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

Morey on the phone with Melo: Hey Melo, you know? Let me pay 30% of what you are worth when someone else can pay you 90% of what you are worth and still have a legit shot at the title. Seriously. Just do it so we can make a superteam dude, what's $10 million per year?

...wait...what? You will do it? GREAT!!!...Ooooohhh, to play with Miami I see? Well, Lebron IS much better than any player we've got...

Screw that plan, how about I'll give you that 90% and stop trying to screw you over from getting MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF DOLLARS that you'll never ever be able to get again as a basketball player once your contract is up.

 

with who? it aint happening with the bulls...which other team realistically can he win another title with and possibly go to?

 

After the Tyson Chandler trade, it's pretty clear Melo is staying in NY. This free agency nonsense is just to get that max contract from NY. I think Melo knew that Phil would be hesitant to pay a 35 year old Melo $23mm+. Free agency was Melo's only leverage.

If he were to go to Chicago or Houston, he would not be guaranteed a championship, especially if Miami lands Lowry. The only sure bet would be if he went to Miami with LBJ. But that clearly isn't going to happen. So if he were to take less to go to Chicago or Houston, he could still end up with 0 chips AND be out $30mm+.

Melo, stay in NY, get the max, keep putting up numbers, and you'll at least make it into the HOF. A lot of great players in the HOF who have 0 chips.

 

Well said.

 

Knicks targeting Melo-Gasol combo

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/sto...-knicks-carmelo-anthony-chances-eye-pau-gasol

"Source: Knicks are quietly confident about their odds of retaining Anthony thanks in part to the idea that new team president Phil Jackson and the high-scoring forward have "connected" to some degree."

"One source close to the process told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne, furthermore, that Jackson is planning to make a determined attempt to try to recruit his former Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol to replace the freshly traded Tyson Chandler alongside Anthony on the Knicks' front line, despite the fact New York is limited to offering Gasol less than $4 million for next season"

 

Bulls have a better roster/situation for Melo? You decide..

If the Bulls literally only had these players left on their roster/payroll:

Derrick Rose
Joakim Noah
Taj Gibson
Jimmy Butler
Doug McDermott

They will have right around $16.34M in cap space too offer Melo. And how do they fill out the rest of their roster?



The Rockets on other hand can keep:

Dwight Howard
James Harden
Chandler Parsons
Patrick Beverley
Terrence Jones
Trey Daniels
Donatas Motiejunas
Isaiah Canaan
Robert Covington
Nick Johnson

And still have around $17.3M in cap space to offer Melo. Plus, no state income tax.

 

If it was Mark Gasol it would mean something... what a joke.

 

Yeah, I think it really comes down to New York or Houston that Carmelo will sign with. I believe the yesterday's draft had really affected Chicago's ability to sign Carmelo unless they start shredding some huge existing contracts.

 

pau gasol will not take $4mil per yr

 

Phil is making moves, he's not sitting around waiting, came up on 3 picks, upgraded PG, got a solid backup center & Larkin.... I think he's far from done & may have something up his sleeve to get rid of amare/bargs/ or JR contract "possible lakers" since they do have young talent to ship out with one of them. I'm not saying melo's staying but wouldn't sleep on PHIL & the Knicks, they already not far from putting together a better supporting cast than the BULLS due to rose health. They're under new management. 33% rockets/ 33%bulls/ 33% knicks

Calderon
Dalembert
Odom
shumpert
J.R
Larkin
C. Early
J. Tyler
Thanasis
amare - trade?
bargs - trade?

 

Forgot hardaway Jr. Also

 

i m not sold dalember/shumpert/calderon are better than noah/gibson/butler. if melo only cares abt $$$, yes, he will be a knick. good luck trading amare/barg/JR.

 

that teams suckssss. seriously lamar odom? and dalembert wow they will really contend to the point of having an almost .500 season

 

There's always gonna be the Spurs. Nothing is guaranteed. It's Melo's plane, he should take it where he'll do best. Lebron doesn't seal the deal just yet.

 

So how are we looking for getting another star? Sounds like only Love and Rondo will be left, with Chicago still in the game.

 

This is really helpful. But probably worth pointing out that the minute we sign a max free agent, some team is gonna offer Parsons a contract we can't match. Its hard to see a scenario where we get to keep Parsons and a big 3. Unless of course he decides not to sign an offer sheet (championship possibilities; thinks he can get vastly more on the unrestricted FA market next year).

Chicago can offer a better city, a better coach, and personally I can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to play with Noah (a real MVP candidate).

 

He has a better chance with Chicago or Houston rather than NYK. They have a rookie coach and there roster still sucks. Calderon is arguable a slight upgrade over Felton and come on, they kept have Dalembert now. Oh, but Pau Gasol may come over lol.

Are you saying if he changes teams and still doesn't win his HOF odds go down?

If it were all about money he would have opted in. Also he won't have to take that bad of a paycut to join Houston at least.

 

Is Les Alexander willing to pay luxury tax? If he does, Morey will match any offer Chandler gets. Yes

Yes, Chicago might be the better city and Thibs is definitely better than McHale but again, do you see Melo taking a paycut to join that depleted Bulls roster?

Noah is awesome, plays with 100% effort and heart but i disagree with him being a legit MVP candidate, he only managed to average 12 point per game on 47% shooting playing alongside a bunch of role players. If you're a true MVP candidate, you have to able to take on the load on offense. He also has a career average of 9 ppg. Nine!

 

Good synopsis. I wonder where you gathered all that info from.

 

The good thing about the Rockets scenario, is that if they sign Melo via free agency, they will only be at a salary cap of $63.2 million and still be about $13.8 million away from the projected tax threshold of $77 million. They could still give Parsons his 10 to 12 million salary with out paying the luxury tax.