Sam Amick: Melo and Lebron interested in joining forces

They can't force Bosh out. He has to be willing to opt out.

 

The Miami Heat should learn from the Lakers before trying to add Melo to their existing roster. The two times the Lakers stacked a super team, they turned into failed experiments. The Kobe, Shaq, Glove, and Mailman team was a failure even though they did make the NBA Finals. And more recently, the Kobe, Pau, Nash, Howard, and Metta team did not work out. Injuries sort of derailed both teams, but ultimately a lack of depth and solid role players were the reason for their demise. If Karl Malone didn't get injured right before the Finals, they probably would have won. And if Nash, Kobe, Pau, Howard, and Metta all didn't get hurt during their season, they would not have been exposed so much for starting a D league point guard for the majority of the season.

The years the Lakers did win, it was players like Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, Ron Harper, Rick Fox, Byron Scott, AC Green, and Michael Cooper that were the difference makers that took them to the next level. Adding Anthony to the Heat will not improve them as much as it will only hurt their already limited depth.

 

Lebron's legacy goes out the window if this were to happen.

 

If Anthony wants to take a pay cut and join a super team, he should look for teams most in need of his help at his position and skill set. To me, that would be the Clippers. But he needs the Clippers more than the Clippers need him to win a championship. They could always just sign Paul Pierce to a mid level exception and get the SF they are short as well as the playoff experience that Carmelo does not possess. But I'm sure if Carmelo is willing to sign for about $10M per season, the Clippers would be intrigued and could move some players to make things fit.

 

No way Melo will take 10M less than the max.

If Melo was willing to do that, he'd rather assemble with a team built around Lebron + 2 additional superstars, with everyone only taking 10M. The NBA might as well hand them the trophy if that happens.

What I'm saying is, no way Melo will take 10M to join the current Clippers. Only in an extreme scenario like the one I mentioned, is it even plausible.

 

Not really.

Lebron took the pitiful Cavs to 1 NBA Finals and 1 ECFs.

Lebron led the Heat to 4 straight NBA Finals, 2 Championships and possibly a third.

It doesn't matter if he teams up with another superstar. If he keeps making Finals appearances and Championships, his legacy will continue.

It's pretty amazing to think he could end up with 7-8 Finals appearances before its all said and done. It speaks volumes about him as a player if he does it on three different teams.

 

But as I was saying on my previous post, the whole 4 superstar dynamic does not work when it depletes your depth so much. If the Heat lose to the Spurs, it will be due to lack of depth and not lack of star players. Plus, Carmelo is sort of a duplicate in skill set with DWade and Lebron. I mean, when the game is on the line, Lebron is going to have the ball on an iso. The Clippers on the other hand have players that would compliment Carmelo. Carmelo would be the primary wing scorer on the team with the best assist man in the league (CP3) dishing him dimes and the top rebounder in the league in Deandre Jordan grabbing boards and protecting the lane on defense. Not to mention Blake Griffin would be keeping the defenses honest. Here would be the starting five for Clippers and Heat with Carmelo and I feel the Clippers would be more complimentary and a better team:

Clippers:
PG CP3 (run the offense and create turnovers)
SG JJ Redick/Jamal Crawford (3 point outlet)
SF Carmelo (scorer)
PF Blake Griffin (scoring and rebounding)
C Deandre Jordan (rebounds and lane defender)

Heat
PG Mario Chalmers (run the offense)
SG DWade (scorer)
SF Carmelo (scorer)
PF Lebron (scorer and primary defense)
C Chris Bosh (scorer)

It just seems to me that the Heat have too many scorers and not enough of everything else. Birdman can only do so much.

 

I'd take that Heat roster over that Clippers roster anyday.

Lebron isn't just a scorer. He's a playmaker that'll gladly make the pass to the open teammate. Having Melo as an additional option to this already championship Heat team is just scary.

Anyway, my point was that I don't see Melo taking 10M less. But if he were to do that, it'd be in an extreme unprecidented circumstance, where Melo, Lebron, 2 All Stars (ie CP3, Kevin Love) all making the same 10M, for a total of 40M. That would be just ridiculous.

I just don't see Melo willing to be the ONLY guy to take a huge paycut. It'd be easier for him to swallow the hit to his wallet, if there was a chance to play with a crazy ass roster like that, and his fellow superstars were willing to take the same sacrifice.

EDIT: Also, the way the Heat have been managing DWade's minutes during the regular season, they might do the same with Lebron next season.

Especially if they get Melo, they can manage all of their superstar's minutes, giving them some games off, without even skipping a beat.

I don't think this is happening anyways IMO. If Lebron and Melo team up, it won't be in Miami.

 

Miami gets better, Houston gets better, but I don't see why NY does this. If they want money coming off the books, they can just let Melo walk.

 

It's only "silly" because people don't like LBJ and the Heat for whatever reason.

The Spurs' stars have been taking paycuts for years, which has allowed that team to continue to be competitive and sign quality depth. For example, Splitter basically makes as much money as Duncan and $3 million more than Manu.

I would applaud the fact that four stars are willing to be unselfish enough to take less money in order to seriously compete for a championship.

 

There's a massive difference between one guy in the twilight of his career and four in their prime. That's the key here. If Lebron was the only one who needed to take the paycut, I could see it happening because that's possibly the only scenario where the "He can make it up with endorsement" thing is actually real. Four players doing it is ridiculous. And Parker and Manu haven't been taking huge paycuts over the year - heck, Manu in the 2013 offseason signed an extension which looked ridiculous given that he had appeared to be finished during the playoffs, especially the Finals.

If they were willing to do it, I would be shocked. I guess it would be certainly unselfish.

 

underestimating the power of greed here.

 

they could tell the big 3 to opt out in order to create space to sign melo. then exceed the cap to resign their own players. they'd be in luxury territory, but who cares? they'd make so much money and win so many championships that they could afford it.

as for lebron's legacy if melo joins them, people will complain now, but in the future they will look back and all of his championships, finals MVP's and regular season MVP's... the fact that he convinced the competition to join him rather than continue to try to beat them will be over looked.

 

No, they can't. It's called "cap holds". The salary cap would be meaningless if teams could do that.

 

You're right because after all said in done people will only think "lbj won X amount of rings and went to the finals X amount of times"

but if you really sat there and broke it down then you'd see how much of a joke it was.

 

Ok I'm starting to feel like Melo is going to pick up his option with NYC. Then in 2015 either Lebron (w/Bosh in tow) will come to NYC or he will join Lebron and crew in Miami.

What's our plan C?

 

I feel the exact same way, also they may be try to force bosh out and replace him with melo. Everybody still gets paid.

Plan C - Bosh
Plan D - Lowry & Ppatt