I agree with this, he is essentially a very rich mans third banana. Little to no responsibility but can go off when Harden and Howard are struggling. Personally, I hate the guy. But as an NBA player, he does seem to fit our team perfectly. I wouldn't be worried about making the money work. Morey showed that he is willing to cut people loose to make room for stars. It will mean getting pennies for Asik, Lin, and whoever else but I'll take that change if it comes with Melo. If we get Melo, the only piece left in the puzzle is the Zen Master
If Melo was to leave NY it would completely be to win a chip and not for money. No one can offer him more than the Knicks. Ideally the Rockets trade Asik and Lin to teams under the cap for peanuts and make their big 3 signing this summer. You could then go over the cap to resign Parsons and later Bev. Add a wing vet for the MLE and for the next 3-4 years you have an elite in their prime super team like the heat. Bev/Cannan Harden/vet Parsons/Garcia Melo/Jones Howard/DMo
I have been on the fence on the need for 3 superstars as opposed to 2 superstars and very good role players with the money saved from acquiring a third max player, but that lineup would just incredible. Championship favorite.
Teams can't receive a sign and trade while over the luxury tax apron. Heat will not be receiving player in a sign or trade nor will they likely be over the luxury tax apron (at least initially) upon completion of the proposed sign and trade.
That and the fact that Morey tried like hell to move Asik & Lin this season and couldn't do so without taking back albatross contracts in return so there is no indication that Morey will be able to move them for nothing this Summer. Also given the fact that the Knicks are rolling the dice with Melo (ala Dwight with LA) tells us that they value the cap space losing Melo gains them to rebuild on the fly more than getting ok players back for him that wont help them rebuild as fast. Im not ruling out a Melo S&T but I am ruling it out in this case with the Rockets unless they throw in a million draft picks for taking back Lin & Asik. Point is, its all about rebuilding on the fly for the Knicks in the event Melo leaves, and Lin & Asik wont be valuable assets to help them in their quest to rebuild. I dont see Melo to Houston happening because of Lin & Asik more than anything having to do with Melo.
So in other words what you are saying is that the timing of the Lin and Asik's contracts not expiring at the end of the season is a problem.
No he is not but when he plays lazy defense, especially on a national televised game. Then that stigma will stick with him for his entire career unfortunately. That is why some people compare him with Melo.
Not at all actually unless you are referring to their ability to have gotten him back in February of this year which in that case yes it could have helped if Melo was actually going to have been shopped. It would actually be more difficult to acquire Melo this Summer if Lin & Asik were going to be free agents. See even if Lin & Asik were free agents this Summer the Rockets would still only have (assuming the salary cap is still right at 60 million) about 13 to 14 million in cap space which is by far not enough to sign Melo to a max extension. Sure there is always the notion that Melo would take less to sign in Houston (which he might very well), but I think its naive that think he would take not just the pay-cut of losing his final year he would have with the Knicks, but also take about 10 million less a year over the average of his contract to play with the Rockets. With Lin & Asik being eligible contracts to be included in a Sign and Trade however, the Rockets would have the ability to take back nearly 25 million dollars in salary under the 150% trade rule. If the Rockets traded for Melo in a sign and trade this Summer, and lets say Melo's first year salary was right at 23 million, the Rockets would be right at the luxury tax with Melo, Harden, Howard, Parson, Jones, D-Mo, Garcia, Bev, Canaan, etc. So I would think that Les and Morey would try and get Melo to agree to a below the max deal either way to convince him to take a few million less so they could still use their full mid-level exception on a player much like the Heat did with the big 3 to get Mike Miller. With that full mid-level they then have the ability to be players out there for a starting caliber PG to round out their roster (ehheemm... Kyle Lowry anyone?). However I'm getting off track - Point is- I believe their really isn't much incentive for New York to take back Lin & Asik in a Sign and Trade deal because they WILL have their own first round pick in 2015, and they will most likely be positioning their team for a massive overhaul if Melo walks.... making getting under the luxury tax in essentially a tanking year imperative(without Melo they are about 3 mil under the lux tax... with Lin & Asik they are way deep into the repeater tax). Of course there is the oft chance that the Knicks kick the tires on re-inventing Linsanity in order to try and put butts in the seats next year .... which is pretty dumb IMO (although not out of the realm of questioning for Dolan), and you also have to look at it from their angle on having both Asik & Chandler on the roster together, and what they would need to do to move one of those two bigs as a secondary trade which is also a huge challenge worth noting. The only chance Morey has this Summer at getting the Knicks to play ball is to bait 2 or maybe even 3 first rounders in the S&T deal... even then, the Knicks have to weight the value of their own 2015 draft pick value going down(with the acquisition of decent players coming back) vs acquiring 3 first round draft picks that probably wont be in the top 20.
Melo would be an acceptable Plan B, but Kevin Love should still be our #1 target since we already have a cheap Parsons for one more year.
I had said timing and price tag earlier. I misunderstood your post as it seemed you were only harping on the timing aspect from the Asik and Lin side. Melo just makes too much for the Rockets to create cap space and it would be too costly to pay Knicks for Melo and to pay someone to take Lin off the Rockets hands. Asik could easily be traded in my opinion...I just don't think any team is willing to offer what Morey sees as his value. Edit: Also, I think Coon had said NBA source had projected a cap well over 60 million. I think number was in the range or either 64 or 65 million. If Melo was scheduled only to make 20 million, I think Rockets could create space for him.
The corpses of Richard Jefferson and Andreis Bierdins were moved last off-season. Anything is possible.
Thats a pretty big jump seeing as though its only jumped up a million or so the past couple years, but even if that does happen, the Rockets will still be under his max salary range. Maybe he's not giving up 10 mil a year in this case, but he could be if the cap doesn't go up. I believe last Summer Morey setup their contracts in a way to prepare for the salary cap to not go up very much at all if any so I dont see him preparing a strategy around such a huge jump in the cap in all honesty. I just dont see any way of the Rockets getting away with doing anything but compensating NY for a Lin/Asik for Melo S&T. Just too many assumptions otherwise - -Assuming Melo will take WAAYY Less -Assuming the cap goes up dramatically -Assuming a team will trade for Lin & Asik on a dime with ZERO leverage on the Rockets part for ZERO salary coming back in return.
Thats a pretty good scenario to use in this case. I still think no leverage, and a clear indication of where the cap will be to see if Melo would even be interested in taking that much less, its tough to guage if its even worth discussing. Still... I like the fact that you bring this trade up. Similar scenario but for a much less expensive player involved, and it involved draft picks so I does make for conversation on Morey being able to move Lin & Asik for cap space which I do think is feasible. However enough for Melo.... doesn't seem likely unless the cap shoots through the roof. (keep in mind there are other players out there hitting free agency that Morey might very well be willing to move Lin, Asik, & a couple picks for that will be around the potential salary range the Rockets will have if they move those two contracts... Bosh & Dirk being options 1 & 1A... after that you have notables such as Bledsoe, Z-Bo, Lowry, to name a few).
