As Carmelo Anthony leans toward leaving New York, Chicago and Houston emerge as frontrunners

Here is a pretty good writeup of what Chicago needs to do to get Melo:

http://gapersblock.com/tailgate/2014/06/the-pursuit-of-carmelo-timeline----chicago-bulls-edition.php

In short they`d need to:

amnesty Boozer
Get rid of all expiring contracts
Trade Gibson, Dunleavy, James, Amundson, Brewer and their TE to NY
convince Melo to only take 83.6 million over 4 years (so leaving 12.3 million on the table)

So not only would Melo have to take a second paycut (taking considerably less than he would from NY), but NY also has to do that trade (with only Gibson as a real valuable player) and it would cut their roster pretty thin.

So Melo would have to say: sure I bet on Rose's health (after he didn't play the last 2 seasons) and I will take 46 million less guaranteed for it - and I don't mind going to a team with no bench.

Nah - if he has that and compares it to HOU, where he would have to take no paycut, doesn't have injury prone stars and no income tax and probably a better roster from the start, there should be no way he chooses Chicago. And I don't believe NY will take that trade as well.

 

before rose got hurt if I recall last year, bulls and the rockets were the hottest teams in preseason. bulls with rose/Noah & rockets with harden/Howard. Harden and Howard are better than Noah/rose I would say.

 

Not worried about Chicago. The only scenario where i don't see him signing here is because we've probably acquired LeBron already.

 

The more I think about it... yeah the bulls would be good... but they would maybe be better than the Heat.

Bulls
Heat
Pacers

East got stronger.

Maybe Lebron heads to the Rockets...

 

I'm worried as hell about Chicago. Melo seems to really like the prospect or living and playing there.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>No surprise that 'Melo opting out. Was never realistic for the Knicks to expect him to opt-in. Bulls likely New York's strongest competition</p>&mdash; Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisMannixSI/statuses/480788908456689665">June 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>With Carmelo opting out, Heat can't have contact until July 1 (but LeBron, Wade, Bosh can, since league never has gotten in way of that).</p>&mdash; Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) <a href="https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat/statuses/480787725399105536">June 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>To a degree, LeBron, Wade, Bosh have to, since it would impact how they would approach their June 30 opt-outs (consider it pre-recruiting).</p>&mdash; Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) <a href="https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat/statuses/480788061031497728">June 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Facts about Melo.
"Melo career accomplishments: 0 Rings, 0 Finals Appearances, 0 Finals MVP's, 0 Full Season MVP's, 0 All Star Game MVP's, 0 Time All NBA 1st Team, 0 All Defensive teams, 0 Rookie Of The Year, 3 playoff series wins in 11 years, 8 first round playoff series losses, 23-43 career playoff record (worst all time for any player), 41% shooter for his career in the playoffs, 1-17 as a member of the Knicks on game winning shot attempts in the 4th quarter and overtime, 37% shooting in the 4th quarters of games last season."

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rival execs are skeptical about Houston's ability to dump enough salary to clear max money...especially if it means helping Rox land 'Melo</p>&mdash; Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisMannixSI/statuses/480791020871749632">June 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I still Carmelo will re-sign with the Knicks...and the Bulls are his best option. Instant contender.</p>&mdash; Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) <a href="https://twitter.com/FisolaNYDN/statuses/480791146914775040">June 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
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More concerned with Pat Riley and the Heat to be prefectly honest. That's the only way we miss out on both LeBron and Melo.

 

Melo isn't coming to Houston. The best you guys can hope for is Bosh, and even that is a longshot.

No one wants to come to the Western Conference. It's that simple. The East is not getting stronger. The Pacers are terrible and their roster isn't going to improve from this past season. The Nets just got a year older. That leaves the Bulls and Miami. Maybe Boston if they can do something with their draft picks. That's it. So if you're a marquee FA, why would you pass on a guaranteed trip to the ECF.

I don't think Houston makes any big moves this offseason. The LOF and LOH romance will continue for another season, or maybe until the trade deadline.

 

Ugh, gonna be real down if Melo chooses Chicago over us.

 

Prepare yourself, then. Doesn't seem likely at this point that he chooses Houston, but I guess we'll see.

 

You have a problem if Melo is your best player. And you definetly have a problem if no other player even comes close to being as good as Melo.

We don't need Melo to carry us. We already have 2 stars. We need Melo to be the missing link. A guy that can give us a score when Harden is cold, a guy that allows Harden and Parsons to play under 35 minutes a game, a guy that can hit the open 3 when Howard is double teamed and a guy that can hold his own against big 4s on defense. And he is more than capable to do that.

 

You, my friend, are going to be eating crow on a variety of levels. This is not me alluding to anything either.

Morey is not standing pat. I do know that.

The Lof/Loh is not only a BBS issue, my friend.

One love and keep your fandom positive.

 

Such an overhyped conference, and my team plays there.

 

Good for us that we only need 1 or 2 execs willing to make a deal.

 

Where is your evidence of this? The West was strong a year ago as well. The top free agents were Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Andre Igoudala. All chose to sign with Western teams. If for whatever reason you have this bizarre hangup on West vs. East, that's certainly your prerogative, but don't try and pass it on as if you're speaking for free agents... because history doesn't show it at all.

As far as why free agents don't care, I wrote about it at length the other night:

http://sulia.com/channel/basketball/f/d3f57192-f852-4c87-95cb-829c3f832db5/

Basically, for a LeBron/Carmelo, the only thing they care about is WINNING CHAMPIONSHIPS. Losing, whether it's in the 1st round, 2nd round, WCF/ECF or NBA Finals -- the distinction really doesn't matter. Because they lost.

The Heat had every advantage in the book this year. East was pathetic. They went through entire playoffs without even being pushed to an elimination game. Plenty of rest. The Spurs had to get through a rugged West, including a 7-game test in the first round. And how much did it matter? Not one bit, because the Heat just didn't have a good enough team. The end.

West vs. East can be a relevant tiebreaker, if LeBron/Carmelo thinks two rosters are comparable in overall talent. It is not, however, the first priority. The first priority is to ask whether a certain team (say, Chicago) is elite enough to beat a Spurs-level opponent and actually win an NBA title. If the answer is no, then NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberx
(Will pitch to Lebron, if he says no, then to Melo, once verbal done, he will trade the guys. May have to sign and trade parsons as last resort.)

Rockets in - Melo + shumpert
Knicks in - parsons + Lin + asik

bev
Harden
Shumpert
Melo
Howard

Phil will take this, Melo can get his max... We can't play around, get your 3rd star now and move on, Howard can have one year then can opt out after this one.