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

The bototm line is does Melo want to wait at least another year to have NY rebuild or is he tired of losing now and want to win immediately. The Knicks will be garbage next year with or without him. If he wants to win then we have a shot. I'm not worried about the Bulls at all. The Clippers on the other hand.

 

...would have to trade Blake Griffin and I don't see that happening.

 

You can't quote what Melo says to the Media and actually think it's worth anything. What else is he suppose to say? 2014 for NY will still suck as they won't have any cap space to make any major moves.

If I were him, Bulls would be the last team he would go to. Does he want another Amare II scenario where your stuck on a same team as a big contract player that is always injured? D Rose would be a huge question mark with his contract.

 

Why Blake? There are a lot of other candidates that could be added together

 

Why? If we can easily dump our players then why can't they easily dump a combo of Jordan, Barnes, Big Baby, etc?

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/la_clippers.htm

 

Melo is willing to change his playing style for Phil, not Mchale.

 

Because the Knicks won't touch those other contracts with a ten foot pole and the Clippers don't have as much to offer in terms of young guys and picks.

 

You mean hindsight is 20/20? Of course it is, what's the fun in that!

Look, any serious objective person who understands this game knows we aren't likely to win a ring this year, and by that I mean our chances are very slim if even that.

Morey has come out and said we need another star. And I think that's fairly obvious from seeing how we play some of the better teams where we really struggle to score against clamped down defenses.

If SA, OKC, Miami....those are the contenders in my eyes. LAC, IND - those are the next tier - teams that are very close.

Then there is Houston. A step above Portland and Chicago, but still a slight step below those other 5 teams. Houston will get better with time just as the guys mature and learn each other. But there's still too much need for Harden to be the man. No one else can consistently bring scoring. Not Dwight, not Parsons, not Lin. No one. And that's one of our biggest flaws as a team, and one area we struggled on the road against OKC, LAC, CHI, and MIA. All of those games had stretches where we just couldn't score in a crucial period and the game got away from us. We need someone who can get us the baskets in crunch time when defenses are clamping down and hounding Harden and he needs help. Who can help us in those situations?

Carmelo Anthony can.

 

I don't want that guy anywhere near our team, I don't care how talented he is he will never win a chip, this much i promise you.

 

Premortum analysis by the best minds in basketball:

 

Am I the only one who would completely despise this move? Never in a million years would I pair Harden and Melo. Furthermore, it would put a stranglehold on our salary cap with the hope that one of our stars wouldn't get hurt. Just an absolute atrocity of a move in my opinion.

 

What's the point? And odds aren't from the best minds, they are from what people are willing to bet - i.e. oddsmakers.

 

Very relevant question. Historically Vegas odds have outperformed every other preseason forecast year in and year out. Hollinger. xRAPM. Wow. I view it sort of like a crowd sourcing application, using hundreds or thousands of individual informed sources. I guess it is just the geek in me. But I do give the most weight by far to the Vegas line.

 

Don't worry. As long as Morey is the GM it will not happen. If Morey is going to push all his chips in it will only be for Love. And I have my doubts about that.

 

Phil Jackson is a game changer.

I don't think it necessarily changes Melo's decision as much as people think but it changes what the Knicks will do. I think Phil understands the value of stars and won't trade melo for role players. He'll find a coach that will implement a system that makes the best of Melo's scoring ability and utilizes more passing instead of the PnR basketball he seems to hate.

 

I am not sure how to gauge Phil's impact on the Knicks. Neither are the so called experts.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-140318/nba-phil-jackson-new-york-fortunes

 

I agree that Love is preferred, but I also agree that we can't wait until 2015 free agency.

Morey himself said, "This is a 3-year window" at the beginning of this season. IMO, it's primarily driven by Howard's performance level. He's a big guy with previous back problems and his game is almost entirely power and athleticism. It's very likely that we start to see a significant decline in his game past 2016.

We are almost done with the 1st year of this "window". Waiting until 2015 would "waste" the 2nd year and leave us with few options to add talent in the 3rd year.

The question isn't "is Love better or a better fit than Melo?" It's "is Love a better fit than Melo + the 2014 MLE (assuming we can get a trade done) + the 2015 MLE + the bi-annual exception?"

If our timeline really is through the 2015-2016 season, then Melo is the better option.

 

Phil Jackson himself might not quite know where all this is headed with Melo.

If the Rockets make an offer, say, of Asik / Lin / Tjones / 2014 1st rounder / 2016 1st rounder, wouldn't that let him clear the table in 2015, albeit with the option of re-signing any of the three players received from the Rockets (Tjones will continue to improve, Asik is a great defender, Lin---well, he sells tickets) while still having money to go after Kevin Love, Rajon Rondo, etc etc?

All this while adding some kind of draft picks to help replace all those they've thrown away?

As far as Melo goes, I'm sure he'd love to stay in NY, but he would still be looking at one more wasted year.

Let's not walk Melo and Phil down the aisle just yet.

 

Why wouldn't they? Aside from Crawford, all the contracts are one year expirings just like Lin/Asik. The Clippers also have draft picks. If Melo wants the Clippers then they can dump salary just like we can.

 

Is there any cap room this summer? None. Well, MLE. Is there any cap room the summer of 2015? ~$14M. How exactly would the Rockets obtain Melo under the CBA? S&T seems to be the only option. The Knicks already have a signed center in Chandler. So the only option seems to be Lin plus assets. A lot of assets. Like in Lin, D-Mo, Jones, Canaan, picks and perhaps Parsons? I have no idea. Seems like a quick way of rebooting the Knicks franchise and hobbling the Rockets for years to come. Just MHO.