Same trade with New Jersey. The Nuggets can't argue with this. They get Yao's expiring contract and some young talent in Brooks and Patterson. This puts them squarely in the lottery so they get another pick plus the cap space to play the free agent market. Detroit gets cap space as well. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=4cncmda
1. Melo doesn't want to be here 2. He's going to bolt as soon as the season is over 3. It would be a waste of players/picks that could be flipped for young talent. 4. Please Morey don't do it
1. "Melo" wants to be wherever he will get a $65 Million dollar extension. 2. Who is he going to bolt to? If New York is his primary, he still won't get the money he wants because of the new collective bargaining agreement. 3. Aaron Brooks is expiring and Patterson may not pan out. That is the risk you take to improve now instead of 5 years from now. Even if Anthony leaves, you have a good scorer off the bench in Hamilton who fits well with Adelman's offense. You have Billups potentially if he doesn't force a buyout. Either way, you have a Superstar and great role players or you have a bunch of cap space. You would have the same if you let Yao expire. 4. His only play is to trade Yao, Brooks, or both. He used his last get out of jail free card when he traded Carl Landry. Brooks and Yao are the only players he could trade and still improve the team. Otherwise, what can he do with The Rockets in the future? Even with a healthy Brooks and half healthy Yao The Rockets went like 1-12.
Signing a new contract before we hit the next CBA will be the highest priority for Melo, though he won't admit it. Like women telling you they don't care how much money a guy has. I don't know what Melo would do if we refused to trade him, but it could cost him $20 million to become a FA after this season. I guess our fallback position might be to get as far under the cap under the new CBA as we can - a $10 million player next year might be the same as a $15 million player this year. Also, it won't be played as, "Melo wussed out and stayed with Houston." We'd convince him over time, without explicitly saying we'd let him lose his money if he didn't re-sign with us. The headline would read, "Melo has changed his mind on Houston - no state income tax, and decent Mexican food."
