New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

2015/16 Salary Cap Update: New York Knicks

March 19th, 2016 at 5:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 is set at $70MM, which is good for an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. With the February 18th cutoff date for trades and the de facto deadline of March 1st for buyouts now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of updating the salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the New York Knicks, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:

2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $73,867,214*
Remaining Cap Room= -$3,867,214
Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $10,872,786

*Note: This amount includes the $75K each owed to Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Wesley Saunders, and Darion Atkins, as well as the $50K owed to Travis Trice, all of whom were waived.

Cap Exceptions Available:

None

Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,300,000

Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000

Note: Despite the trade deadline having passed, the NBA season technically doesn’t end until June 30th. Teams are able to again make trades upon the completion of the regular season or when/if they are eliminated from the playoffs, whichever comes later. So these cash limits still apply.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Knicks Rumors: Anthony, Rambis, Porzingis

March 18th, 2016 at 7:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Carmelo Anthony understands he can force his way out of New York if he desires, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. In a wide-ranging interview about his career and the state of the Knicks, Anthony acknowledged that he refused to waive his no-trade clause amid rumors of possible deals before last month’s deadline. “I guess I have all the power,” he said. “If I really wanted to get out of this situation I could have waived that no-trade clause. But I’ve stuck with it and I’m still sticking with it.”

How much longer he’ll stick with it is anyone’s guess. The Knicks are looking at another summer of upheaval, with a major decision surrounding the fate of interim head coach Kurt Rambis and possibly a limited return of Phil Jackson to the bench. Whatever happens, Anthony made it clear that his patience with New York management is wearing thin. He’s tired of missing the playoffs, which the Knicks are doing for the third straight season, and he expects the franchise to add at least one big-name free agent this summer. “Now it’s time to start competing for a championship, not just competing for the playoffs,” Anthony said. “Those days for me are over with.”

There’s more news out of New York:

The time has come for Anthony and the Knicks to part ways, argues Tom Ziller of SB Nation. Anthony expects to be surrounded by veteran stars, and pursuing them isn’t the best strategy for New York right now, Ziller writes. Instead, he says the team should focus on rebuilding around rookie Kristaps Porzingis. The columnist suggests the Lakers, Rockets, Mavericks, Celtics and Wizards as possible destinations for Anthony.
Anthony offered more fuel for the argument that he’s thinking of moving on, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. “It’s hard to answer those type of questions when you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Anthony said today. “We still have a month left to the season. To be thinking, ‘Am I going to be on this team next [season]?’ That’s for you to speculate. I don’t know what’s going to happen this summer. I can’t predict that.”
Rambis would prefer that Porzingis skip the Olympics this summer, writes Barbara Barker of Newsday. “I understand players’ commitments to their country and their desire to play for their country,” Rambis said. “But from a selfish standpoint, looking at it purely from a Knicks standpoint, yeah, we’d want him here working with us the whole time.”

Kurt Rambis Praises Luke Walton

March 18th, 2016 at 12:51pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis offered his praise for the job Luke Walton did with the Warriors while coach Steve Kerr was away from the team recovering from back surgery, Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. Rambis noted that while Walton didn’t need to change much in order for Golden State to remain successful, the team did embrace Walton’s unselfish style of play, Berman adds. “He just continued to perpetuate what was going on,’’ Rambis said of Walton. “It’s not like he changed anything. He continued to allow the team to play the way they’re playing and [have] been successful with. It’s difficult to coach any team, even a good team. You got to keep them motivated and challenged. Every team that plays Golden State, you’re going to see their best. It’s tough as defending champions to meet that challenge night in and night out. When you think of unselfish play and teamwork, they epitomize it.”

While Rambis appears to be team president Phil Jackson‘s top choice to coach the Knicks next season, Walton is reportedly on the team’s short list of potential candidates. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Change Of Heart For Carmelo? Porzingis Battles 'Rookie Wall'

March 17th, 2016 at 10:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

As the Knicks slide further out of the playoff race, speculation is growing that Carmelo Anthony may start looking elsewhere, writes Ian Begley of ESPN.com. Anthony met recently with team president Phil Jackson to discuss where the franchise is headed. The 31-year-old combo forward declined to offer many details of the get-together, but with the 28-41 Knicks about to miss the postseason for the third straight year, it’s clear that Anthony wants to see major changes this summer. “It’s in their court. The ball is in their court,” Anthony said of New York’s front office. “They have an opportunity, we have an opportunity to do something this offseason. We gotta do something. It’s there.” Begley says many in the organization are concerned that Anthony will consider waiving his no-trade clause if the team fails to make a splash in free agency.

Kristaps Porzingis needs to overcome the “rookie wall” and finish the season strong to boost the Knicks‘ case in free agency, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman believes New York’s pitch to free agents is going to focus on the chance to play with Anthony and the 7’3″ Porzingis, who was an early-season front-runner for Rookie of the Year. However, the Latvian big man has regressed noticeably as the season has worn on. He posted 18 double-doubles before Kurt Rambis replaced Derek Fisher as head coach in February, but he hasn’t had any since. “I don’t want to finish the season with regret and then have five months of offseason work,” Porzingis said. “I want to give my all. When the offseason starts, I’ll put in more work and prepare myself for next season.’’

Jose Calderon To Play In Summer Olympics

March 17th, 2016 at 2:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Much-maligned Knicks point guard Jose Calderon said he’s looking forward to playing with the Spanish national team in this summer’s Olympics, noting that he is “appreciated there,” Marc Berman of The New York Post relays. “I want to be there,’’ said Calderon. “It will be my fourth Olympics. I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to play more. I think four is a good number. After 16 years on the national team, I’m not going to get to 2020. It’s a little bit too far for me.” Calderon has one year and approximately $7.7MM remaining on his contract but the Knicks could use the stretch provision to waive him and save $5MM on next season’s cap.

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 3/16/16

March 16th, 2016 at 10:54pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sources close to Knicks team president Phil Jackson recently floated the notion to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com that the Zen Master would consider coaching home games and have interim coach Kurt Rambis lead the team when on the road next season. Jackson has often cited his health as he’s maintained in recent years that coaching is out of the question, but people around the 70-year-old say he appears to have more energy than usual, and he’s reportedly lost 20 of the 30 pounds he gained since taking the Knicks job, according to Shelburne.

It’s unclear what the chances of this kind of arrangement coming to pass are, but it would certainly make for an intriguing compromise if Jackson meets resistance to the idea of hiring Rambis full-time, according to Shelburne’s report. Jackson hasn’t officially committed to keeping Rambis beyond the season, but he has hinted that he’d like to see him earn the removal of his interim tag, which jibes with an earlier report that Jackson was pulling for Rambis to win the permanent job when he named him interim boss. The executive has yet to give any indication he is considering other candidates besides Rambis and many league executives believe he is the Zen Master’s one and only choice for the slot.

Knicks star small forward Carmelo Anthony wasn’t enthusiastic about the notion of Jackson coaching part time and didn’t think it was a realistic option given the executive’s age and health concerns. “Nah, nah, nah. I don’t think that should be accepted,” Anthony said. “I wouldn’t accept that if that was the case. Phil is cool man. He doesn’t need to be on the sidelines no more. He put so many years into this game. He’s cool. He doesn’t need to be on the sideline. I don’t think he’s thinking about coming back down on the sideline. I hope not. Let him ride on out. Let him sit out and be the president.”

This brings me to the topic for today: Would the Knicks benefit from Phil Jackson returning to coaching on a part-time basis?

Jackson’s coaching resume certainly speaks for itself, but he hasn’t patrolled an NBA sideline since the 2010/11 campaign. The game has certainly changed over the past few years and the jury is still out on whether or not the triangle offense, a staple of Jackson’s, is still a viable system in the league. There is also the matter of how players would respond to two coaches leading them and doling out minutes. It could cause a schism within the locker room, especially if Jackson and Rambis differed on the rotation and substitution patterns. It could also place Rambis in an extremely difficult position if players saw him as just a placeholder while on the road and his authority suffered as a result.

But what say you? Is having Jackson as a part-time coach a better alternative to retaining Rambis or hiring a new coach altogether? Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.

Knicks Notes: Rambis, Anthony on Jackson

March 16th, 2016 at 9:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The 28-40 Knicks are hoping to become the first opposing team to win a regular season game at Oracle Arena in over a year when they face off against on the Warriors tonight. As the teams get ready to take the court in Oakland, let’s take a look at a few notes from the city that never sleeps:

Coach Kurt Rambis says Knicks president of basketball operations Phil Jackson hasn’t discussed coaching on a part-time basis since “years ago” when the Zen Master patrolled the sidelines for the Lakers, Marc Berman of the New York Post tweets.
Carmelo Anthony doesn’t believe Jackson will coach in the league again and believes the idea of someone coaching only homes games to be “silly,” Berman passes along (Twitter link).
Anthony should have influence on the team’s next coaching hire and has every right to demand a say in the process, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News opines. Jackson’s coaching tree hasn’t yielded favorable results and Anthony isn’t out of line for raising the idea of exploring other options, Isola argues.

Knicks Sign Tony Wroten To Mulityear Deal

March 16th, 2016 at 5:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

MARCH 16TH, 5:40 pm: The signing is official, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.com.

MARCH 7TH, 12:10pm: The deal isn’t yet done and the Knicks are still evaluating Wroten, according to Beck (Twitter link), while Berman indicates that the sides are continuing to negotiate

11:51am: The contract is expected to cover only this season and next without a full guarantee on next year’s salary, league sources tell Begley (Twitter link). Marc Berman of the New York Post also hears the deal is only a two-season arrangement (Twitter link). Berman’s source reiterates the notion that Wroten might not appear in a game this season because of his health.

11:19am: “Minimal” guarantees exist on the salary in year two and year three, Beck also reports (Twitter link). Still, the Knicks appear to be unable to sign any outside free agent to a three-year deal until July. It’s theoretically possible, given the doubts about his ability to play this season, that the sides are planning to wait until then, but Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com hears the signing is expected to take place sometime this week (Twitter link).

10:57am: It’s highly unlikely Wroten appears in a game for the Knicks this season in spite of their deal, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck hears. Beck cites concerns about Wroten’s health, though he’s 14 months removed from his torn right ACL (Twitter link).

10:26am: The Knicks and Tony Wroten are finalizing a multiyear contract, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Charania refers to it as a three-year deal in his tweet, but the Knicks don’t have the power to sign any outside free agent for more than this season and next, since they’re limited to the minimum salary exception, so it’s unclear where talk of the third year is coming from. In any case, the Knicks have an open roster spot, so they don’t have to let anyone go to bring in Wroten, the ex-Sixers combo guard whose 16.9 points per game in an injury-shortened 30-game stint last season were more than anyone else on his team.

It’s somewhat of a surprise to see New York go for Wroten, despite longstanding mutual interest, since Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported last week that Tim Frazier and Ray McCallum were considered more likely options for the Knicks roster vacancy. The team reportedly had concerns about Wroten’s defense and unfamiliarity with the triangle offense. Still, the Knicks visited recently with him, as Isola also reported, and the team put him through a “workout/physical/interview,” Isola tweets this morning.

The Heat did their due diligence with a check-in on Wroten earlier this season, but the 22-year-old has nonetheless remained unsigned since the Sixers waived him on Christmas Eve. His lingering free agency raised eyebrows, since he has the pedigree of having been the 25th overall pick in 2012. He made his case that he had recovered from a January 2015 torn right ACL when he returned to game action a few weeks before Philadelphia cut him, though he wasn’t quite the same, shooting just 33.8% from the field in eight games, well beneath his 41.3% career mark.

Latest On ‘Melo, Knicks Coaching Situation

March 15th, 2016 at 7:51pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony said he wouldn’t accept an arrangement wherein 70-year-old team president Phil Jackson coaches the team on a part-time basis next season, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News writes. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com relayed that people close to Jackson raised the possibility that the Zen Master could offer to coach home games for the team next season and have Kurt Rambis coach on the road. “Nah, nah, nah. I don’t think that should be accepted,” Anthony said. “I wouldn’t accept that if that was the case. Phil is cool man. He doesn’t need to be on the sidelines no more. He put so many years into this game. He’s cool. He doesn’t need to be on the sideline. I don’t think he’s thinking about coming back down on the sideline. I hope not. Let him ride on out. Let him sit out and be the president.”

The veteran scorer doesn’t think Jackson could handle the rigors of returning to coaching on a full-time basis, nor does he believe there is any substance to the rumors the executive would consider returning to the sidelines, Isola notes. “He’s 72? He’s 70 years old. He actually looks pretty good for his age,” Anthony said. “But he doesn’t want to deal not just with the game of basketball but the strenuous schedule and having to mentally get focused for games and prepared for players and prepared for teams and sit on the sidelines. I don’t think he wants to deal with that. I think just the grind of the NBA season, I don’t think he wants to deal with that. Phil ain’t coaching no more man. So let’s [kill] that rumor. Phil ain’t coaching no more.”

Anthony also noted that while he is open to Rambis remaining coach, he does want Jackson to expand his search to consider other candidates as well, Isola relays. “I think you still have to go out there and at least listen to other candidates out there,” Anthony said. “I think you consider Kurt at that job,” Anthony said. “[Jackson] brought Kurt here for that reason if anything was to happen and the situation is here for him now. I think it’s just more of seeing how Kurt handles the situation right now, how the team does, how the team responds to Kurt.”

Jackson hasn’t officially committed to keeping Rambis beyond the season, but he has hinted that he’d like to see him earn the removal of his interim tag, which jibes with an earlier report that Jackson was pulling for Rambis to win the permanent job when he named him interim boss. The executive has yet to give any indication he is considering other candidates besides Rambis and many league executives believe he is the Zen Master’s one and only choice for the slot, Isola writes.

‘Melo believes he should have some input regarding the team’s next coach, but he doesn’t want to be viewed as the one responsible for Rambis not being retained, the Daily News scribe relays. It is unclear what effect keeping Rambis on as coach would have on Anthony’s willingness to waive his no-trade clause if the team approached him about a potential deal. Anthony has publicly expressed his desire to remain with the Knicks, though some have speculated that he would readily accept a deal that would allow him to join the Clippers and good friend Chris Paul in Los Angeles.

Pacific Notes: Scott, Watson, Cauley-Stein, Curry

March 15th, 2016 at 10:13am CST by Chuck Myron

A theory going around the league suggests Byron Scott isn’t necessarily in his last season as Lakers coach, as Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck relays (Twitter links). The idea suggests the Lakers will keep Scott for one more year, delaying the appointment of his successor in case Knicks team president Phil Jackson exercises the opt-out that’s in his contract for the summer of 2017, moves to the Lakers, and wants to handpick a coach, according to Beck. The Bleacher Report scribe cautions that it’s just a theory. Sources close to Jackson and the Lakers tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com that the Zen Master is unlikely to return to the franchise that fiancee Jeanie Buss owns, with Jackson loving life in New York and perhaps thinking of coaching the Knicks on a part-time basis, as we rounded up earlier amid a slew of other coaching rumors. There’s news on the Lakers there, and more on other Pacific Division teams here:

Earl Watson has an interim tag on his title as Suns coach, but he’s already dreaming of ways to combine the talents of guards Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Devin Booker next season when Bledsoe returns from the torn meniscus in his left knee, observes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Booker has been seeing time at point guard, but his 6’6″ length means the situation is distinct from Phoenix’s failed experiment of having Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas on the same team, Coro writes.
Watson is a believer in the internal growth of the the team, pointing to the emergence of Booker and Alex Len, as Coro relays in the same piece. “We enhanced bench production without a trade,” Watson said. “How many teams can say they did that without paying a guy to come in? So when you go into free agency, you have six guys who can give you 30 [points] at any time. The creativity is how do you build around it? As a full program, we can throw a lot of things on the board and we don’t have to say, ‘We need to bring in a scoring player,’ that’s going to command most of our money in free agency. Now we can be really crafty.”
Kings coach George Karl plans to increase playing time for Willie Cauley-Stein and Seth Curry down the stretch, notes Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (Twitter link). Cauley-Stein recently described Karl’s explanation for not giving him more minutes as “kind of flimsy,” while Curry has expressed mild frustration about his lack of burn.