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

You're really trying to judge these teams by one series? Have you ever heard of matchups, or sample sizes? The 2006-07 Warriors were an 8 seed that actually WON a first-round series, as opposed to the Yao/McGrady Rockets, who were a 4 seed that lost in the first round (sound familiar?). What did it mean going forward? Absolutely nothing -- the Rockets continued to be the better team than Golden State in that era, just as they were during the 2006-07 season. The short-term fluke, matchup-based results of one series were meaningless in terms of the big-picture direction of the franchises.

Never winning anything? Dude, get a grip. IT'S BEEN ONE SEASON. No one expected the 2012-13 group to do more than they did. Simply getting in the playoffs in the loaded West, with Harden and no interior scoring presence, was an accomplishment. This year was the FIRST AND ONLY year with this group of players (and coaches) that they've had any expectations at all. They didn't meet all of them, but if you think one off year in the loaded West is enough to make free agents freak out, I think you need a bit more perspective.

The Rockets were a better team than Dallas in 2013-14 and are positioned to be a much better team going forward, and it's not even really debatable.

 

Either player can help out our offensive "system". It's almost like a pick up game where you might have 3 players great at scoring but no semblance of gameplan....better to have those 3 players than to have just 2.

One problem last year against the Blazers was that even if the Rockets played good defense against LMA, they couldn't make him work on the defensive end because Jones and Asik aren't threats. You put in a Love or an Anthony and it changes everything. Aldridge or Lopez would have had to move further away from the paint and that opens up more opportunities for the Rockets to score.

Same can be done against OKC (Ibaka getting out of his comfort zone because he has to defend Love/Anthony).

 

There are a lot of question marks for Dallas too. Who will be their PG? Will VC and Marion re-sign? Or get deals elsewhere? And of course depth in general, not to mention their age moving forward.

 

What the Lakers did under Shaq and Kobe in their primes is irrelevant to the pile of garbage they are today.

What the Mavs did with a younger Dirk and a championship cast of role players is irrelevant to their roster today.

What the Bulls did with a pre-knee-injury Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer in his prime is irrelevant to the post-two-surgeries Rose and soon-to-be-amnestied Boozer of today.

You seem to have a strange fetish for jerseys. It's the names on the back, not the front, that dictate the caliber of team a franchise has. Your argument is the exact one Lakers fans tried to use on Dwight a year ago -- and he basically laughed at it.

You could put the Rockets roster in Charlotte Bobcats jerseys, and they'd have a real chance to woo Carmelo. It's about the talent of the current roster and their ability to compete over the near-term -- not nostalgia of what a different team in similar jerseys did back in 2010, 2006 or 2001.

 

Dallas is a non-starter IMO unless they can coax LeBron AND Carmelo to share that capspace with Dirk.

They might (and that's a huge might) have a window of opportunity to contend for another couple of years but their long term is bleak. So you're realistically asking, if you're Dallas, Anthony or LeBron to carry a Dallas team in a stacked West for a couple of years before the team can have flexibility to bring in another star.

 

Steven Adams wasn't particularly good against Dwight himself. It was Ibaka's weak-side shotblocking that gave Dwight trouble. Spoiler alert: Serge is going to have to respect Carmelo and his 40%+ from three, thereby giving Dwight the room he needs to operate. Either that or OKC will go small, and Dwight can punish him physically in the post, 1 on 1.

 

Rose colored glasses for Chicago, dude.

 

Not for a superstar in the prime of his career. The Bulls without Rose have approximately a 0.000000% chance of winning an NBA title in the next 3 years. Even with Anthony.

So it comes down to whether you can trust a player who hasn't been elite in 2.5 years to miraculously recover his 2011-12 form after multiple significant knee surgeries. I'm not willing to make that bet, and I doubt Carmelo is, either.

 

Rose has been out of the league for basically 2 seasons. When he did play, he struggled to return to form. That's before he tore his meniscus.

I hope he comes back and he's great but even if you assume he never gets injured again or that its possible for him to return to his old form, it's more than likely that he has lost a step or two, that he's not used to the speed and its going to take him a while to sync up.

 

To everyone who believes Melo is signing with the Bulls, i suggest you check out Bima's timeline on twitter (@BimaThug) right now. You can also check out mine.

 

Doesn't Bima's twitter calculations use a Parsons cap hold of $1,760,350 (190% of previous)? I thought his own article indicated that his cap hold would be $2,875,130?

I am confused.

 

Where will Carmelo Anthony Play his first game of the 2014-2015 NBA Season?

Chicago Bulls 1/1
New York Knicks 2/1
Miami Heat 5/1
Houston Rockets 11/2
Dallas Mavericks 10/1
Los Angeles Lakers 15/1

 

If he wants a good place to raise his son, Houston's a good option. Maybe we can't compete on the metropolitan buzz of a place like NYC, but I don't have any inferiority complex as far as cities well-suited to raising a family. Not worried about that.

 

So we're going to be playing against the Bulls in Chicago to start off the season?

 

It's crazy to think that after the season was over, I thought we were one or two good role players and better coaching away from being a true contender. Adding Melo or Love would instantly make us contenders, but remember guys, even if we strike out, adding a good role player like a Rondo or Milsap and hopefully hiring Lionel Hollins for defense, we will be in great shape.

 

You forgot the Rockets underachieved while the Mavs overachieved,plus the Mavs has a much better coach. The rockets has the best talent, but from the result of this year's playoff the chemistry between Dwight and James is not there yet. It would take a lot more to convince melo to come here, especially both melo and harden knows they need their 30 shots per game.

 

what were these numbers for howard last year?

 

The odds are falling.

 

Sorry man but Rondo is not a role player. He's a star.

 

me too..