Knicks Make Sneaky PERFECT Move

The New York Knicks have just made a sneaky perfect move, as they have signed one of the most underrated free agents this year, who also happens to be one of the most underrated players and big men in the NBA with a bright future ahead of him, while the Knicks replace Ariel Huckporty with a center who is better than him and honestly is very comparable to Mitchell Robinson. Obviously, the Knicks lost both Robinson and Huckporty and first replaced both of them with Andre Drummond needing another center. The Knicks have now gone out and done that in a pretty cheap way, while at the same time bringing in one of the NBA's most underrated players. And guys, before we do get into the video, make sure to go ahead and subscribe to Knicks Digest. 66% of viewers watching this video are not currently subscribed. It is completely free to do. We got Knicks videos every day and we're having a whole lot of fun breaking down all the latest New York Knicks news. So guys, in these eight minutes, we're going to make sure you know everything going on with the team most recently, and most recently they have just made a move, as the New York Knicks have signed one of the most underrated big men in the NBA. Shamstrani announced that restricted free agent Moussa Cissé has agreed to a two-year contract offer sheet with the New York Knicks. Sources have told ESPN his salary is half guaranteed in the first year and 2027-28 is non-guaranteed. The Dallas Mavericks have 48 hours to match this deal or not. Now Cissé is a restricted free agent, so basically what that means is the Knicks did sign him to an offer sheet. But now for the next 48 hours, the Dallas Mavericks can elect to take that deal and match it. As long as they match it, what happens is he has to go back to Dallas, there's no other way around it. Now, it's not clear what Cissé wants to do, whether he'd rather go to New York or stay in Dallas, but he does not control himself here. Look, this is classic restricted free agency. Restricted free agency has gone away in recent years because restricted free agents who are owed a lot of money usually don't get paid, but Cissé wasn't. He hasn't played enough to really get a whole lot of great money, but the Knicks have signed him to a deal and I am curious to see what's going to happen if the Mavericks are going to match it. We are going to talk about that later on in the video, but looking at Cissé's numbers, the man is incredibly talented. He's a really, really underrated big man in the league, played 38 games for the Dallas Mavericks last year and at some point these stats are going to... There they are. 37 games, excuse me, with the Dallas Mavericks, put up 4.6 points in 14 minutes of action and 6 rebounds. He also got 1.2 blocks in 14 minutes. The man is a shot-blocking demon. He's a versatile, athletic, rim-running defender. Look, he's not going to shoot the ball at all. He's not a shooter. He's not there to shoot a jump shot. He's there to catch lobs and to get offensive rebounds and put it back. Remind you of someone? He is very similar to a young Mitchell Robinson. There's a lot of ways that there are similarities around Cissé. Cissé is very underrated. He's a true 7-footer and again, a shot-blocking, athletic demon. Look, Andre Drummond is great. I loved the Andre Drummond signing. I thought it was a great move. But at the same time, we look at Drummond and understand he does have his faults. The man is one of the best offensive rebounders, one of the best rebounders in general in the league. But when Drummond gets a rebound, he doesn't look for kickouts the way that Mitchell Robinson did. Drummond tries to put the ball back up and it's a little shaky when he gets under the rim, his shooting ability, which has gotten a little bit better in years past, but still, he does have his own faults. Drummond is 15 years into his career. The Knicks needed another young big man considering Kat and Drummond are their other two centers. Cissé comes in there and he gives them a young, big man to really, really like. And there's a lot of reasons to like this move. I mean, Basketball University tweeting out the other day, some teams should really take a bet on Moussa Cissé for a few years at a low average annual value. Big and athletic, a 7-foot-5 wingspan, hits the offensive glass hard, and has intriguing rim protection and impact numbers. Crazy diamond in the rough potential for someone trying to scale his roll-up for super cheap. Enter New York. Look, the Knicks will want to use Cissé, they'll want to see how they can kind of use him in general and see what really works with him overall, but he's shown in these small increments that he does have a whole lot of potential to become a very, very good defender in this league. He's already been a good defender, but now he's got a chance to really show up and show out. And the Knicks, I really hope that they do get him and that Dallas doesn't come and mash the offer. Now, my gut reaction when I saw this is Dallas is matching it. It's not a good enough contract for Dallas to justify not matching the offer, because no matter what, even if you don't want him long-term, Dallas can mash that offer sheet and end up trading him. Now, maybe Dallas tries to mash the offer sheet and then eventually trade him to New York down the line. Maybe this turns into a sign-and-trade, both things are possible. But if I'm Dallas, I'm not letting him go empty-handed. I think that would just be remarkably stupid, and Massai Ujiri is too smart to let that happen. I'm expecting Cissé to get that offer matched, but there is a lot to look at. I mean, Jake Fischer also talked about this in further depth regarding the Knicks. Fischer said, in addition to signing Andre Drummond, sources say New York has been searching for a young athletic big man this summer. The Knicks had coveted Yves Misey from New Orleans and Moussa Dabite from Charlotte on the trade market before agreeing to terms with the 23-year-old Cissé. Now, again, we see people who love him. That Mavs-restricted free agent Moussa Cissé is my favorite free agent, big. Turns 24 in September with a 7-feet-tall and a 7-foot-5 wingspan. Absolutely monstrous defender, 1.7 steals plus 4 blocks per 100 possessions, and a force on the glass. 17% of offensive rebounds and 25% of defensive rebounds. The only players to average 1-plus-steal and 4-plus blocks per 100 possessions last season were Wemby, Robert Williams, and Moussa Cissé. Wemby and Williams both got contract extensions over this past summer. Now, obviously, Wemby got a massive extension. Robert Williams got paid quite well by Portland as well. Even though Portland has a couple big men, they do believe very heavily in Rob Williams, and the Time Lord is back there. So overall, we're seeing guys who do this get paid very well. Now, Cissé's not obviously going to become Wemby, but he can become like Robert Williams for sure, except taller. The taller Robert Williams is not unsimilar to none other than the man the Knicks lost to Boston, Mitchell Robinson. So, I do think this is an absolutely perfect move. This was the free agent to sign if you're the Knicks. This was the smartest possible move they could have made. Cissé played well recently in MSG as well. As the last time Cissé was in MSG, as Sleeper Knicks mentioned, he had 15 points, career high, won 5-6 on the field, had 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, career high, 4 blocks, played 20 minutes. Now look, it was reported a while back, I want to say by Ian Begley, but I don't want to be wrong, but I do think it was Begley last time I checked, this was weeks ago, that if the Knicks were to acquire Cissé or try to sign him, they didn't see him as a backup center. They saw him as their third string center. So, Cissé right now is kind of still going to be that third string big, but at the same time, if Drummond misses some time, if Cat misses some time, and they'll obviously miss games, they're big men, no big man plays 82 games, I know Cat did for a while back, nearly a decade ago now, but like, realistically, they'll each miss a couple games here and there. Cissé will get a chance to show up and show out, and I honestly love that. I really, sincerely hope Dallas does not match this offer. I'm not confident that the Knicks are going to end up landing Cissé because he can, and that's where things get interesting, because if you look at the Knicks right now, they obviously love Yves Messi, Messi's tough to grab, it's basically a known thing that the Pelicans would not trade Messi, they tried to acquire him with Jose Alvarado when the Knicks did acquire Alvarado at the deadline, but they couldn't get past that, it was where the line was drawn. Then, you look at Debite, I do think the Knicks can go back to Debite conversations if Cissé does get matched, which again, I'm expecting him to, so I will say look for Moussa Debite to also get re-contact, the Knicks will re-inquire about him, I'd assume, because the Hornets do have a few different centers right here that they can go with, and they do like Ryan Kochbrenner a lot. So, we will see more conversations on that front if Cissé does get matched, I'm really hoping he doesn't. If you made me bet on it, as a betting man, I would say yes, the Mavericks do match Moussa Cissé, but let's all hope not, because man, this guy is underrated and will be a steal if the New York Knicks can keep him. Guys, let me know your thoughts in the comments down below, like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications, have a great day guys, go Knicks, great move, be happy about it.