I think in general we are agreeing. I don't see any way Rockets throw away as many draft picks as needed to get Melo, along with Asik, Lin, Jones and maybe DMo to get contracts within 5 million for trading rules to work.
S&T with the Knicks.... Melo gets his money, the Knicks get key pieces (Lin/Asik/Jones/#1) and the Rockets get the best scoring trio in the NBA.
#1 Living is Chicago, I can tell you that there is a strong belief that Foreman and Reinsdorf don't even want Anthony. #2 If Mrotic comes, it is nearly impossible for the Bulls to afford Anthony. #3 Even with with using the amnesty on Boozer AND dealing Gibson, they don't have enough cap space. To get the cap space they would need to sign no draft picks (trade their pick, Charlotte's pick, amnesty Boozer, trade Gibson and Dunleavy and take zero contracts back and not bring Mrotic over). #4 Without Boozer, Gibson, Mrotic and draft picks, who is their PF? #5 Rose doesn't especially want another star, and why would Anthony go to a team with a star player that hasn't really played basketball for 2 years? #6 Why do you think Tibs even wants Anthony over Boozer, Gibson, Mrotic and Dunleavy? The Bulls are not impossible, but not as likely as other teams like the Rockets.
I predict that Houston will not even make Carmelo Anthony an offer. Guys, Carmelo Anthony is a few months away from getting a monster of a contract extension from the Knicks. New York can offer him larger annual raises and, most importantly, a fifth year, and no other team can offer him that. And sweet jesus, is he going to get a massive amount of money from New York. He is going to get the following contract from New York: Five years, $129 mil I repeat: Five years, $129 mil Here is the MOST any other team can offer Carmelo: Four years, $96 mil $129 mil - $96 mil = $33 mil Sorry, Carmelo is not leaving $33 mil on the table. Nor is Morey interested in being the idiot who makes Carmelo the highest paid player in the entire league (or close to it). Carmelo will probably not be one of 25-30 best players in the league by, say, 2016-17. I look forward to the end of annoying Carmelo-to-Houston blabbering on this website. Now, as for Kevin Love... now you're talking!
Morey had difficulty moving Lin and Asik because he wanted something of equal value back. Also by next year Lin and Asik are in the final year of their deals, so it isn't as big an issue. Likewise the balloon payments are not a big deal either tithe Knicks. The Rockets wouldn't need to throw "a million draft picks", especially if Jones is included. It may not happen but Asik, Lin, Jones and 1-2 firsts is a lot better than nothing. Lin, Asik and Jones all fill needs for the Knicks in the short term. Jones and firsts do long term.
Melo's first preference is the Heat and then Chicago. Melo is leaving. I have sources saying his close friends leaked this. The source I use is virtually never wrong. Who's my source? Nonya Business
He was a ball stopper before he joined the Knicks. The Nuggets had a lot of talents. Again it's not about how many shots he takes. It's about ball movement. It's about stickiness. Don't confuse star players who shoot a lot and star players who hold the ball for a long time. The Heat has lots of capable offensive players and they have good ball movement. The Spurs are the same. To be fair, Harden is showing that he's getting it lately. So maybe I am worrying too much.
Melo would be an amazing stretch 4 tbh. It would be like putting Lebron at 4 who is very effective himself
Yes, Those TV timeout spots and coach speak is just there for drama. The general audience doesn't want to hear in depth play calling, because 99% of them have no idea what "horns" or a "backscreen flare" is. That is why they play the simple stuff. It similar to a big company preaching about teamwork, etc, etc. Teamwork isn't what makes the money. The guy in the back crunching the cash flows, interest rates, etc. is.
I don't get it. So when McHale said that there were often stretches that "the ball was sticky" what did he mean? He just tried to please the fans? He didn't really believe bad ball movement was a problem?
You are taking two very broad generalizations ("ball stopper" and "sticky") and making complex roster decisions based on it. The ball get's sticky when players don't move. The Rockets often use a a cyclone method of drive and kick, drive and kick, drive kick looking for the most advantageous opening to attack, IE when the defense isn't fast enough. It is fun to watch and makes everything look easy when it runs right. The constant switches creates mismatches and allows the attacker to capitalize offensively. Stickiness is not a personnel issue, it is an effort issue. This is needed because not every player on the team can get by their defender (IE break down defenses) and get a good shot off the dribble. And Harden can't dribble the ball for 48 minutes straight. Parsons for example is a great player because he runs a ton and effectively sidesteps defenses without actually having the ability to do so straight off the dribble. Harden really isn't interested in doing that because he doesn't need to run all over the court to get by his man, he can do it on his own and create open looks with simple pick and rolls. The silly ball movement nonsense was something dumb LOF's latched onto to try and give some credibility to their silly argument that Lin should be the primary ball handler. It really is as simple as noting that the offense goes to **** when Harden is off the court. Someone has to take shots, which don't end up being points very often. Taking those shots out of Lin's hands, or Dmo's hands, or Hamilton's hands and putting them into Melo's is going to result in more points, less turnovers and a better overall team. The entire USA team is full of "ball stoppers", it doesn't prevent that team from being one of the greatest of all time. Heck, Melo even thrived in that enviroment. Same with the Heat. Wade, Lebron, Allen, Bosh, is effectively no different from Harden, Melo, Parsons, Howard.
This is what I hate about this whole Lin thing. Anything negative about the team other than Lin is labeled something those dumb LOF's silly idea. YOU CAN'T ARGUE FOR ANYTHING WITHOUT BEING LABELED. What does talking about sticky ball has ANYTHING to do about LIN? And you just conveniently skated right away from your claim that McHale's comments were just some silly fan created rhetoric. There is a lot of hypocrisy around. People who accuse of what the LOF's do are guilty of the same kind of willy nilly arguing tactics.
Allen is never a ball stopper. Bosh is just a glorified role player now. Are you expecting Melo to take that role? And if you imply that Melo can take Lebron's role as a play maker, then I don't know what to say.
FWIW, the money the Rockets can offer to Melo even in best case cap-clearing scenario is still not that much. If the Rockets get rid of everyone except Jones/Howard/Harden/Parsons/Beverley/Cannan, they can offer ~$83mil vs. $129mil from NY. This is different from the Howard situation. Howard is still young enough to get another contract. This is Melo's last big payday. Unless there's an inherent handshake agreement that the Rockets will "take care of" Melo in 3 years(after a standard 3yr+1yr PO structure), it's hard to see Melo signing as a FA. And there's no way the Knicks let him go via S&T. That would just be Dolan slapping himself. The point of ball movement is to create the best shot possible. Ball movement for the sake of moving the ball is stupid. Micheal Jordan passing to a covered Horace Grant is not ball movement. While Micheal Jordan taking a 20 foot fadeaway is not "stickiness". If a guy doesn't have to make a pass to get a highly efficient shot, why int he world should he pass?
