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

The Heat last year had three Hall of Famers, a proven championship coach and established role players like Ray Allen that were still contributing. The Bulls this summer will have a stripped-down roster with only one other star -- and that one hasn't played at an elite level in 2.5 years. Apples, meet oranges. As far as Miami, their core -- led by Wade -- continues to break down more with each passing year.

I don't see a team out there in the East where LeBron/Carmelo can join and have remotely comparable talent to the 2012-13 Heat.

 

Most execs will not see this as helping the Rockets, most execs will see this as an opportunity to fleece the Rockets out of some valuable assets for next to nothing...

What? The Rockets are willing to give us a 1st & 2nd to take Jeremy Lin? OK. We can get an elite rebounding & defensive center in Omer Asik for a couple of future 2nd rounders? He'll yes?

I guess I'm surprised so many reporters don't see this.

 

1. Yes, that's how bad the East is. And they barely got past Atlanta.

2. The young core regressed this season (especially Hibbert). And Lance may not even be there next season. Without Lance, the Pacers would've lost to the Hawks.

3. "The Bulls have tons more questions about their team than the Pacers." That's a fact? Really? The only question is Rose's health and reports are that he's playing like his old MVP self. The Pacers might lose Lance. They have no replacement for Lance. They have no playmakers. George can only score in transition and is a streaky 3pt shooter. Hibbert is psychologically weak and was exposed against Atlanta. Hill isn't a PG -he can't create and can only shoot 3s. Their defense is overrated. They have one elite on-ball defender (George) and a couple very good defenders (West, Hill). But Atlanta lit them up in the postseason so I don't know how people can say they have an elite defense.

 

In the East it is a MUCH easier path to the chip, way more significant than you think. In the West you have to go through Spurs, Thunder, Clips, Rockets, and then the Warriors, Blazers, and even Mavs are no jokes either. I have enough confidence to say that the Timberwolves would be a 4, maybe 3 seed in the East,

That kind of proves his point. There's no arguing that the Pacers imploded, they absolutely did, and it was honestly embarrassing. The fact that they played so poorly and still made ECF is a joke. In West, if you don't bring your A game you will probably be jumped first round.

 

Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony to Opt Out, Become Free Agent
Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks’ best player, has decided to opt out his contract to become a free agent this summer, according to a person familiar with the matter.
details in WSJ:
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-561465/

 

IMO, the Rose question is still a Rose question. I also think letting Lance go will improve the Pacers if anything. Lance's chunking and wild offense was part of the problem, not the solution.

 

Lol bro, until he comes back and puts in a season proving it, nobody should trust that Rose comes back any stronger then Roy did.

 

Well, they have a very young core.

 

Why would he choose the Bulls? Didn't Rose say he was 100% healthy at the beginning of last year as well? Knee issues are knee issues. The only way he can stop the injuries is if he plays a different style but if he plays a different style then he wouldn't be the Derrick Rose that everyone fears anymore.

 

obviously the rose question is still relevant, but if they let Lance go, who becomes the Pacers playmaker? No one else can get in the paint. No one else can create. Hill is the slowest PG in the nba. George can only score in transition and is a streaky 3 pt shooter. Hibbert's low post game has completely disappeared. He can only score on putbacks that were the result of Lance's drives to the basket.

Rose's health is still a question but I think the Pacers as a team have more issues than the Bulls.

 

Typo in original post. Meant to say Rose question is still a huge question.

Anyways, yes I think the Bulls are a better team and I have more faith in them going forward. If the Pacers get rid of Lance they'd obviously have to bring somebody in, and I think the Pacers could get back on track. As Lance took on a bigger and bigger role in the offense, the Pacers offense got worse and worse. I think he is great as a playmaker, high energy guy, but he was trying to do way too much and the result was a disjointed, unorganized, ugly offense.

 

Since MJ retired the West has one 11 championships to the Easts 5. If you come out of the East your chances of actually winning the NBA Championship are not particularly good unless you have a big 3 like Miami or Boston, even then those teams have 3 finals losses. It's harder to get to the finals out of the west but when you do, your chances of winning are better.

Melo may choose to go to an inferior roster to stay in the East but his best chance at a championship is adding himself to a superior roster in the west.

 

Oh but your claim is that they are not talented?

 

apparently, coach and city is what he cares. Rose is no factor.

 

I agree with you that Lance was trying to do too much - playing for that next contract.

But there aren't any playmakers in this year's FA pool,which is ironic since PG is the deepest position in the league.

 

Instead of looking at individual championships, if you look at teams, during the post-Jordan era, the West has had 3 champions - Spurs, Lakers, Mavs, the East has had 3 champions - Heat, Celtics, Pistons. Granted, the Lakers had two different teams during their first run and their second run, but even if you count those as two different teams, it's still only 4-3.

And Melo doesn't have any options to join a super team like the early 2000s Lakers or the Duncan-era Spurs. Sorry to burst your bubble Rox fans, but Harden-Howard can't compare to Shaq-Kobe (or even Kobe-Pau) or Duncan-Parker-Ginobli.

 

How much do you all want to bet the Bulls (if they get Melo') won't make it to the Finals next year?

 

2013 quotes about Derrick Rose:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Derrick Rose says he's 100 percent and will play the first game of the season.</p>&mdash; HoopsHype (@hoopshype) <a href="https://twitter.com/hoopshype/statuses/356714291665190915">July 15, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Thibodeau on DRose: &quot;What the summer has done is it’s given him more time to build confidence and strength in his leg. He looks great.&quot;</p>&mdash; K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) <a href="https://twitter.com/KCJHoop/statuses/356199089047736321">July 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

2014:

 

Haha. Nice way to make your point.

Noticed also that only 1 witness said that rose looked good. What about the rest of the witnesses? The report should have been "by all accounts..." That's what you call spin. I'm a big doubter that rose's knees will hold up or that he will be a shadow of himself next year. It takes 2 years to really recover from a serious knee injury I think. If Melo makes the mistake of falling for this then good luck to him.