Carmelo: "I'm not going to (come off the bench) in a situation where I still know my capabilities"

It would have cost OKC over 100 Million dollars to keep Melo. Ya think maybe that had something to do with it?

 

I see it as a problem, because usually these are the kind of players that don't want to change. I can think of Kobe or Allen Iverson late in their
careers. They could never come to terms that their roles needed to change and with good reason, these guys had huge egos and were top options their entire careers, so they couldn't handle taking a diminished role.

Those guys spoke their minds as well.

Of course I want to hear something specific from him, because even though he's had two seasons where he went deep in the playoffs, the rest of the time he has failed to advance past the first round or even make the playoffs. Even when Airemy Lin had the Knicks playing so well running Mike's system, Melo was a malcontent being a team player and maximizing the teams strengths that year.

Forgive me for not being a Melo believer, but him speaking his mind is the reason why I don't believe he will adjust here.

 

Good point. MDA via CP3.

 

Everyone is down on MDA and Carmelo when they were in NY. Obviously they're aiming more for an Olympics type experience. More success there.

 

As I said in my first post in this thread, I'm not going to put too much stock in one little quote. But he doesn't say he wants to be a starter, he says he will not be a backup until he (and he alone) says so. I'd say the politic response would have been "I've got skillz, whatev, but I'll do whatever the coach asks me to do to maximize the effectiveness of the team." The reason it is selfish is that it actually isn't his responsibility or authority to say if he's a starter or not. By saying he's a starter, he causes this anxiety that you see in this thread that he won't give maximum effort if he doesn't get his way. Probably Morey and D'Antoni don't put much stock by it (players "show confidence" like this all the time, even if it's dumb and juvenile) and won't be walking on eggshells around him. So I'm not worried. But you'd hope to get a mature response from a guy in his mid-thirties.

Personally, I think he should want to be the 6th man. If he's a starter, he better be ready to do a lot of garbage man work because Harden is option 1, Paul is option 2. If he came off the bench, he'd play with either Harden or Paul, but usually not both and they could run some plays for him. Of course, Gordon (if he remains) might be a better 6th man, so the Rockets might prefer having Melo as a starter.

 

Believing you should start because that's how you can best help a team is not selfish. Assuming that the coach always knows best and everyone should do exactly what the coach says like a soldier following orders is naive.

What's better:

A) Coach who instills confidence in players and puts them in the best position to succeed

B) Coach who dictates what roles work best for players and players are scared of the coach so they just do it

C) Coach who understands what players believe about themselves and works with their set of beliefs without breaking those beliefs to find the same page

D) Coach who makes promises to a player and keeps them thus instilling trust from the player

The answer is clearly not B) and if MDmA said that Melo would be starting for the Rox then he probably ought to start him. If you break a confident player's confidence, what do you get in return? Ryno. A guy afraid to pull the trigger.

 

Meh. It's just sports and people like to talk. And when it comes to online life, people like to complain and be negative.

Kawhi is a mute so he doesn't get much hate.
Harden mostly says boring things and still gets flack for his style of play.
Melo (and T-Mac before him) occasionally say kinda dumb things and get a heaping helping of online grief. No use complaining about it. You're spending energy complaining about what other fans are saying. You can't control that, I mean, at all. Even if you're related to Melo, which I'm beginning to suspect.

Let's just shrug and accept what's coming this year. It's not going to be as smooth as last year, and Melo is not always going to say the right thing to the press, but maybe the team will be much better when the playoffs come around. That's what I'm hoping.

 

Absolutely I'm taking his word for it. I'm doubling down my belief in Carmelo because I want him to succeed. I'm all about building the guy up because he plays for us and he's a much better player when he's confident than when he's questioning his ability. Starting him is saying, "Melo, I have no questions about your ability. You're the right guy. Don't worry about a thing, I've got your back here in Houston. Now go and play your butt off."

The opposition seems to be, "Hey Melo, I'm not sure about your ability any more so if you could sit in that chair right there, I'll call you when I do believe in you. Aka, when the starters are having an off moment. James friggin Ennis is a better player than you in my mind."

I don't care how much people believe that putting your ego aside for the Rockets is beneficial for the Rockets. I want him to think he's a badass that can't be stopped. I want him to believe in himself, that he's an important player in getting us to a championship. I don't think you instill confidence in a career starter by not believing in him because he had a subpar year playing next to a crap point guard like Westbrook. A player that played in New York for one of the worst run franchises in recent history.

Melo is a baller. Always has been. He's not coming off an injury, he's coming off of playing next to Mr Me First Russel Westbrook. I say give him not only the benefit of the doubt but allow him to prove which direction his game is headed.

 

fify

 

I bet Harden not only takes Russ' opinion with a grain of salt, but he might even gauge everything with a refractive measuring stick. Like:

That guy's terrible = he should've given me the ball
He's a terrible rebounder = he should've let me rebound the ball
He's selfish = I'm selfish
I love this guy = Spineless player
You're not going to like playing with him = he'll be happier if you pass him the ball more often and accurately

 

By "we" I hope you include your fave felo Melo. LOL.

And it's not the media. Jeez, we hear the same thing in politics. The media is often just reporting on the deeds and words of people. D'oh! Maybe Melo can say the tape was doctored and start denying he said only he can determine when he'll come off the bench. Whatever, I'm totally ready to move on, and like I said, just accept that he will occasionally say something that doesn't sound very good/wise/mature. Fine.

 

Wait.. are you insinuating that Lin was the answer for the Knicks franchise back then? Like Lin was going to be the man over there and they would become a team to beat?

 

Who would have thought that with our highly publicized pursuit of Melo last offseason to be our 3rd star that just a year later we would now be debating whether or not he should even be a starter?

He starts imo if for no other reason than we have no one else.

 

Yes, the same Ty Lawson that ended up being waived after the amount of hype of getting him here.

You're welcome to. I assure you I won't lose sleep over it.

 

Maybe I'm not following the thread very well, but my sense is that most people aren't debating whether he starts or not. The debate is about where his head is at in terms of following the coach's direction and putting the team first (or simply having the maturity to say the boring, safe thing when taking on a new job).

JV had an interesting point about what might be better for his game (1st option in 2nd group vs. 3rd option in 1st group), but otherwise, it seems most of us are fine with him starting, given our roster. Cheers.

 

Two can play that game. Start him the first 3 min of the game and pull him out. Still a starter.

 

yeah that makes total sense at the highest level of basketball

 

makes just as much sense of not being able to put your ego aside and take a role that you need in order for your team to succeed.

 

apparently its pretty difficult for some. smh

 

Change that to a 6 and I think it may be exactly what happens. Haha