2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

finding a way to get ellis and watson, and keep everyone else but rui (lebron on wink wink vet min), and we're a legit contender, a tier above where we are.

 

Shai had 16 FT
whole Knicks roster -17
yes ,anonymous MVP no doubt

 

Just adding Watson to this core makes us a contender imo. We’re replacing Rui with a slightly worse shooter, better rebounder and much better defender who can thrive at the 3.

Adding Ellis to (don’t believe it’s possible) would certainly send us into the elite category.

Luka / Ellis / Bronny
Reaves / Smart / Bufkin
Watson / Kennard
Lebron / LaRavia / Adou
Kleber / Ayton / Hayes

 

Peyton Watson would be perfect for us. Now just the question are we able to get him?

 

How long will it take for someone to post we should get this guy lol

 

No one will be signing Jaden Ivey. He’s done. His NBA career is over. What an idiot. A complete Idiot. And rightfully so. Why go on social media and say some dumb a** s*** like that. He probably plays with Gay players. You know I don’t get it. People are Gay people are straight. Who gives a f*** about what you have to say and honestly what are you going to add to the narrative.? How can we have an actual productive dialogue. How about we have all kinds of people in the world who are all different in orientations. We support each other and however you want to socialize is up to you. We just want people to be happy.

 

But adding a joke. Anthony Edwards anti gay comments Max Contract Jaden Ivey anti gay comments waived

it’s a business.

 

yeah, watson and ellis is a completely unrealistic expectation. it's possible, but incredibly unlikely. either one would help us quite a bit, though.

he's clearly not in a good place, mentally. he's already made a ton of cash despite doing basically nothing in the league, so hopefully he can get some help and live a good life outside of basketball. but i agree he's finished. and again, for the jhs hand-wringers--this dude was the 5th overall pick by a front office everyone agrees is good. stuff happens. sometimes you can't see the issue ahead of time.

 

Did you catch the starting center upgrade too? LOL, couldn’t help myself.

 

I’m not excusing Ivey’s comments. But I find it interesting that other players can have domestic violence cases and yet continue in the league but being homophobic and you’re out.

I feel like it should be clear penalties across the board and violence against women / in front of kids / family abuse should be a single strike and you’re out.

 

I would prioritize Ellis though. Lowest hanging fruit.

• Perfect complement to Luka and AR. We already have proof of concept, in a player like Smart, and previous Luka players like Jones, and Washington (3 and D).
• We have the cap room to pay market value for him, or a little more. Just have to have the balls to agree to a generous enough contract to lock him in right at 12:01. Don't mess around negotiating too much.
• He is unrestricted, as opposed to restricted free agents, or trading for a Dort. So it would cost us no assets.
• Going for a Watson could be a lot more complicated, so you have that. Watson has star potential, so I understand the argument for prioritizing him. But I'm just saying, pursuit of RFA's go unsuccessful more often then not. Go for the lower hanging fruit, ink Ellis to an early deal, and then take a look at getting Watson.

 

I don’t think Ellis is a Smart type player. I think that’s a misnomer. Smart is a mini Artest, super intelligent, fast hands, strong frame, quick enough, crafty and a pest. If you want another Smart type, trade for Caruso.

Ellis is a good defender, gets lots of deflections but gets killed on screens, which is how teams will attack us with him, Luka and Reaves.

I’ve also changes my mind on Dort, he has fallen off defensively and I think these playoffs he’ll be played off the court.

Give me Watson or Caruso. There’s a reason why they’re harder to get.

 

lol, sailed right past me. my reading comprehension is losing steam lately.

i wasn't making a moral judgment, just a practical one--whatever the content of the speech, the lack of presence of mind to just not do that isn't conducive to the high-pressure lifestyle he's found himself in (and looks to be wishing to exit, perhaps understandably).

like, you may not be wrong that nobody will care if the pistons won when you're standing in front of god...but...that's not why people want to talk to you right now. not recognizing that is kind of a sign of dysfunction, akin to not dressing for the weather.

i'd be totally fine if we slightly overpaid for ellis at 12:01, then pursued watson after, pleading the loss of some of our space as part of the negotiations. in fact, i'd hope rob has already communicated to watson's agent (and thus denver) that if they want to play nice pre-FA, there will be more on the table.

ellis is smart-like in that he's an energetic perimeter defensive player who can play offensively without needing rhythm. but yeah, the players they're suited to guard are quite different, which is why i said i view them as complementary (as opposed to supplementary). thiero would be supplemental to smart in that he's also a guy who will impact via physicality at positions 2-4. ellis is for 1-2 on ball. all can be disrupters off ball.

caruso and dort are like smart in that they're more like 2-4 guys, too (e.g., schroder roasted dort when he was here). caruso is currently better, but older. not sure which i'd prioritize in a vacuum. but my undying love for caruso makes the choice easier.

 

Ellis has all of those attributes that you mentioned, but obviously without the strength part. But, you are talking about a very specific thing. I mean, I don't think we are trying to be perfect here, Ellis checks most of the boxes. Caruso would be nice too, but he's significantly older, and doesn't shoot nearly as well as Ellis. Ellis shoots better than all those guys, and a better volume per 36, and sample size over more years, even college. I wouldn't count Ellis out just because of the screens thing. The guy generateds a ton of stocks and deflections, I'm not gonna harp on some of the intricacies that he might not do well because of his underwhelming strength. I mean, Michael Cooper was skinny too, and he was an elite defender.

 

I really like Ellis, but I do think he can be wiped out on screens and we don’t have the center to over come that (AD was perfect at this). Also, Ellis isn’t the most switchable, you don’t want him guarding 3-5 and so far our defense under JJ has been switch based. I think he is an excellent defender but might not be right for us and it’s mainly the strength and size thing.

Don’t get to in love with his stats, yes he shoots the ball great and he creates turnovers, but is he the right fit?

Caruso meanwhile can switch onto Jokic and do a credible job, while being able to still be a good POA guy.

 

I mean you are narrowing it down to one very specific player, Caruso? Next year will be his age 33 season. His contract is a little rough. Of course I like Alex, and he does provide similar stocks and shooting numbers (albeit wildly inconsistent shooting from year to year). I mean, if they give us a pick to absorb Alex, then sure. But there are definitely question marks there too. But if objective is to go all in for 26-27, then this might be the play. Who else do you like for that POA role over Ellis though? There are just not a lot of players out there- and it starts to get rough with a lot of those guys in terms of the shooting and volume shooting. Ideally, if they could trade us their highest 2026 1st to absorb Alex, then that's pretty damn good.

 

Jaden Ivey career has imploded. Born again Jesus dude and LA probably doesn't mix well too bad as I do think he's talented

 

We should get this guy. Seriously.

 

Once again Buisness. Miles Bridges he can rebound and score great player. So you come with the he’s learned from his mistakes and has to grow up.

Miles Leonard anti Jew remarks hasn’t played since.