- 4 weeks ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:09welcome to new york got game
00:15what's good everybody welcome back to another edition of new york got game it's your guy
00:20dexter henry with my guy brian fonseca here mix off season continues to move but we are now
00:26unbelievably we're in september it just feels like it was june 13th and the knicks won the
00:30championship but we are here getting closer to the start of training camp media day all that
00:36stuff is right around the corner and we still are looking at this next team brian who has an
00:44open roster spot right now we've been talking about this for a while in terms of what the knicks can
00:51do
00:51and a lot of this is going to come with a third center because i think that's what the knicks
00:55likely will do with their third roster spot how they go about things with this roster spot will
01:00be interesting right will they sign somebody before training camp to that guaranteed contract
01:07will they sign some players to some non-guaranteed contracts and have them battle it out for a
01:12guaranteed contract that could be really interesting to see what they could do as of the time we were
01:18recording this the knicks have 13 players on standard contracts meaning technically they have two open
01:25spots right they must just so fans understand they must eventually add a 14th player but they could
01:33leave their 15 spot on the roster vacant and they could add a prorated minimum contract or use 10 day
01:40deals later right the other thing to note here the knicks are approximately 3.3 million dollars below
01:49the second apron which we all know here the knicks would like to stay below the second apron so what
01:53we
01:54are going to try to answer on this episode is very clear should the knicks sign a center now and
02:03by now i mean
02:04before the start of training camp or should they wait for a better one to become available that is
02:10the real question here when you look at this spot as you go through the season so i want to
02:15let everybody
02:16know this i hit a brian and the fact that we're going to talk about this and i said to
02:21brian hey man
02:23i'm out here looking at somebody that's free agent list right looking at some candidates out here
02:28and i sent brian a short list which we're going to get to i sent him a short list and
02:34said hey
02:35maybe these are some of the players we should look at some of the free agents that are out there
02:40and brian's response to me was please say
02:45that i'll say i don't want to make you look it up yeah i wanted to i wanted to be
02:49accurate here
02:51i remember exactly what you said to me this word word for word word for word i remember exactly what
02:56you said to me and i didn't need to hear brian i said verse text there has to be more
03:02centers
03:02dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot right question mark and you're like i searched i thought the
03:09same
03:09thing this is it there's more i mean there are more and we'll get to that but this list is
03:14not um
03:15inspiring so i just want to understand nicks fans no disrespect to anyone on the list no disrespect
03:20to anyone on the list for what we're talking about if we're looking at this listing you're expecting
03:24to hear these names and jump for joy i understand why you would not we're going to try to discuss
03:30what we might think is the best of this crop so these are the crop of unrestricted free agents
03:36that i've looked at for the nicks and we're going to talk about six players here okay that possibly
03:43could sign a deal to be the nicks third string center and i'm sure others will come up there's some
03:48other names too that i actually haven't told i have some honorable mention names for brian
03:52this list if there's a list that needed honorable mentions i mean everybody might be honorable
03:57mention if you're being honest here but here's the names kelly olenek maxi kleber okay mason plumley
04:07okay kevin love i sense a trend here there's clearly a trend with the first four names and now the
04:14train
04:14switches dwight powell bismack biambo okay those are my six centers that i am looking at as unrestricted
04:26free agents that the nicks could sign or maybe they want to wait you know so later i will yeah
04:33you you
04:33you could rush into this it's any one of those are gonna rush yeah yeah that's the thing i think
04:39because this list is uninspired i don't think if you're if you're watching this is there legitimately
04:43like i don't even mean to sound dismissive but is there any one of those six guys that you think
04:49the nicks should run to sign by the end of this episode like any of them feel free to let
04:56us know
04:57in the comments i i don't let's let's take it a couple of these guys were on rosters last year
05:02never
05:02played actually half the list was yeah let's take one by one yeah and i had him at the top
05:10of this
05:10list and i guess i could see some ranking i didn't really rank this okay but i could see where
05:17if you're
05:18looking at at because we're going to try to talk about fit here kelly olenek all right let's talk
05:26about kelly olenek no let's let's talk about kelly olenek solid role player at his peak like very solid
05:31role player at his peak he's not at his peak anymore i want to talk let's try to talk about
05:37what people can add to the roster yeah and then what your concern is with them on the roster
05:42okay for me what does kelly olenek add for you as you said at his peak good really good role
05:50player right vibes man ain't nobody here for the vibes nobody's here for that but i hear you
05:58he can shoot a little bit absolutely stretch the floor not last season but historically yes
06:03not underrated passer yes good passer yes sneaky good passer yeah we saw some of that in in miami utah
06:11and detroit particularly the value if you're the next in terms of somebody that can i also want to
06:19put a put let's put a pin in this here folks because brian and i have also talked about what
06:23we
06:23would do this doesn't need this doesn't need to be a long second no no no but what i'm going
06:28to say
06:28is what we also are looking for and what we are hoping for out of the knicks signing their 14th
06:34player most likely a center is this somebody that can push andre drumming that is part of the fact
06:39that should be the goal that should be the goal if you're the front office that should be your goal
06:43your objective this year your objective as a front office is to sign somebody who can push this guy
06:49same reason where if you you have a clear starting quarterback your backup you're like
06:55you want to bring in somebody who's going to push them be it a veteran be it somebody young
06:59whatever but you just want competition there because your starting quarterback goes down
07:04you need to like who you have behind them otherwise so look you can shoot he gives you something with
07:10the passing and if you're looking at it if you even push for the backup position the number two
07:15center position he can give you a little bit of a different look at center yeah right it's a
07:19different he's a stretch big through and through like he's never been an amazing rebounder ding ding
07:25ding that's the concern there you go what's the other concern brian you're not you're not getting
07:31any rim protection with mr olinic yeah that is not happening where you've seen him thrive before
07:36for example uh in boston look at some of the guys he played with defensively that could cover up
07:45be it marcus smart on the perimeter be it you had tatum and brown early version of tatum and
07:49actually you didn't have tatum yet you had just jaylen brown as a rookie um but you had also at
07:56the
07:56time jared selinger who was productive we have to remember what that team was uh back in 2016 17 and
08:02even before that but like you had some productive players around and you had a system in miami obviously
08:07you had a system you also had bam and a bio next to him um who was already like i
08:14don't know
08:15those early stages like elite as soon as he began starting and you had hassan white say before that
08:19then in houston it didn't matter because they were just tanking and he put up stupid numbers but like
08:24they had traded victor oladipo they had traded james harden like it didn't matter at that point
08:30detroit was short-lived and then in utah they weren't really playing for anything and then in
08:34toronto you know you had scotty barnes jacob hurdle um but you you had and you had a team that
08:43you know competitive like they're always competitive toronto never really like tanks
08:47at this point they're just always going to be competitive um and then last year he was with
08:51the spurs he was in their system he didn't really play though like he averaged less than 10 minutes
08:55fewer than 10 minutes a game played basically half the season didn't really get off the bench like
08:59that in the playoffs as we saw we didn't really see how much in the finals so i just wouldn't
09:04be
09:04expecting a ton here he's an offensive player through and through but he's always been better as a four
09:10or or if he's a five next to a smaller four who can guard up like a scotty barnes or
09:14a bam at a bio
09:16um or if he's a four like it's because you have a different center there like he's somebody you
09:21actually less so today and more so in yesteryear you want him to play with an andre drummond
09:27because of what because of the contrasting styles and he can stretch and floor feet right like
09:31does it mix if you stagger him with car anthony towns no with me you still had mitchell robinson you
09:36could play him in lineups maybe but he didn't play with the spurs and you probably wouldn't play
09:40him much if you let me put it like this if you can play that man next to victor wamiyama
09:45i don't think you're gonna be playing fair much here yeah right okay so that's our thoughts of
09:49kelly olenek maxi kleber now this is a player when he was good in theory you could talk about some
09:59of
09:59things he could bring yeah at his healthiest he gave you some defensive versatility he was kind
10:06of kelly olenek with defense yo with better defense yeah yeah yo you know that's really good he was
10:11kelly olenek with better defense gave you the floor space and could shoot the three yeah moved his feet
10:15a lot better yeah he couldn't do much with the ball like kelly olenek could like kelly olenek could
10:20actually low-key like put the ball on the floor a little bit and as a playmaker too like maxi
10:25was giving you that but he was kind of a offensively a three and d center but there was
10:31d there there was defense there were maxi kleber that you actually could trust at his peak now
10:37physically this man has had some issues he'll be 35 in january he'll be 35 and do you know what
10:42he
10:42shot from three last season i know because it's in front of me but yeah yeah it's 23 guys 23
10:48from
10:49three 26 and a half before that hasn't broken 35 since 2020 2021 so this is why we say at
10:56his peak
10:56um the peak was kind of done half decade ago just about look the close to that did you get
11:06on this
11:06list sometimes you got a name and there was a track record of you doing something but the recent track
11:10record isn't good okay i'm just this this ain't even that deep for me yeah this is a hard no
11:16yeah
11:17no no no no no no no i i'd rather i'd rather kelly olenek i think close yeah yeah not
11:25even close yeah
11:25even though it's not at all mitchell robinson but like i i think he can play a little bit
11:30maxi kleber you know actually averaged more minutes last year but the minutes weren't awesome
11:36yeah i'm i'm passing on maxi kleber and the shooting has just not been there yeah the last
11:41couple years so i'm good uh keeping it moving mason plumley okay uh shout out to mace i liked mace
11:51a
11:52lot my time when i used to cover the nets right you had him early mace good dude always was
11:58a good
11:58interview here's what you know you're getting with mason plumley and this is a skill folks i know
12:05people might laugh at this he's an excellent screener excellent excellent screener he's also
12:09not a bad passer not a bad passer yeah especially outlet passing yeah very good yeah yeah um
12:16i know someone someone watching this right now is really like yo really yeah like yo this is where
12:22we are this is where we are this is for y'all man yeah this is this is for y
12:27'all this is a service
12:28this is what teams are thinking about right no when they're going through this at this point this
12:33is we'll get us to our second part of a different list that we're going to look at but he's
12:37a decent
12:37passer um but i think where he's at in his career right now he's probably 35 36 36 sorry he'll
12:45be 37
12:4536 he can add those things kind of but you kind of look at him at this point as are
12:53you emergency guy
12:54yes because he played 20 games last year he was on two teams so he's he's emergency are you worried
13:00that the hornets had him and were basically like we're good when they have two young centers now
13:07two young centers they were trying to play obviously and boosted i about to ryan kalkbretter and they
13:11ended up playing i think pj hall some two-way minutes at center on two-way contract yes i'm concerned
13:16to
13:16answer your question yes right like yeah because they're like they're like yo we don't even want
13:20you in an emergency yeah so if the hornets and his previous stint with the hornets was good
13:25this was also a few years ago years ago but if the hornets don't want you in an emergency
13:29can the defending champion knicks right do they want you in an emergency and you just gotta look
13:34he's a guy he doesn't space the floor no not so stylistically i think he actually makes the most
13:39sense but i i think kelly olynyx a better player right now i agree but he's not like this amazing
13:45vertical threat or something brings amazing defense the rebounding still good the pass is still good
13:50excellent screens the peak version of him will be perfect like it'd be perfect this is not where
13:55we are but this but yeah if it was the peak version of him he'd be on the team right
13:58now
13:59yeah so mason plumbly this is stuff you got to go through i know some of you guys are going
14:03to see
14:03these names not consider the age or what recently has been going on but this is what teams are looking
14:08at or this is what leon rose is looking at you might see the names and be like what monty
14:12jones
14:12always say he's still in the league like we're probably that that might be the title of this episode
14:17yes he's still in the league yeah well i'm gonna tell you that the next person we'll get to
14:21is a is a name a former all-star um that you might be my favorite name on the list
14:27oh really
14:29really if it's who i'm thinking of kevin love yeah i mean listen he's not giving you much defensively
14:38you think but i have a recent track record of him at least being able to do
14:44still good outlet passer yeah elite vibes guy can still rebound if you say vibes one more time
14:50i don't care about no damn can still rebound can still shoot like i don't know how much he can
14:55play
14:56but i feel like he could play a little bit more than he did last year because in watching him
15:01i'm
15:01like all right like he's clearly at the end but given the list we're talking about i i'm putting kevin
15:07love at number one so far what does he do for the next though that really helps them in that
15:12role
15:12the things he's gonna is he gonna push andre drummond i mean how much how much better do you
15:19think andre drummond is right now than kevin love defensively a little bit better sure yes yeah yeah
15:26and that's kind of what i'm really worried about here because andre drummond fair yeah you know
15:31what i'm saying like that's what i'm really worried about here withdrawing your honor yeah but
15:36i guess my other thing when i talk about defensively just to be clear for people is
15:39when i look at kevin love now there was a world in time at his peak when he still is
15:46a really good
15:46small ball five yeah i mean if even in miami they tried that now but again next to bam coincidentally
15:53with right you can get away with that right because he's better as a power forward next to car anthony
15:58towns if you're doing this if you're staggering them two together that's yeah you don't want that
16:03and and would you have to think about is like yes i'd rather have andre drummond guard pick and
16:09roll at the level because they're gonna be like come here all the time with whoever i still don't
16:13love it i like it better than having love but i i still don't like it yeah but given what
16:17we're
16:17talking about it is what it is i mean but but i i think kevin love like over olenic and
16:24plumley
16:26and uh who else did we just talk about before that doesn't even matter cleaver cleaver i would
16:32put i would put kelly olenic above in that list right now but i also i mean kevin love in
16:36that list
16:37right now but i also don't think you have to sign him right away he's just he's just the guy
16:42that i
16:42think today is the best player of the guys we've talked about so far but to your point how much
16:48how
16:48much does he push andre drummond i don't know i think he can a little bit but i don't know
16:53i don't
16:54think he does that much i still think andre drummond's your better option yeah but i hear
16:58what you're saying i at least have a little bit of a recent sample size of seeing him on a
17:02competitive
17:02team but that was two three years ago and he's 37 yeah he'll actually be 38 this week happy early
17:12birthday kevin love yeah i don't think nicks are running i think you rush rushing to give him a
17:17no get for the contract uh moving on dwight powell do you want to talk about players that are
17:24probably past it that are definitely past it i mean he had a lifetime contract in dallas for a while
17:29and then dallas is now dallas is like yeah you know what i think i think that's it he's tried
17:34to add a
17:34three-point shot you want to know how that's going i he's a sneaky like the age caught up to
17:41me
17:42that i didn't realize that he was 35 and i was like oh because he got into the league a
17:47little
17:47older older remember he had he had a brief cup of coffee with the celtics for five games and then
17:52dallas made him like a lifetime he has 763 career games with the mavericks in his career um here's
17:59the career in his career here's the thing for me with him right bad english by me um if you
18:04want
18:04somebody that's more of a vertical threat the rim running threat then he is that guy for you good
18:10decent screen i'm not saying he's an excellent option in that i'm just saying that's part of his
18:14game yeah he's gonna rim run he can finish around the rim for sure he's gonna give he's gonna screen
18:19well
18:25listen look this is bad because this is what yeah you have to like if i'm his agent how am
18:30i saying
18:30how am i selling this what i'm selling to you is a veteran experience yo this is what i'm saying
18:36hey man give him a shot because you know what you know how you say this in corporate speak
18:40he's familiar with a professional role that's what you say he's familiar being a professional
18:46there is value i don't mean this in any kind of joke there's value in being a professional yes but
18:50here's the problem and not being a distraction kind of like andre drummond the offense is limited
18:56yeah right but andre drummond has given you more like i think i think andre drummond and kevin love
19:02is closer than andre drummond and dwight powell i think andre drummond is still better than everyone
19:06we've talked about it's the reason he's on a team right now and at least with kevin love you get
19:09a
19:10better look a different look i should say a better different look somebody could space a floor for
19:14you and yeah like somebody who's been on a lot of winning teams multiple has a title and has been
19:20on
19:20a few finals teams professional professional in a supporting role the dwight powell's been
19:26in an nba finals um not too long ago although he played a very minimal role in that final did
19:36he
19:37even play in the finals hold on let me actually look i don't remember if he did actually play
19:41because he would have been having to play behind he played daniel gafford and derrick lively yeah
19:46played a little bit yeah um 16 total minutes in three appearances of the five blowouts
19:54probably just blowouts yeah i think we can move on uh last one on the list i had that inspired
20:01brian
20:02bismack biambo the mac the mac bismack biambo another bomani jonesism um look he's gonna be physical
20:12yo three of these dudes were teammates last year none of them played and none of them played in the
20:16spurs with the spurs i know i know biambo is like actually until last year was kind of fun in
20:23an
20:23emergency because it's like man maybe maybe in 14 minutes he'll give you three points and eight
20:29rebounds but i last year just yeah uh-huh now 34 by the way just turned happy belated
20:37happy belated bismack biambo yeah now at his peak he was this really good defensive not really good
20:44solid solid yeah but a really good rebounder especially for his size yeah so in theory seven
20:50seven foot six wingspan despite being six foot eight probably is easily the best rim protector
20:56that we've said on this list i mean yeah he's probably the only guy who's not a negative defender
21:02right now that's so if you're just living with somebody give you some physicality rebound
21:07but is he really pushing andre drummond i just don't know how much he can play
21:12that's the problem like kevin loves played the most of these guys recently yeah so i'm like okay i can
21:17put him out there at least because i think people trust the shooting still and the value right can
21:22give you in a different look the problem is like and he can still rebound a bit but can he
21:27play playoff
21:28minutes when it matters that's the question is he really a center today he kind of has no i say
21:32no
21:33right i say no yeah and it's a different stylistic thing biambo stylistically like in theory
21:39if this was coming off of the 24 25 season it would be biambo easily because he actually played
21:47an average five and five in very limited time and he was you know picked up off of you know
21:52free
21:53agency i think during the season and what have you but he just didn't play much and he hasn't played
21:57much in recent years but like stylistically he'd be the guy because it's like all right there's some
22:01measure of rebounding here there's definitely defense there's maybe switchability but like he's
22:05he's older and i don't know if he can still do those things and the spurs didn't really let us
22:10find out because he was on the bench basically all year so yeah this is why folks this list
22:17i had sent to brian it is not necessarily inspiring okay curveballs let's now yeah i i i said let
22:24me dig
22:24a little deeper i have two names that i'll bring up after that would be trade related which i'm sure
22:30people want to get to on these are honorable mentions then we're gonna get we're also gonna get to
22:35some guys a couple guys who could possibly be cut here and it's i think nicks fans should keep an
22:41eye on because that's actually think what should be talked about other cut from other teams to the
22:45knicks yeah i think are going to really look at what happens when guys get in the training camp does
22:51somebody get cut like nfl teams are doing right now right are they cut before is there somebody they
22:55can jump on there are going to be some value in some guys there just because some guys some rosters
23:00some teams excuse me have 16 17 guys already signed some players are going to get cut and
23:06we'll get to a couple of those later okay here we go this is also there's one name that i
23:10actually
23:11hope i wonder if we okay let's see xavier tillman that's the that's the one oh the top of my
23:16list
23:17oh i had to top my list okay my honorable mention xavier tillman senior and i said of note this
23:23will be a
23:24brian fonseca favorite yo but like if i if i may if i may act as xavier tillman's agent briefly
23:32here we go 30 seconds like and i know it hasn't been great the last couple years but when he
23:39plays
23:40like he can be productive he's just been in boston where there's there's obvious guys in front of him
23:47they preferred keita for good reason um if you saw him in fiba world cup qualifiers this past week
23:53jesus christ um he led portugal to beat spain in a game also which is impressive yeah portuguese
24:00basketball is up um xavier tillman was also behind garza you know porzingis they had him what are you
24:07gonna do there uh and then charlotte he ran into the same thing plumbly ran into where it's like
24:12well you're here to be a vet whatever whatever he's 27 years old 27 like i he's an energy big
24:20he's an undersized energy big by undersized i mean maybe six eight but he's an energy big where in
24:26theory and with him it's like all right i actually think there could be something there because of the
24:31age like i understand he's already moved around the league a bunch but he was decent in memphis not
24:36terribly long ago and in boston when he played like he wasn't god awful i'm sure in
24:42celtics fans are not crying their eyes out that he's not with the team anymore but i think given
24:49the list we just gave you you can do a lot worse i think you can't do a lot worse
24:54than him age was
24:56a factor for me him being honorable mention yeah the size was probably the demerit for me sure and
25:03that he's only six eight yeah but if you're looking for a key thing that he can do that's probably
25:09better
25:10than anybody on the other list that had rebound him not even that i think his defensive switchability
25:15is better than most of those centers yeah had here yeah right like just in terms of you get switched
25:20on a guy you put him in a situation could he play could he give you five or six playoff
25:25minutes where
25:25he's not going to mess it up for you defensively yeah like the only the only thing is because they
25:33can't sign him now because he signed to the team in turkey in june so i do wonder if he
25:38has an out
25:39in his contract you always have to look this is what i looked at i assume that he would if
25:43there's
25:44a pathway back from to the nba yeah but a lot of guys is it's it's it's not like a
25:49thing that's
25:49widely reported i know for example kendrick nunn is in greece right now he's been in panathenakos and
25:53he's been amazing he has no nba out until i believe 2027 or 2028 like he's locked in there
26:01but they're also paying him a lot but why also i'm glad you brought that up because why also put
26:05him on this list b is if there is that out he's a guy you might even look at later
26:11into the season
26:12if you end up not some guys might have might have the ability where you can't get out of the
26:17contract
26:17until a certain point yep until maybe february like or if you sign now he didn't sign to china
26:23but if you sign to china the season tends to end in like march or so whatever and this happened
26:29actually with the knicks with jr smith where he couldn't leave until the season was done and then
26:34he came to the knicks this is the year before he won six man of the year then they had
26:38him and then
26:38you know what happened there so it's it's tricky with that but like yo if he has a good season
26:43in turkey
26:44or and has an nba out and you can get him later in the year like we'll see and also
26:50like turkey's
26:51league is not like he's it's not bad league at all um i need to see if the team is
26:56going to be playing
26:56in uh euro league or champions league or any of those things uh so because that's going to be interesting
27:02but yeah i got another name for you drew eubanks it's fine you know um
27:13i look listen i i don't know what to do with guys who were just with the kings
27:17yeah but he could he's the kind of guy this is also me looking at opportunity could he come in
27:23and say
27:23yeah i'll take this third center role that's another thing oh he would yes yes it's the mindset of
27:28like would i come in and play in this role i could see that as being more one of the
27:34cleaner fits for
27:36that i'll be the third center option i could kind of see that um he's going to give you energy
27:40decent finisher around the rim um you look
27:48look he's fine insurance for drummond he's fine like like if you told me drew eubanks was the
27:54insurance am i excited about it like ideally i'd like want somebody younger with upside that's what
28:00i would want with him he is younger he is younger does he have that 28 29 upside defensive profile
28:06like no so this is but this is why he and xavier told me senior were at the top of
28:10the list because
28:11they're a little younger they're they're not going to hurt you enough defensively and they'll be fine
28:15in fact i might like them better than some of the other guys yes yeah i would i would just
28:19because
28:19of age age i put some of the other guys because the name people might recognize them a little bit
28:23more so that's it here's another guy i mentioned i'll play with the hawks last year
28:27nefali dante oh i thought you were gonna say tony bradley
28:31tony bradley is on this list too for you tony bradley is on this list too
28:36tony bradley is on the list too as an honorable mention listen
28:41so nefali dante and tony bradley both to play for the hawks they are both on the honorable mention
28:46list nefali i mean he just couldn't he couldn't see the floor at all he played
28:51which concerns me yeah like there's but he'd be willing to compete for roster spot correct because
28:56like he's only played eight nba games but that's but when you're trying to invite guys for a shot
29:01at this this has to factor in yes who is going to come and compete for a roster spot sign
29:07a non-guaranteed
29:08deal and try for it like we got to look at it this way the third center position very likely
29:12will
29:13be like the knicks last guard spot they were looking for last year with garrison matthews and
29:18landry shaman and malcolm brogdon this is likely what the third center position is going to be this year
29:22so you got to look for some guys that might be willing last chance tony bradley your boy
29:27might be last chance too right like last chance center spot this is kind of what it is now bradley
29:33also 28 so another younger option and the joke that i make with tony bradley all the time is get
29:40that pension year 10 amen would be this season tony bradley's tony bradley's motivated i'm never
29:48nicks fans are familiar because you saw him in the hawk series you saw him in the pacer series
29:52and one of the one of rick carlisle's adjustments in the pacer series was yo thomas bryant i need to
29:58put you on ice for a little bit we got to go to tony bradley like you're laughing but tony
30:02bradley
30:03stayed ready right today tony he was ready um i think i think that's actually a nickname of a producer
30:10on the levitard show i think that with tony bradley who played uh 41 games last season but also
30:16did we saw him in the playoffs we saw him play real playoff minutes i mean he's one of the
30:21better
30:22guys on this list it's like i'm more intrigued by him than other guys because i'm like all right
30:26you know how to screen know how to roll you can rebound a little bit you can finish around the
30:31rim
30:32it's kind of all you're looking for um i'm at i'm not mad at it and he again there's not
30:38much upside
30:38there kind of knows low usage emergency break glass case emergency guy understands the role but the way
30:44you would use him is is literally like how rick carlisle did with indiana it's like if thomas
30:49bryant doesn't have it we go to tony bradley if andre drummond doesn't have it you go to tony
30:54bradley like that's it but see that's it fans are gonna want somebody that can push on sure to not
30:59have it he's not that guy i'm sure but there's not that many options for that guy right all right
31:04a couple other ones for you but i'm very intrigued to see your i'm gonna be before i say this
31:10name this
31:11is a complete you have to believe in the upside swing and you have to believe okay james wiseman
31:20oh he's healthy he's healthy now right remember he had supposedly he had a serious injury before um
31:2725 so supposedly the heat were interested in him before they ended up getting nick richards who
31:34would have been everyone's number one on this list i have my yes but now we don't but but nick
31:41richards but what i had i told you before he signed i'm like he's gone to the heat yeah yeah
31:46they had
31:46him working out in heat gear when he wasn't even on the team i think there's some people gonna listen
31:50to this and be like man james wiseman get take a flower and young i have concerns beside the health
31:56that from when we saw him on the court the thing of me about james wiseman i watched him on
32:00the court
32:01particularly his early time in golden state and that i didn't see get that much better
32:04defensive awareness but defensive awareness but correct the nicks can't nicks ain't got time for
32:12lack of a defensive awareness right yeah you're right but he is not like i'm giving him a camp invite
32:21like i need to i could i'm willing to see because he this is the thing you do with like
32:28this is the
32:29thing you do with a lot of different athletes who like they've been around they were drafted so high
32:33in the draft position especially at that size it's just gonna it's just gonna give you a career
32:37until the wheels fall all the way off we saw this with hashim to beat i'm not saying he's hashim
32:42to
32:43beat but they were both picked second overall um james wiseman is 25 years old 25 so i'm like
32:54can can a backup center be in there somewhere like the way we talked about marvin bagley he figured out
33:00a way to salvage his career despite being picked very high and has become a legitimately productive
33:05role player he hasn't played the most meaningful basketball as of late but he's been productive and
33:12he keeps finding his way onto teams and earning money so on and so forth like wiseman to me even
33:18though it just seems easy would be the most interesting name of the guys we're talking about
33:24because is there a backup center in there for somebody who several years ago was the number
33:31two overall pick and is still 25 and has physical tools the issues are the health the defensive
33:36awareness the fact that he hasn't put it together yet and has bounced around and he's only played
33:40five games in two years if the defensive awareness somehow got better
33:46and there is a backup center in there like you said then he's the kind of he's got the kind
33:52of
33:52profile where he could push a andre drummond yes but and the youth just the youth and and that but
33:58he's got to show me that yeah the defensive awareness is my big concern would i give him a training
34:03camp
34:04invite 100 100 with easy that there's intriguing that's why i said what i said before i said it this
34:09is
34:09the upside swing of the upside swings i would not sign him today would i give him an invite to
34:15camp
34:16absolutely i would do that has mike brown reached the point where you're like give him james wiseman
34:23and maybe he can figure it out look man if i'm mike brown and i talk to james wiseman let's
34:30say he
34:30comes into camp i'm gonna sit here and tell him i'm like hey man look right here on the bench
34:35there's a kid we just took with the 51st overall pick last year he came in he worked his ass
34:40off
34:41that's muhammad diawara things haven't gone well from your career you're gonna you want to earn this
34:45you're gonna have to come here and earn this i think mike i feel confident that mike brown would
34:49tell him the right things i think they'll tell him the right things whether it's received motivated or
34:53not or whether he actually applies that that is another thing again i you know me i don't think
34:58coaching is just like you push this button and the players go here no but i do think that james
35:03wiseman if he is truly ready to be coached and be part of a championship culture and really wants it
35:08the opportunity could be there for him it's about what can he do with it i'm gonna give you one
35:13more
35:13name not a lot of upside here sure uh a stretch five alternative is what i'll say here dario sarich
35:20i don't know how much is left i don't know how much is left there that's he's in that love
35:25olenic
35:27type you know he's got some size he's also he's also gonna be he's another one in the xavier
35:32tillman situation where he's gonna be in turkey um yep so i'm wondering i know i looked i looked at
35:37this too i'm also looking at guys that maybe if they don't even come at the start of season could
35:40they end up getting them down the road right no because yeah because again this might not be a
35:44thing you could address right away um i got i can't like i stylistically i don't see it it was
35:51rough in
35:51denver two years ago i just rough they load that signing out there they did not if you want to
35:56talk
35:56about peaks like he has one of the better peaks of the guys we're talking about i also don't think
35:59like
36:00like stylistically though it's not really what i'm looking for i'll get kevin love if that if i'm
36:05trying to get somebody in that vein so to speak you know what i mean probably fits you that are
36:11offensive yeah like i probably even would go kelly olenic at this point damn what if all from
36:17dario sarich is a two-year deal a couple years ago with denver and i said okay here's where i
36:21wanted
36:22to go because we talked about looking at possible cuts guys who can get cuts on teams
36:27one day i'm gonna start with this name first and i understand everybody's gonna hear this and say
36:31to me oh well dex the knicks already had some potential dealings with him this summer and this
36:36isn't gonna happen musa cise here's why i'm bringing this up and i think it's worth keeping
36:41on your watch list folks it's a long shot but i would keep my eye on it right now we
36:47know the whole
36:47situation knicks offered him a two-year 4.7 million dollar offer sheet uh cise is a restricted
36:53free agent dallas matched that right now the thing with this is the knicks they can't trade for him
37:00because people are going to look for that right because well they can't trade for him for a year
37:04because of the offer sheet being matched and in general he's he has a trade restriction until
37:09december 15th right away so but but if dallas were to waive him the knicks could then sign him
37:19right so this is possible now you're probably saying dex well why why would the mavs do that
37:24they just signed him to a two-year 4.7 million dollar deal well the marics they currently have
37:2915 standard contract players on the roster i'm looking at um that was the latest roster stuff
37:35i said cise he cleared his first contract guarantee date which was september 1st okay just the first
37:43guarantee date of his contract that's at about just over a million yep that he's guaranteed okay
37:481.1 out of 2.2 almost almost the remainder of his salary becomes guaranteed on october 1st right
37:57right that's a very interesting date to keep in mind now the mavericks also still have not signed
38:04their first round pick they still could do that are they going to keep guys would they cut they have
38:10a
38:10bunch of centers on their roster will they keep cise will they not keep cise i don't know it would
38:16make
38:17sense for them to keep him considering they signed him and they match this deal but they may also just
38:22say okay we want to keep our first round pick it's very rare that we haven't seen a first round
38:26pick i
38:27think it's stashed since 2020 right with it for a team it's very rare to do it for them to
38:33get to
38:33this late in off season and then just stash them and not sign up yeah um there's been no announcement
38:37in that so there's a possibility there's a chance um that this could happen the mavericks could have
38:4216 17 signings by the time we get to training camp so it'll be interesting this is also why they
38:47bought out quay thompson yep all i'm saying is i don't think it's likely especially if this gets
38:54past october 1st but it's something to keep an eye on yeah especially if cise doesn't think early in
39:01training camp he's not going to get playing time now again he gets waved the knicks could jump all on
39:05that knicks front office man i think they they the contract is this way because they signed up to it
39:11because they probably are like well we might be able to get you down the road because
39:16this contract's fully guaranteed october 1st as you mentioned and then if this goes on for longer
39:22his contract is not guaranteed next season because the knicks structured it that way because this is
39:27what they do and basically it doesn't become fully guaranteed until january 10th of 2028
39:33so he goes into next year with a non-guaranteed deal anyway and that's to make it basically half
39:39the way through the season so that his deal can become fully guaranteed that's 2.5 million almost
39:442.6 million so look i'm not gonna make a huge deal out of this i'm not gonna say like
39:51the knicks
39:51have to wait this out for musa cise to make a decision but i mean i feel like the contract
39:58was
39:59intentional to see and restricted restricted free agency contracts to be clear are always intentional
40:05so if dallas does part ways with them before october 1st we're gonna know why and then this could be
40:10why the knicks have been waiting to fill that spot all along to begin with i'm all i'm saying is
40:17keep your eye on that it might not be over yeah and the knicks this is why i also think
40:22the knicks are
40:22not in any rush to sign a third center this musa cise part of it matters too yeah now the
40:29other guy
40:29i think is worth monitoring is once a nick always a nick shout out to jericho sims um wow wow
40:35yeah
40:35jericho sims i think is worth monitoring this is gonna be scouring teams and rosters now milwaukee
40:42we just talked about dallas brian day of 17 standard contract players on their roster
40:47their front court is really crowded now jericho sims did exercise his 2.8 million dollar player
40:55option last season where he averaged five points five and a half boards a game um over 67 games last
41:02season i wouldn't say that he's likely a cut but keep an eye that front court rotation is crowded
41:10he could then come to the knicks as somebody that's reasonably inexpensive inexpensive has been in
41:18the third center role before um he's an athletic center was he the perfect center when he was with
41:24the knicks no but you might want to see how much his game has grown he's already familiar with the
41:30organization you know about him being a vertical threat um he's played with some of the guys already
41:35so the familiarity i think um matters he's a guy i just think if you're the knicks he could make
41:42sense as a fit as a third center if milwaukee were to release him and i actually think if he
41:48because he
41:49had his issues on defense if he was a little if he's grown any defensively then he's also in that
41:55kind of profile that could push drummond a little bit now who would i like better musa cise or jericho
42:01sims i'm going with musa cise just because defensive profile is just much much better there
42:06but i do think jericho sims is a guy to monitor and i say all this to say brian i
42:14think no matter
42:14what you do when you look at all this stuff you look at these potential cuts you look at some
42:17of
42:18the young guys on the honorable mention list the knicks are gonna be playing a the knicks are playing
42:21a waiting game here yeah okay and they should and and the waiting game might even evolve further
42:27into looking at potential guys they can trade for here later in the season right i think that is
42:33actually to me be honest the more the most likely path if the knicks don't get some young guy that
42:37gets cut that fits the profile of what they think can work for them to bring in for training camp
42:42i
42:42still think it's more likely maybe they sign somebody to a non-guaranteed deal at the end of
42:47training camp or that gets guaranteed and somebody can release and then pick up somebody else down the
42:52road or trade for i think that what the knicks are going to do is keep all their options open
42:56keep their flexibility open for as long as they can and that's why they're not going to be in a
43:01rush to do this today that's not going to happen and just to hit a couple straight candidates before
43:06we get out of here uh one i don't think they're trading for anybody now no don't because that would
43:13be a commitment that they don't need they want the flexibility yeah they don't want there's there's
43:19no reason to do that right now i think this can be relevant down the line though uh isaiah jackson
43:25being
43:25one who i remember with the pacers a little undersized but just played bigger than he is
43:32and also the clippers need to get all the draft capital they can i mean it's got six second round
43:38picks yeah yeah you ain't getting the first for isaiah jackson but seven million this year 6.4 next
43:43year so descending contract if he has a strong uh first half of the year you have to figure out
43:48how
43:48to you know money yeah that you know this this that becomes an uncomfortable conversation we'll get
43:55to that we'll kick that down the road okay that's a weird one um goga bataze is very unlikely he
44:01would
44:01be like number one with a bullet maybe on this entire list outside of like if me see who we've
44:07talked
44:07about uh before in previous episodes and maybe busa cse even if you're if you care about the youth
44:12but this is unlikely too because one he'll still play in orlando who i'm not sure is rushing to
44:21deal with the knicks right now but wendell carter jr is there they brought back nikola vucevic we'll
44:26see how that goes and how they plan they drafted isaiah nelson in the second round but goga bataze is
44:30an expiring contract at 7.6 million he is like the quintessential to me a third string center who can
44:37be a backup center though i agree um i think he's better than the role he has had in his
44:43career so
44:44far um but that's another one where the number makes it tricky and that's probably a february
44:51conversation like if orlando becomes one of the couple east teams who's just spiraling because not
44:56everyone in the east could be good even though everyone in the east looks good then maybe maybe
44:59that's something to revisit and then the last name which is maybe the most interesting one to me
45:06personally because there actually is an argument for how much is he going to fit on this team
45:12long term is clink capella he's at 7 million this year 7.3 million next year yeah yeah so it's
45:20two
45:20years that's the thing so it'll be a real commitment like this these are trade contenders
45:25in february to be clear this is like the scenario is andre drummond can't play anymore like it's it
45:32ended fast it's a wrap and you need to do something else and clink capella is older and not the
45:37same as
45:38he was but stylistically i think more along the lines of what you'd be looking for and if if the
45:44hole at backup center is glaring he's a guy that i would look at too as is goga as is
45:49isaiah jackson
45:50he's at 7 million too all these guys tend to be at like 7 million all three of the guys
45:54i just
45:55mentioned were so it's difficult there because it's like you have pakom and you have tyler kolek that's
46:01still short you don't want to give up due so it's like how do you make how do you make
46:05that work and
46:06it all depends on how dire is this in february that's the key how dire how bad like like that's
46:12why they got jose to begin with it's like yo backup point guard is a problem and then you saw
46:17what
46:18happened there are pathways to get there and we will definitely get to more of that down the road
46:21but let us know what you think about some of these options with the knicks here it's invest was not
46:27the
46:27most inspiring list and you know help us answer the question what do you think should the knicks
46:31sign a center now or should they wait for a better one to become available that is the real question
46:36i personally think the knicks are going to wait on this yeah i think they're going to be very patient
46:40on this i think they're going to look at options and i think some better options that we even have
46:45on this list may actually eventually present themselves or they might have been on this list maybe as
46:49as he say who knows i think the knicks let's just say they were very crafty when they signed
46:54that contract is the word i would use they've been crafty with a lot of contracts over the last
46:59few years we will see but either way listen i know we want every somebody everybody wants tomorrow
47:03yesterday but i think the knicks are going to be very patient with this and see how this all plays
47:07out we'll see how it plays out the knicks have time they do not have to sign the center today
47:11they do have time but i think if a good option becomes available then they will jump on that
47:15as they should that's going to do it for this edition of new york guy game that is my guy
47:20brian
47:20fonseca i'm dexter henry we'll catch you next time on another edition of new york guy game
47:29and thanks for watching new york guy game boom shakalaka
47:33you