The Last Melo Thread? Melo comments on his departure from HOU

Lol Melo was never a reason for our bad start.

He is the scapegoat.

 

This? This inarticulate rant calling someone a 'dumbass' is 'this'?

This? 'Durl likes to go after big names with a complete disregard for chemistry' is 'this'?

I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to be out of the country during the whole 'Melo Rox era' and have never had a handle on what actually went down. The Last (lost) [sic] Melo Thread appears and, y'know what, I am as far at sea as ever.

May it RIP, s'il vous please?!!

 

we definitely threw him under the bus and did him dirty.

we either should have never signed him or at least give him 30 games of time.

my guess is that Morey panicked as he remembered what happened in 2015 with the whole dwight fiasco and decided to cut his losses early.. which wasn't a bad move but it does look poorly upon us.

 

A lot of people at that time said that it was a low risk high reward move, and therefore a no-brainer. I can't believe people still think in hindsight that it was a low risk move.

I said it at that time, Carmelo Anthony is NEVER low risk because of who he is. He was NOT your regular vet min guy. You couldn't just cut him or even bench him because he wasn't outplaying his contract. There would be repercussions deeper than basketball (to borrow his words) if he didn't work out.

 

I don't believe this will be the last Melo thread. in fact if necessary I will start another one. I.D.I.O.T.

 

I agree with most of your post (though I think Morey handled the situation with Melo just as professionally as Melo handled his time with the Rockets).

The whole thing was a clusterf*ck from the beginning, trying to force Bzdelik and MDA to work with someone who had cost them career prestige and money was insane. Bringing Biglydick back was the right move to salvage the season, but he was not fired, he just wasn't offered a new contract. Big difference there, and don't forget that it was Jeff who quit on the team right before the season. Who the hell does that? I wouldn't have given him a new contract either, the traitor.

To me, the person in this entire situation who has the most blood on his hands is Bzdelik, because he threw the team into utter turmoil right before the season started. If he was that dead set against working with Melo again, he should have retired a day or two after we signed Melo.

 

Narratives +10000000

People will dump on Murray more than they'll dump on Phil Jackass and what he did to Melo

 

No we didn’t. He wasn’t good, so we told him he wouldn’t play much anymore. If he took it personally, that’s on him.

I agree we shouldn’t have signed him, but that was obvious from the moment it happened.

 

Very valid point. And that lack of foresight came back to bite Morey (and CP3) on the ass.

And how about Tilman's role in all this? Did he panic 10 games in and demand that Morey do something? We may never know, but I don't think it's out of the question that he had a pretty big say in the decision to trade Melo.

 

I was surprised by it big time. It went from 'This is the piece we want, the piece we need.' Mind you, for 3 years, 4 years they were trying to get me to come to the Rockets. I finally went there. I get there. I'm thinking everything is good, I'm doing everything I gotta do, never missed practice, did all my work, real professional with everyone there. I did what I had to do. Then the 10th game came, I didn't understand where that came from. I actually reached out to Daryl first. 'Can we talk about..how can we make this better? What can we do to fix this? What can I do to fix this?' But then he had in mind he wanted to come talk to me too about releasing me & letting me go. I didn't like how that went down.

I was actually in San Antonio, in my room getting ready for the game. Me & Daryl was supposed to speak that night because I had reached out previously about a heads up meeting, 'What's going on, let me know what I can do, I'm here to help the team, let me know what I can do.' He came in and was like 'Your services are no longer needed.' I'm like 'Hold up, what the hell are you talking about?' 'Things are just not working out & you gotta figure out something to do.' 'How the hell am I gonna figure out something to do? I got a game tomorrow.' 'Nah, you're not gonna suit up tomorrow.' So I started taking it even deeper. He told me I wasn't going to make the rotation. I can't make a 9/10 man rotation? That's what you're trying to tell me? I'm already starting to accept the fact I'm coming off the bench, which was very hard for me. I accepted that & moved on from that. You're telling me I can't make a 9/10 man rotation on this team? It's deeper than basketball. At that time, that's what I was feeling. I was on a 10-game trial period. This isn't something that just happened. This is something that's been talked about over these first 10 games of the season.

Did Chris Paul feel the same way?

I talked to him. I called him right away. I called him & James right away. Keep it 100 with me. Did you know anything about this? Now our friendship is on the line so keep it honest with me. 'Nah, I didn't know anything about this' and James told me the same thing.

We know who the star of the Rockets is. One can surmise if Harden wanted you on the Rockets, you'd be on the Rockets. Is that how you feel?

I never spoke to James about this. I would never jump the gun. I would never make that assumption. I had a one-on-one heart to heart with CP3 in my room 1 o'clock in the morning, looked him in his eyes, looked me in my eyes and told me 'Bro, I would never do something like that to you.' Me and him, it goes deeper than basketball. For him to sit there & feel the pain I was going through at that moment, I honestly can say that I don't think he knew anything.

How vulnerable were you at that moment?

I felt like ****. To sit there across from the GM and he tells you 'Your services are no longer needed', that was an ego hit, a pride hit. I started questioning myself. 'Can I still do this? What did I do?' I asked him that. 'What did I do?' 'You didn't do anything. It's just not working out.'

You were questioning whether you had the game any longer?

At that point in time because that what made me feel like that. Someone in power that tells you we no longer need your services, I've been utilizing my services for a long time. For you to say you don't need that no more, I felt like I was fired. Other people go through that on a day-to-day basis, people get fired. I honestly felt like I got fired.

What role do you feel like Mike D'Antoni played in this?

I don't believe he had a role in this.

So you think it was strictly Daryl Morey?

I think this just happened. I don't think Daryl told anyone to be honest. I don't know the facts. It was just that and I've never been back to Houston ever again. I don't believe D'Antoni had anything to do with this.

Difference between your emotions departing Houston in comparison to departing OKC.

Very different. I accepted my role in OKC. You're gonna be 4th option. Steven Adams was 3rd. This is what I have to do. I got out of New York. I'm here on a team where I know we have a shot to win a championship. Amongst us internally, we all felt like that. It wasn't until after the season when all this conversation started about 'Will he come back?' 'Will he take a pay cut?' 'Will he come off the bench?' None of this was ever discussed with me as far as me coming off the bench. All I needed was someone to communicate that to me. People were afraid to stand up & communicate.

Would you have accepted that?

I wasn't willing to accept because that never wasn't explained to me. If you sat down with me man-to-man and said 'What's best for the team is for you to come off the bench.' I probably would have fought it a little bit but then stepped away and 'You know what, this is what's best for the team.' I went to Billy Donovan himself & said 'What do I have to do? What do you need from me? What do I need to do?' He told me. I wished the OKC situation would have worked out. I thought it was going to work out.

Why didn't it work out?

Bigger than basketball. A tax situation. They was trying to get me to revamp my contract. At that point in time, I felt the situation wasn't handled right. It was a one-&-done situation in OKC and I didn't respect that. I went in there to fight, for myself, for Russ, for PG. We were on one accord. It was everything else that was happening.

Could you accept a lesser role?

1000%. I had to do that. I had to do that in OKC. I had to accept a role I wasn't willing to accept at that point in time & wasn't willing to come off the bench in Houston because that never was relayed to me. It was 'You are the piece we need to get us over the hump.' I went in there with that mentality. 'We need Melo to come in here & get us over the hump.' I watched it. I saw where I can plug myself in there. I believed we were going to do that but when I get there, it's something totally different. The dialogue started getting less & less. No more conversations. It was just doing and then I gotta to react to things being done. Look on the board, you're name ain't the board. 'Man, why ain't my name on the board? Alright, cool, I accept that, let me move on. Alright, you're not gonna start tonight. Alright, cool.' Man, you should have told me that. Let me feel it. I've never done this before. I've never come off the bench before. I've never done that except for Team USA and that's the 12 best players in the world on one team. You're telling me you want to come off the bench, communicate that with me.

 

Your services are no longer needed anymore.

 

Morey's fat ass probably told him that.
They were chasing this guy for years & thought he was the missing piece.

 

notice how Melo then says he never spoke to James about this after Stephen A asks if james really wanted you in houston, you would still be.

also he admits he was just beginning to start to accept the role of coming off the bench. so he still wasn't over it

 

Yeah, something tells me that he wouldn't have been so "All right, cool" if MDA had told him he was officially our 6th or 7th guy and would not be starting for us at all. This is a conversation they should have had with Melo before they signed him, because once he showed up and was put in that starting lineup, taking him out was considered an insult.

 

Also, keep in mind no single team picked up Melo last year. LeBron could have had his LA team do it. They did not. Same for Wade and his Heat team.
LeBron could have picked up Melo THIS year. It has not happened.

 

sniff. I feel like ClutchFans has given up on me.

 

Nobody here has forgotten you, Oz Trigonometry!

 

The reality is Clark was going to get his minutes. And then Melo was going to be used somewhat like Gerald Green's use case which is *some nights he plays, some nights he DOES NOT play.* Rockets probably felt that that type of use case would have caused some *unrest* with Melo as the season goes on. Morey did not want that distraction. Did not want *Melo's Shadow* to loom over the team. So they just cut ties.