[NYPost] Rockets could make push for Carmelo (UPDATE: Blog post)

So the Rockets would have to move like 8 players and 25 mil worth of contracts for cap space, including this year's 1st round rookie (because they can't afford his salary), and probably more 1st rounders as a payment for absorbing all those contracts.
Then they'd have to convince Carmelo to not only take a non-Bird contract (i.e. shorter and smaller) but actually not even a max contract. That's the Carmelo who a couple years ago was ok with the Knicks blowing up half the team for him so that he wouldn't have to take a paycut as a free agent.

Well, I guess it's not impossible. But it's pretty complicated.

 

I dont see any way the knicks make a Sign and trade with us unless Parsons is included...I have a question for those with any cap knowledge..

If we traded Parsons, Lin, Asik, Dmo and a 1st for rondo How much money would we have to offer Melo?

Melo is an ideal stretch 4 and will make this offense simply unstoppable, but at the same time make the defense a little vulnerable. I do however think when the playoffs come around he would probably amp it up along with harden.

PG:Rondo
SG: Harden
SF: Melo
PF: Jones
Cwight

 

Will J.R. Smith follow Melo to Htown?

 

Wouldn't Melo, Harden, and Dwight be taking up nearly the entire cap? Is Les willing to go deep into luxury tax territory? And I'm still not sold on the idea of Melo and Harden on the same team. They both need the ball to be effective. I could see Howard deferring more to Melo on offense. Harden, not so much.

Besides, this team doesn't need offense. They need defense. They're one of the highest scoring teams in the league. Their biggest needs are a stretch 4 who can defend and knock down jumpers(assuming T-Jones or D-Mo don't develop into that), a backup center(since Asik is gone by 2015), and bench guys who can be reliable 3-point shooters and perimeter defenders.

I'd rather Morey spend the offseason addressing those concerns instead of trying to get another superstar who may not even be the right fit. And one other thing. Melo is about to turn 30. Granted, that's not old by any stretch. But how many peak years does he have left? Maybe 3 before the inevitable decline?

 

Please note that he is ASSUMING the cap goes all the way up to 62 million and some change.

Thats a 4 million jump from this year. Thats a very, very big jump from one year to the next.

I know that certain respected folks out there have speculated, but its all speculation at this point, and Basketcaseahollic while he sounds like he's stating fact, is actually just pure speculating himself.

If you want to think conservatively, and not have your head in the clouds about the possibility of the Rockets clearing cap for Melo, you should probably assume that the cap might not go up that much, and Melo is going to have to take somewhere between 4 to 5 million less than the max every year AND give up the final year of his contract.... which at 36 or 38 or however old he will be when that contract ends.... MATTERS. (Go ask Steve Nash).

Yes, the threat of signing Melo as a free agent might be the catalyst that Morey needs to gain traction in a S&T eventually, but its a pretty sad threat. Also, please note that the moment Melo communicates out there that he is interested in signing as a free agent with Houston, Morey loses ALL LEVERAGE in potential cap clearing deals for Lin & Asik making those moves extremely difficult.

At the end of the day, if you are playing this conservatively (and since Morey is the same guy that was sweating the Dwight signing up until the final moment he was going to call him to let him know you can assume he is being conservative with his assumptions) you will really just have to assume that your best bet in acquiring Melo is to be able to ,at the end of the day, knock the Knicks socks off with a really good S&T including Lin, Asik & good quality assets.

 

If they could get melo, and it's not working ship him to minny for love. He's a great trade chip.

 

Holy God!, do you mean "Kevin Durant" or "Rondo"? Why not just give them Harden for Wallace while we're at it?

Too many video games, young friend.

 

Thats a good question (Les and Lux tax). We really don't know how much Les is willing to go over the luxury tax for, but we do know that in the past Les and Morey have spent "wisely".... meaning that they are very cognizant of the luxury tax, but they definitely utilize every dollar of their salary cap space to acquire assets & bring in players. The guy is willing to spend, but he just needs to be able to see quality investments in the money that he is spending.

So it has yet to be seen as to if Les is willing to blow the cap figure out of the water (basically resigning Parsons with another max-like salary on the books), or not. I think he would be willing to take on Melo, but I think they would let Parsons go if he commanded too much in free agency to avoid heavy luxury tax quite honestly..... but thats just my guess. From their eyes they would probably view Parsons on a large contract as a potential bad investment down the line on this team as his role would likely diminish even more.

As for fit- I think the offense than changes slightly to create a little better ball movement (thats a lot of ball stoppers.... albeit really good ones), but I wouldn't be too worried about fit if the Rockets were willing to go small with Melo at the 4 for the majority of the game, and Melo & Harden were more willing to move the ball enough to create flow in the offense.

As for Melo's age, and longevity with the Rockets... I think you'd most likely get nearly the exact same contract that Howard signed with Houston with Melo with a 3 year guaranteed with a 4th year player option. His game really doesn't rely on athleticism that much, and has shown to be a very durable player over the years so I probably wouldn't be hugely concerned with a 4 year investment. I think Howard is probably more of a liability quite honestly.

 

So if we can make a bid at Melo why couldn't we make a bid at Lebron?

 

1. Lebron is already on a championship caliber team that can continue to compete for championships for several more years.
2. Lebron is already surrounded with all stars and future hall of famers.
3. Miami has ZERO interest in letting Lebron go ANYWHERE.
4. Melo is on a LOSING team in cap hell, with no easy future in sight.

There is close to a ZERO chance of prying Lebron from Miami, especially if they win another Championship. Unless Lebron gets a bug up his butt and decides he wants to move on, consider Lebron off the market.

And if you wanted Miami to move Lebron, you'd have to make an offer that would blow them away. Think Howard + Harden and you *might* get them to the table. And lord knows what kind of junk they'd throw in on their end.

The problem with trading for Lebron is he's a 100% guaranteed franchise changer and the best player in the NBA. NO team is going to let him go willingly since those kinds of players only come along once a generation.

 

There is so much just factually wrong with this post...

 

Interesting. My guess is the "talent" was Rondo, and we were going to flip him to NY.

I think this could point to a couple of things:

1) The Rockets will have to take back salary to make this work.

2) NY is aiming for Rondo, LeBron, and maybe Marc Gasol.

My guess is we have to take JR Smith or Felton with Melo. Both of their contracts extend beyond 2015, which is the year Rondo, LeBron and Gasol are all free agents.

 

Now that is interesting....three way trade of Rondo to the Knicks and Melo here....still gotta figure out how to keep Parsons though.

 

I don't see how keeping Parsons is possible in any deal involving Rondo or Melo. Lin, Jones, D-Mo, and Asik simply do not bring enough to the table talent-wise to justify dealing a legitimate star for any combination of them.

 

If getting Melo requires trading Parsons along with Lin and Asik, then Morey should probably do it. You won't get more than a year from Parsons anyway, not to mention that Morey would probably trade him mid season to get some value (2nd round picks?) out of an expiring contract that he won't be able to extend due to the cap.

On the other hand, even if the Melo trade doesn't work, Morey should look into moving Lin and Asik for another player unless he is planning to let their contracts expire next season. This is mostly because Rockets need the bench support to make it all the way and it is really hard to integrate players mid season without some time with the team.

 

I leave for a couple of days and CF goes wildly into speculation mode. Please take the time to understand Morey ball. Seriously. What would attract Morey to Melo? By advanced stats he is consistently grouped into the "volume shooters who actually hurt the teams offensive performance category". Sorry. Hate to bust your bubble but it is true. Melo is much more in the JR Smith bucket than the Harden bucket as far as offense is concerned.

And Rondo? Who is the most efficient player on the Rockets team? Harden, with the ball in his hands. So fans want to see a Rondo, a horrible shooter, take the ball instead of Harden? You sub in Rondo for Bev and you are probably looking at a much less efficient offense. Harden is a super star. The ball belongs in his hands. Rondo is not coming to Houston because Morey is not stupid.

 

Do you ever get tired of being wrong about everything always?

And I mean being wrong is one thing. But being wrong and then lecturing people on how right you are is just comical at this point.

 

Actually I am wrong about little. I have a great track record about being right on controversial topics here at CF. I can list them if you want. And why the hate dude? I was there day 1 saying that McHale was a great hire. I spearheaded the now accepted view that McHale is just implementing Morey's offensive strategy. And there are a number of others.

Morey is not going to acquire Melo or Rondo. It makes no sense from a team building standpoint. Unless, of course, you are a fan and going after the bling. Sorta like last season for the Lakers.

 

But sign and trades have nothing to do with a team getting equal value... If Lebron did decide to leave they would be forced to accept any sign and trade offer or let him walk for nothing.