Carmelo wants to have his cake and eat it too. Only time will tell, what will happen. The FO isn't sure about him coming here.
These other owners are cowering in fear right now. I love what Morey/Les are doing and to be honest if they succeed they will have set themselves up by making these contracts now. The cap dropped because everyone knew that it would be Warriors winning again no matter what and consequently regular season and playoff ratings and revenues dropped significantly. If Morey can make a team that makes it competitive again then there will be more eyes on the league during the regular season and postseason and consequently the cap will jump up once again. This is another example of Morey believing that he can exploit market (and other owner) inefficiencies to his own/the Rockets benefit. Just imagine how good the Harden deal/other intermediary deals will look if the cap jumps up to 115M+ in 4 years because he is able to create a team that can beat/truly compete with the Warriors.
Reports out of NYC indicate adding a vet PG has more to do with the mentoring + development of rookie PG Ntilikina.
People are assuming bad teams would want Ryan Andersons contract. Why would they? Middle of the pack teams would be more realistic. Ryan is a good role player for a middle of the pack team to help them become a better team. Memphis, Portland, Indiana type teams make more sense. The hard work for Houston is not giving New York or any other team Clint Capela who has the most team friendly contract on the roster. Example Kelly Olynik is making 50 million over 4 yrs while not as much as Anderson, he would be hard to trade to a bad team.
I can buy this line of thinking. Phil Jackson it out and Melo loves NY. And his wife (ex?) may have something to contribute here, too. I would not be surprised is Melo reneged and stayed in NY. It would break many hearts. (While I do agree with Saleem's point, may this thread serve as a jinx and thus Melo is traded to Hou in the next few days.)
I hope Melo will be dedicated to winning if he does join Houston, and I hope DM won't have to give up Capela for him, since we don't have a substitute for Clint.
I am not saying Houston has to do this, but using it's Non Guaranteed contracts to get Marcus Smart or Rajon Rondo 2 players the Knicks want, particularly (Marcus Smart) might help this trade move along.
Ryan Anderson is the backup plan. Don't see them paying the price to dump the contract unless they are getting a better player in return.
Melo won't have a choice. The Knicks no longer have salary space for him and also now it's Tim Hardaway Jr's team. They are going to jettison him sooner or later. But wouldn't they rather trade for SOMETHING than just spend fruitless money and cast him aside? (Yes, I KNOW it's the Knicks) But that seems to be where things stand. He still holds the cards by having the 'No Trade' clause. He has only cited 2 places he'll waive that for (HOU & CLE) Otherwise, if NY decides to buy him out, then he can sign wherever he wants and HOU is still a top destination because of CP3 and Harden. The Knicks are in a bad spot right now and are simply shuffling the chairs on the deck of the Titanic
