As Carmelo Anthony leans toward leaving New York, Chicago and Houston emerge as frontrunners

That's where I think he'll go... It's an easier path through the east. Just depends on how much he would want to play with Harden and Howard.

 

Chicago may have the most overrated roster in the NBA right now. Let's look at their roster.

Rose - A player whose main attribute is his explosiveness, but overall has been a bad shooter and average playmaker. Two knee surgeries and one should expect that explosiveness to take a huge hit. I know Harden's everyone's favorite whipping boy right now, but seriously. Is there really any contest between the two?

Noah - 10ppg/12rpg in the playoffs against the Wizards. Most ridiculous 1st team All-NBA in a while. Howard clearly superior player.

Butler - 3-and-D guy with spotty 3s. Parsons is a 3-and-D guy with spotty D. But Parsons overall offers much more.

Gibson - Solid player. Love the guy. Wanted him during the Asik rumors. Have to give him the edge over Beverley slightly.

Everyone else on both rosters are pretty much non-factor. I know East is East, but Melo gotta be asking himself. Whether he wants to just reach the ECFs or actually get a chance to win rings.

 

The players can play D. Even Harden. But there must be a total commitment from the coaches to and through the players.

But, think of it this way: if Melo is seriously considering da Bulls he has to know he would have to commit to Thibs' D commitment.

BTW: Any Eastern team has an easier road to the Finals than any Western team. Look at SAS and 7 games v Mavs, the 8-seed; 5 v 5-seed; 6 v 2-seed. Heat lost 3 games total, and were unchallenged in most of the 12 Ws. So, immediate gratification is more likely in the Least than the West.

BTW II: No Mavs? Slick salesguy Cubes won't go quietly. Just saying.

 

Maybe. But if he does go that path it would far more pressure in Chicago as oppose to here in Houston. I think melo will come to houston based on playing with better taken not far but less pressure and more fun. I believe melo needs teammates like harden and dwight rather than Noah and D.rose. He wouldn't and won't mesh well with them I believe. So the best and right option is to come to Houston for melo but we must due our part too.

 

Too many egos for one team . Expect a mid season implosion.

 

Jesus, with Melo this team would average 120 points a night... I'll take the slight defensive hit to make that happen.

 

East isn't easy. But, the narrative says it is, so...

 

Luckily for the Rockets Melo's game isn't built around athleticism, he takes plenty of jumpers and is an elite scorer. If he teams up with Harden and Dwight he won't have to be the only person scoring so it should take the load off of him in the long run. I can see everything working out with him but yeah I would choose Bosh over Melo right now because Bosh has shown he can tone down his ego to win, Melo on the other hand has not. Melo is offensively more talented and he can play the SF/PF spot while Bosh would be playing at PF/C. Either way neither would be a bad fit.

 

LOL what are you talking about? The East perennially has maybe 3 teams a year that would even make the playoffs in the West, it would be hard to make the East any easier.

 

Rockets need more offense. The bench was awful. There was absolutely no offense when harden was resting.

 

Suffer over what? Jones? Another thing overlooked is you can drop the regular season minutes by about 3-4 a game of Harden, Melo and Parsons, especially when you can alternate Harden and Melo for half the game.

6 this year...lol

 

Or a new head coach

 

My vision of how things will play out.

Draft NIght

-Houston selects a player of Philly's choosing with the 25th pick in the draft, in a pre-arranged deal to dump Jeremy Lin.

Preliminary Offseason trades

-Houston sends Jeremy Lin, Donatas Motiejunas, and the player selected in the draft to Philly in exchange for a future second round draft pick.
-Houston sends Omer Asik to Boston in exchange for the Paul Pierce trade exception and the rights to the Clippers pick and another second round pick.

Offseason Contract Maintenance

-Houston waives the non guaranteed contracts of Omri Casspi and Robert Covington
-Houston has created $17,456,188 in cap space.

The Big Move

-New York signs and trades Carmelo Anthony to the Rockets for cap space, the Clippers 2015 #1 pick, Houston's 2015 #1 pick, and the future second from Boston.

Follow up signings

-Houston signs Chandler Parsons to a 4 year 46 million dollar deal (13, 12, 11, 10), using his bird rights
-Houston signs Trevor Ariza to the mid level exception
-Houston signs Emeka Okafor to the bi-annual exception
-Houston signs Aaron Brooks to the veteran minimum
-Houston signs Omri Casspi to the veteran minimum
-Houston signs Robert Covington to the veteran minimum
-Houston signs Francisco Garcia to the vet minimum

2014-2015 Houston Rockets

Beverley / Brooks / Canaan
Harden / Daniels / Garcia
Ariza / Parsons / Casspi
Melo / Jones / Covington
Howard / Okafor

While not a dynasty, I think this gives you as good a shot as any to win a ring for the next 3-4 years. The luxury tax will be an issue, but you have to pay to play.

 

Never understood the easy thing. I can't play the easy game, since everyone just does NOT make the East Finals, let alone the NBA Finals. Maybe more talent out West when it comes to teams assembled, but easy? Nah.

 

Add every team from the East to the West and only 2 make the playoffs, the Heat and the Pacers. There's still only 8 seeds and there's only 2 teams from the East in the top 10....

 

Lovely plan up there, but are we declining Parson's deal then? Also, no way Ariza accepts the MLE, he'll be looking for his last big contract.

 

The big move is New York trading Melo for 2 late 1st round picks and a 2nd round pick??

They wouldn't even have the decency to laugh at you after hanging the phone up- you would audibly hear it before that phone clicks.

either way the bulls would put up a much better proposal

 

I like Melo as a player but can anyone convince me how Melo will fit this team? If he's going to play the 4, won't he be destroyed by guys like Griffin and LMA. I know he's a great player but I'm just not sold in how he fits this team.

 

It's all about leverage and where Melo wants to play. If he picks Houston and is willing to sign for less than Max, NYK has to play ball or get nothing. Bulls can offer more but 1) why would NYK make Eastern team stronger and 2) why would Melo choose a team that must be made weaker to fit him?

 

Boston also had a Big Three that meshed well together. KG could score inside and play D. Pierce could beat you from the inside and outside. And Ray Allen was one of the best shooters in the league. I have serious doubts that Harden and Melo could play alongside each other. And before anyone brings up Durant and Harden co-existing all those years, keep in mind that Harden was the 6th man and his role was instant offense off the bench for OKC. That would not be the case with both Melo and Harden in the starting lineup for the Rockets.

And yes, even if they can play well together, there's the inescapable truth that McHale is a horrible coach and doesn't have a clue what he's doing out there. And oh BTW, we still haven't replaced the two assistant coaches we lost(including Sampson).