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

I think there's a good chance of it. I think there's no way Wade opts out of his deal and throws away 41 mil guaranteed at this point in his career since I think he knows he'll be lucky to even have 2 years left in him. I think because of that, the Heat won't be able to be really competitive going forward which will make Lebron want to leave. I don't know that he'll for sure come here, but it would make sense.

 

Suitors or likeliest landing spots for Kevin Love according to Howard Beck:

1. Golden State
2. Chicago
3. Denver
4. Boston
5. Houston

Spoiler

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Carmelo:

Bulls and Rockets..

Who has the money advantage?

Rockets have the clear advantage. It's not about money, it's cap room. Rockets have agreed to a deal in principle to send out Omer Asik and have a deal in place to offload Jeremy Lin. It's ready to execute at a moment's notice. The Rockets have a path to cap room. The Bulls still have a lot of things to do, including amnestying Boozer, something they prefer not to do. Chicago still has a lot of work to do.

Better supporting cast?

Chicago has the advantage as long as they're not unloading too many of those guys. They got Rose at PG, Noah at C so you got you play-maker and defensive linchpin and guys like Gibson and Butler. Houston, it's more complicated. Harden operates with the ball in his hands a lot. Carmelo likes to dominate the ball. Howard wants his touches. The chemistry would be dicier.

Better role for Carmelo?

Again Chicago because there's no question about...he's your scorer and go to guy. The Bulls won't have any problems with that. In Houston, you'll have that clash of guys who want to be the top scoring option.

Coaching edge?

Kevin McHale has become a very good coach in the NBA but you see there's no structure there. Harden and Howard haven't quite figured it out. That's on the coach. Thibodeau consistently gets the most out of the Bulls. Thibodeau is the one coach who might get Carmelo to play defense. The Bulls have the advantage.

3-1 advantage Bulls over Rockets. Can the Knicks spoil it?

If he leaves, I think it's one of these two teams. ... I think there's a tug where he may want to stay but if he wants to win, he's making a move and making that move to Chicago.

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Perhaps an obviously better roster along with a similarly large market like New York is all Carmelo is looking for? While Houston is definitely better than Chicago on paper, maybe that's not all he's looking for?

 

Reading the last two pages, are people seriously freaking out because BimaThug made a hypothetical trade scenario?

And I would be surprised if GSW are of all teams the dumping ground for Lin. There are other teams who would find Lin more appealing. Like Sixers or the Jazz who need to fill their minimum cap % quota.

 

"Harden likes to operate with the ball a lot."

Rose last full year: 32 USG%
Harden w/o Dwight: 29 USG%

Of course, Melo shouldn't really expect to play with Rose...

 

One question.. How exactly does Harden dominate the ball as opposed to other great players/point guards around the league? And does a healthy Rose somehow not dominate the ball? Is it because Harden is a SG?

Do people not realize Harden is basically the Rockets point guard so he has the ball a lot?

If you go by time of possession, Harden is behind 14 players like Lebron, Lowry, Lillard, Kirk, Curry etc.

If you go by touches per game, he's like 10th behind several point guards in the league.

If you go by USG% he's 12th in the league, behind WB, Durant, Cousins, Melo, LBJ, Curry, LMA, Irving, Love, Wall, Griffin.

Is people's only argument for him being "selfish, ball hog" for his ISO dependency in the 4th quarter? And may I add he was one of the best 4th quarter scorers in the league?

Or do people ignore the first 3 quarters when he's actively trying to get everyone else involved?

 

the media hates him because he plays for houston...they don't want us to get any more superstars so they try to nitpick every little flaw of his game..harden was amazing this year...he was the mvp of the 2nd half of the season

 

USG% shows the percentage of possessions ended by a player, it tells you nothing about the time spent dominating the ball.

flawed stat, bev and lin usually advance the ball across the halfcourt, not harden

 

Yeah it was funny to read that the pro for Chicagos supporting cast was a playmaker in Rose and a defensive linchpin in Noah, when we have the exact same 2 things already in place. A play maker who is completely healthy and a more effective scorer and a better defensive linchpin.

 

People remember the last thing they saw. Harden was terrible in the playoffs.

 

Dominates the ball and doesn't play defense. Not a good look.

But just because he dominates the ball doesn't mean others don't do it just as often or if not more.

 

Dominates the ball and doesn't play defense is better than dominates the salary cap and doesn't play.

 

Haha, true that.

 

But time of possession does

 

Which makes you wonder what they saw in Chicago. I saw this personally.

Spoiler

 

Sigh... I'm afraid that's going to be the Rockets downfall in getting LBJ/Melo. It doesn't take a genius to see that McHale has no clue on how to build a structured offense around stars.

 

But Harden is not the one bringing the ball across the halfcourt like Rose or Curry, which adds more minutes

 

The media is in the business of telling a story, not uncovering the truth.

They know the Thibs/McHale comparison is insignificant. They know the questions about Rose's health are huge. They know Houston has the better roster. They just don't care.

 

So is Lebron selfish? Because he isn't the one bringing the ball up a lot.

And what are you talking about? Harden brings the ball up quite a bit.

Maybe people view 4th quarter Harden as "selfish", but he spends basically first 3 quarters getting everyone else involved before he takes over.

 

I think it's fair to say fans and NBA writers/reporters, in general, like the Bulls more than the Rockets (or outright dislike the Rockets). They want Chicago to be better and that's enough (just look at how many hoops count-dough-ku jumped through). It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. It's fun to point out the obvious contradictions ("Bulls have a defensive center!"), but it won't change anything at this point.

Fortunately, the players often have a different view than the general public does. Hope it's the same in this case.