so having 2 stars isnt considered aligning? rose - obvious superstar boozer - borderline all star every year (when not injured) and a solid roster with good backups on the bench hmmm, seems like we have had something like that before... well maybe not as the solid bench, but we've had 2 "stars" joining together, and not get it done. point is being healthy is all that matters.
I think everyone had too high hopes and now everyone is freaking out. It takes time to integrate a player into a system, especially a superstar player who is expected to take a bulk of the possessions for a system he doesn't yet understand. I think there is no doubt THIS YEAR we would've been worse, but come on in the long run you guys don't want Melo? Even if you absolutely hate the guy, he is more talented than anyone on our roster, and having a superstar attracts more superstars to our team. IMO any superstar that we can get, it is worth giving away some depth and essentially becoming worse for 1 season because in the long run that's how you win championships by having a superstar or 2 and surrounding them with solid role players. A superstar attracts players to our team, it is a lot easier to fill in the holes than it is to get a superstar player.
Seems like there's quite a bit of people that either love or hate Melo. I'd like to see what some of the competent neutral posters have to say about this topic. Maybe A_3PO? He may not be a Melo fan but I'd trust him to give a level headed take on Melo's on-court impact without having a clear bias of personal opinion.
I am glad Rockets came up short on Carmelo as well as Bosh. Both players require max salary but neither is going to be a go to guy on a championship team. Carmelo is a volume shooter, who takes plenty of bad, ill-advised, and ill-timed shots. He is not a very high percentage shooter and does not share the ball. What makes it even worse is that he does not do much of anything else. Defense? Uhhh...no. Contribute in other ways to help the team? Uhh...no. Leadership? I dont think so. Bosh is a mentally soft player who avoids physical contact. Unfortunately for him, the position he plays, requires him to be physical. If Rockets would have attained Bosh, he would be expected to be the go-to-guy. Problem is he cannot be THE guy on a championship team. Miami is perfect team for him because he can defer to Wade and Lebron. Rockets might have squeezed more regular season games with either of those on the team but they would still be playoff fodders. Why tie yourself up with players with max contract that you know are not going to take you to next level? If you are going to sell the barn for a player, make sure he is worth it.
NY lacked depth and they gave up too much to get him. All they had to do was wait until the offseason and they could have had Melo and kept at least some of their upper echelon role players. It's not like the Knicks were gonna contend for a championship either way.
I was also thinking about making this thread but I would have been a troll. What we're seeing now is Morey's incompetence as a GM highlighted. He was a full to pursue Melo so enthusiastically and for so long as his number 1 option even though Melo is not worth the salary he will resign at.
Don't you understand? Blessing in the skies... they come from Heaven. A higher level of blessings than say, those "in disguise".
Wow my brain is mush after playing Crysis 2 all night. Sorry for all the typos in the above post, I know you all expect me to live up to a higher standard than the typical poster.
Honestly, I would still take Melo than no-Melo. Sadly you wanna hold on to any superstars you can get because good players these days have no loyalty (Lebron) and will ditch their old team without a blink of an eye just to pair up with another star. Maybe NY isn't doing so well now, but they are probably still in a better situation than us since stars will still choose them over us just because they have Stat and Melo and we only have a group of hardworking overachievers.
So what, they're gonna play for peanuts now? Remember Melo and Amare will make up around 80% of NY's cap moving forward...maybe more since the cap will probably be decreased. They'll probably have enough money to sign one more average level player, but that's about it, unless vets will choose to play with Thugelo and Amare over the 3 kings, the big 3 and chicago. Let's just say that's pretty doubtful at this point. Its like when we had Tmac and Yao, people like to blame it all on Tmac but the fact is both of them were forced to carry all the load because the rest of the team is garbage. Its not like the team was being a cheapskate, they literally couldn't sign other guys because they were capped out. THe only talent infusion that happened was when we drafted or used the mid-level. Too bad NY gave up their picks in the trade, and the mid-level might be gone.
Melo isn't a superstar, that's the problem. There are two resources here, the player and the capspace. He's decent enough, but not worth the 20M he'll be making for the next 5 years. What other star will go to NY when there's no more space for them? You think CP3 will go there for the vet minimum while Amare and Melo are making 20M a year? Stats have shown him to be nothing more than an above-average chucker, yet people tend to gloss over his inefficiency and lack of D because he can close games and he played on the Nuggets, a relatively strong team. Well now Melo is forced to carry his own weight, and he can't do it. What kind of "top 5 offensive player" can't flourish in an all offense no defense system? Put Martin, Nash, Monte or any other offensively gifted player there and they'll blow up, not shoot 2-9 from the field.
I don't think you can blame NY's problem as simply "adjustment" or "not having enough good role players." The Knicks team was about a .500 team before the Melo trade, and after trading some of its better "not quite star" players for Melo, is now slightly less than a .500 team after it. Compare that to the Heat: With all of Miami's issues, the's no denying that the superstars on that team has carried it among the top 4-5 in the league this season. NY's "superstars" just aren't quite as good as some of the other teams' superstars. It's not like Melo hasn't been a part of much celebrated "Superstar Duo" before. Remember Iverson? And that duo even had a more the competent support cast. And I am not sure if the Knicks are in a position to acquire significant improvement for next year. They won't have much to spend for a FA if they bring back Billups, and if they don't bring back Billups there aren't too many great FAs to pursue. Their draft pick will likely end up in the low teens.
When our stars were healthy, our bench was poor and our coaching was poor. When we finally improved everything around our 2 stars, the 2 stars broke down.
I think its a little too early to pass judgment on the trade. The Melo situation was nothing like Lebron in Cleveland. Melo had a strong supporting cast in Denver, and he actually had a better chance of winning a championship had he stayed. I think he recently said that it'll take the Knicks a season to gel, and then quickly backpedaled. Looking at how long it took us to adjust to KMart, I thnk there's a lot of truth to his original statement, and that the Knicks will probably need another season before Melo becomes fully integrated into the offense. Fact is, the Knicks havent gotten better or worse with Melo, and they'll probably end up with a low seed in the playoffs and get eliminated first round.
Not so sure, Carmelo's not really a good fit for the "two superstar" model since his best attribute is his half-court one-on-one scoring ability - not like say a Wade or LeBron who are excellent passers as well. But since the Rockets don't have a single star (save MVP candidate Lowry), maybe he'd be a better fit here.
I just never believed that Melo was a Superstar, that he was a great individual scorer, and we sort of have that already without the prima donna attitude in Kevin Martin and for half the price. Granted, Kevin is not on Melo's level at the end of games, but he is a much better teamate overall, IMO. I guess it is undertsandable that the Rox wanted to take a shot on him, as he is a unique talent, but his attitude just can not be ignored. I do think the skies are clear of crows on this blessing. DD
