Uh, if you have any questions, um, put your question in the video and I’ll try to answer it as best I can. But thank you for for joining us and good night. [Music]

We look at what can be next after the Mikal Bridges signing. We also will address situations around the league. #nba #nbacontroversy #newyorkforever #nets #nbarumors