Yes. He can opt out. And he will opt out. And he's going to walk to LA. Tweets like this are speciifically designed to help drive down his trade market. Melo doesn't want to be traded to a contender and then have to make the decision to walk away from them. He'd rather just walk away from the Knicks after they underperform yet again this year.
Now that we are closer to the opener and any residual Laker haze from last season and prior should be gone, does anyone here STILL believe the Lakers will make the playoffs? Will it take a 2-5, 1-6 or 0-7 start for you to finally understand they are a bad team with a below-average coach?
Lakers are facing a funny position, they are going to have to seriously think about tanking or being stuck in mediocre for years. odds are it wont happen this year. theyll play it with a core of nash/pau until kobe comes back and try to make the playoffs one last year. the ENTIRE team is expiring, including kobe and pau. Nash will likely retire. leaving them a complete expansion type roster/rebuild with the exception of having bird rights to kobe and pau(Hopefully kobe takes a pay cut, pau likely leaves). If im Mitch i start now by getting assets. Blow it all up and tell kobe take his time coming back from his injury. Trade any player for a reasonable return, including Nash and Pau. and I'd only bring back kobe if it was a a 50% cost at best.(personally i would only pay 10 mill MAX for kobe) but it being LA and it being Kobe, they likely overpay him if not (entirely psycho) give him a max extension.
The Lakers have never tanked or "blown it up" in their history. While that seems the only logical course, its hard for me to see them doing it. Especially after Dwight's exodus, doing the above now would make it look like Dwight was the reason or catalyst for it, adding fuel to a fire they are desperately trying to put out. My guess is they keep trying to reload on the fly and try to sell their fans on the idea that they will be good this year, once Kobe comes back.
believe me this is what i think they will do also. They havent faced this kind of turmoil before with no future in sight. They have old players on over paid contracts with no future picks. mitch will likely try to rebuild on the fly in order to save his job, because if the lakers are sucking (tanking) the media and fan base will rebel and force a termination of him. but im saying, if it was me, and i wasnt worried about the politics of losing in LA or losing my job. But better yet only worried about the betterment of the team, the obvious choice is to blow it up.
If only the whole entertainment industry would pack up and leave, to like... Iowa or something, then we'd stop seeing these stars flock to LA.
What they haven't suffered before is poor management, and what the fans haven't seemed to realize yet is the source of their distress. Sadly for them, the turmoil is just getting started. But it is L.A. after all, and they do have a history of pulling off lop-sided trades in their favor. $20M under the table to get Lebron to sign?
melo just wants the circus and to be wined and dined. He's not leaving NY, especially for the lakers (lol d'antoni really?), he's just playing the same power game Chris Paul did, he wants them to accept "he runs the knicks" like the clippers did, he's saying the exact same things almost verbatim.
I don't think tanking is an option for the Lakers. No second round pick in 2014. Have to be top 5 to get 1st round pick in 2015. Possibly losing 2015 2nd round pick and 2017 first rounder as well. Their only choice is to go post WS appearance Astros and hope for better luck.
The Knicks have a hard enough time contending in the East. Why would he bolt to a depleted Lakers team with a stacked Western Conference? Especially if Kobe comes back. Last I checked there's only one basketball to play with.
The Lakers face some different challenges rebuilding this year compared to the past: 1) the luxuary tax penalties are much stricter now. You can't just out pay another team to rebuild on the fly. 2) Kobe is no where near ready to retire or hand over the mantle of first scoring option on the team. He has scoring records to break still. How do you get another franchise player star to come play a Scottie Pippen role for Kobe at this point in his career? 3) Dr Buss passed away and his kids have to prove they can continue his success. Not a given by any means with their decisions so far. 4) They don't have Jerry West to get them Shaq and Kobe this time. Kupchek has had some success, but like I said the stricter luxuary tax penalties will make this rebuild tougher.
Melo is not walking. He'll play the field, and then triumphantly come back to the hometown Knicks. LA Lamers will strike out on both lebron and melo hahahaha
Kobe is radioactive. I don't think any star wants to join him, especially stars who enjoy 20+ shots per game. If the Lamers (love that nick) to rebuild quickly, they need to let Kobe walk, but they don't have the guts to do that.
I saw on twitter that Kobe changed his AVI to 1225 and I didn't know what it went until it said he thinks the Lakers are gonna finish 12th and he's ranked 25 in the power rankings. Just to tell ya
