Guys like Blake, Duhon, and Arroyo are probably out of our price range, but Pike/Skinner/Marks add up to 3.3M that could be used more wisely on all of the other PGs up there who would come in under 2M if not 1M. There’s also a lot of journeyman bigs available as well.

Also: cap space is not an issue because we’ve had a mid-level exception available for lord knows how long. Now we don’t have to/would not use it all, but if we let go of P/S/M we’ll have money freed to counter the luxury tax hit.

I just don’t see the point in trading LB for a backup PG, since a) he’s very, very productive b) he’s young and c) we’d then need a backup SG. Unless we can also get all of that back in return (production, youth, SG) then it seems to me we’re treading water rather than improving.

If you can turn P/M/S$ into actual contribution, however, that’s a real gain.

Another greater question is: What about Gordan?

Amare also has nearly the same negative adjusted +/- (.147 vs. -.173), and I don’t think we’re letting him go. I would guess the problem here is that a great number of LB’s minutes coincide with Nash’s absence, which represents one of the core “skewered-sample” problems with adj. +/ (even Rosenbaum admits this).

For another take, LB had a win score per minute of .145 which is a very solid number. Both stats are imperfect, especially in a case like this where they’re contrary to one another.

The point here is that I’m not absolutely against trading LB, but it would take a relatively impressive offer to match his value, since a) he’s got a good contract b) he’s very productive c) he’s young and d) we have no one to take his place. If we can manage to match that (through draft and trade), then great. But we’d have to talk about what offers would work.

just like Eddie House. Some guys (Diaw?) show up in big games and some guys (Barbosa) don’t.

Actually, outside of the obscene contract, not much has gone right for Q in his professional life. He was signed by the Suns to play the big guard, post up, and such. But D’A stuck him out at the 3 point line. There he caught fire, but hasn’t been able to duplicate that success. Because of Nash, most of his 3 pointers were like practice he was so wide open. He has not gotten those open looks with the Knicks. Then of course there is the injured back, and the trade from the penthouse to the outhouse. Then his brother gets killed. He misses time, and never gets untracked.

My main point is I don’t think anyone has used Q right, other than that last year with the Paper Clips. So it is difficult to say if we could use him or not. You can be sure MikeD won’t let him go if he is healthy and can be used in his 2005 role. I think he would be useful (if healthy) in his 2004 Clipper role. How many 2 guards can handle him in the post up? But I would not want any part of that contract. I think Alando Tucker can help us more.