I am sure the best thing for the Knicks is to have Carmelo sit on the bench and be in the locker room b!tching and Moaning to Pozingis about how great the rest of the NBA is . . and what a sh*thole NY Knicks are "Look. I know you got two years after this. . . but MAN . . . If I were you . . .I would not get stuck here. . . not like me I mean I was in love. . got my trade kicker and everything . . .. soon as I signed they just started talking sh*t about me . . . didn't bring in any help . . . man that isht hurt ALL my endorsement money . .. . . but hey . .you do you KP . . . but me. . . if i had to do it over again . . . . . nah son." - Carmelo's locker room pep talk Rocket River
Yes, they are in a catch 22 1) Trade Melo for Anderson and you have Noah/Anderson contracts weighing you down. 2) Don't trade Melo and you have Noah/Melo contracts weighing you down. 3) buy-out and he goes to Houston and you get nothing while taking a huge cap hit. All while the rival Nets perhaps passing them by. Phil Jackson did a number on that team. Rose and Noah deals were real dumb. I would go with #1.....at least w/ Ryno you never hear a peep out of him and he can compliment others on the offense by spacing the floor. Melo will continue to jam a stick in the spokes of progress.
People keep saying the Knick's are screwed if they dont trade Melo, because it either destroys their team reputation/morale or it clutters their future & cap situation. However, that might not be the case in either scenario. By not trading Melo for Anderson or any similarly bad contract, the Knicks could be free of Melo's contract the very next year! Carmelo has a Player option at the end of the year, allowing him to be a an UFA. If he really doesn't want to be a part of the Knicks this season as most are saying, why the hell would he pick ups his option at the end of the year?? Those arguing that the Knicks not trading Carmelo, risks him holding out or destroy reputation of team and are holding carmelo hostage, forget a few crucial points. One - the knicks reputation can't really get any worse than last season or the many seasons before. What reputation do they have, aside from being one of the worst if not the worst run organization in sports. How much worst can it get than it was last season with Phil and Melo sniping at each other in the media last year??? Two - Carmelo sitting out or holding out does nothing to the knicks except let them off the hook from paying his salary the days he doesnt show up. This isnt the NFL and the Knicks arent a contending team, hoping and praying and relying on Carmelo to walk through that door. Three - Not trading Carmelo to one of two teams he is willing to waive his NTC for isn't holding him hostage. He signed the contract and his unwillingness to waive his NTC the past two years, despite the circus with Phil Jackson shows atleast his desire to stay in NY despite the terrible status of the team and the front office. His unwillingness to expand his NTC shows his relunctance to leave NY. Sure Portland or some other teams might not have as good a chance at contending as the Cavs or Rockets, but they sure as hell are a lot more capable than the mess that the Knicks have been.
I agree... i sure as heck wouldn't agree to take back Anderson's contract - unless there were some hella-sweetening involved... which I believe at last count was 2 first rd picks to take Anderson's crappy contract - and that's without even adding any value for Melo's worth to the mix - that's just to take Anderson - lol! If I'm NY... Let Melo be a b**** and mope for the season - so what - better than eating Anderson's contract for another 2 years after that...
Parlaying Anderson into smaller contracts over 2 years is possible. Doing it in a month when all teams know we are anxious to get it done is a whole other story. If there's a GM who can't turn Anderson's contract into a maximum of 2 years of commitments with 2 years to do it, they should not be NBA GM's. Anderson's trade value can only get better, he's going to be the same player for the duration of his contract, and his contract is closer to expiring every day, and in the Knicks case Anderson wouldn't even rot on the bench - he would be a key rotation player, holding up his value. Also, no one is going to absorb 2 years and 50m+ for a pick. At the same time, the Knicks are not going to trade multiple picks. The whole point of them not wanting Anderson is that they want to rebuild. Sending out 2 picks is possibly the worst outcome of this whole situation, given the Knicks don't care about their cap space for the next year or two as long as the player taking up that cap space doesn't disrupt their rebuilding process. In this kind of scenario, you would have to expect Dolan to intervene and say "WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING?". At this point in Knicks life, draft picks are more important than cap space in the near future. Given where they are, there is no reasonable argument that losing Melo+crap+picks for nothing in return is better than losing Melo for Ryan Anderson and a pick. The Nets are most hungry team in the league for picks: they would still need either one unprotected or multiple picks to take on 2 years and 50m only to buy him out. If Anderson's contract were one year shorter, we wouldn't even be in this predicament. It's easy to turn Anderson's 3 years into contracts that end in 2 years if you have 2 years to do it. You're definitely listing options, but none of them are better for the Knicks. Buying Melo out and conceding the cap hit is a far superior option to losing 2 picks and having that cap space.
I want to address the notion that since the Knicks image is garbage, they won't care about pissing away Melo's career publicly. This is a total fantasy. The new GM and President are not sitting there thinking of wasting 2 years away. They are human beings who believe that they are going to turn this ship around and rebuild the image starting right now. It's their perspective that matters, because they are the ones making the decisions. They wouldn't have taken those jobs if they weren't thinking about fixing all this up ASAP. None of them will survive 2 years of holding Melo hostage, and they will not risk their jobs and goals for Phil Jackson's screw up.
I doubt if Melo isn't traded that he would sit on the bench. That's not what would happen if he stayed. I think he would still play and get minutes but it isn't the same thing when you enjoy playing ball and having fun than when you have other issues and you aren't happy. This in turn would make Melo's value even worse. He would either jack a lot of shots even more. Or not have the same stats. By end of the season or mid season before the trade deadline no one would want him. Or if they do the knicks would get even worse offers than now, plus Melo would still hold the NTC. Another thing is the locker room would be affected too. You don't really hear Melo say anything to the media, is all insiders' leaks. But the locker room would be a disaster imo. Maybe like Dwight and Harden's saga 2 season ago. At least Dwight and Harden pretended there wasn't any feud. But we know Melo doesn't like Hardaway Jr and vice versa. I mean they are the knicks they probably don't care that they will be the worst team and all that drama. But if they are trying to change their focus and rebuild, they need to trade Melo and prevent more drama or stop damaging their image because no one wants to play for them right now. Well no star player wants to be there unless they get over paid. Also can we get it over with and get Melo already. This is taking foreverrr!!
Disagree, the last thing you want when rebuilding with young players is a pissed off 'franchise' player poisoning the locker room for the next 2 years while you pay him 54 million for the pleasure.
I honestly think the Harden/Dwight thing was just on the court issue then anything personal that they hated each others guts.
I don't think you understand the impact of a NTC. If Melo doesn't want to go to a team, then as far as the market for Melo is concerned, that team doesn't exist. This is on Phil, and the rest of the talk is just noise
understand the above- but also note that the knicks themselves agreed to trade him to Houston- this is the reason he is willing to waive his no trade clause- his camps have been told by the knicks they will move him to his preferred destination. How will it sit with potential free agents coming to the Knicks (this will send the wrong message about their front office and alot of players will just look the other way)
It makes sense for the Knicks to push this off as long as possible. As stated every current solution involves the Knicks getting screwed. They will still have all those options to get screwed in two or three months. And maybe between now and then something will happen and the horse will learn to sing. I expect the Mello situation will still be unresolved as the preseason begins to roll around, which I'm sure is going to leave everybody overjoyed.
to be honest i think they have already resumed trade talks with the rockets- this should get done as soon as they find the extra team to take on the contract.. (crossign fingers Morey can find the team) to bad Hinkie is not with the Sixers anymore
If the Knicks end up with Anderson, his contract will only be the third worst on that team behind Noah and Hardaway Jr.
Yes the Knicks can keep Melo as long as they want, but I dont think a lot of people realize how much of an effect on the team that would cause. I mean you want to rebuild with KP. Do you really want to waste a year of KPs development as the main guy with Melo still there? Do you really want to go another year of this melo drama distracting the whole team. I dont think so.
