I never liked Melo and didn't want to root for him. But to say that he wouldn't improve our offense is probably going too far. I guess it depends on what pieces we would have traded for him. I am pretty sure if we played Melo instead of Budinger, we'd be better offensively, and probably defensively too. Martin would have a field day picking cherries playing alongside Melo. What is not clear is how Adelman would have adjusted the offense to mesh with Melo's talent. I do think the OP has a point in that we were already a very good offensive team without a super offensive player. So maybe the improvement with Melo would not have made us that much of a better team. That's what I thought even before the deadline. What we really needed was a true two-way player at the wing and a defensive anchor in the middle. Anyhow, Anthony might well be this generation's Patrick Ewing. I've always thought that he had pretty good talent around him in Denver to contend for a title. But the Nuggets were never a true elite team with him.
I thought that DM himself had said that he would do a deal even with Melo being a half-season rental, because we would still likely profit in the end by doing a s-n-t to get assets back. In other words, give away $20 worth of our assets for Melo, and then deal him for $25 worth of assets and picks from someone else. Seemed like a sound idea, as long as NYK's draft position would have been significantly lower *without* Melo than *with* him. Oddly, the opposite seems to have happened - keeping Melo away from New York might have actually HELPED them have a better record (because they were playing better before) than just standing aside and watching Melo go there now, as has been the case. I think DM's strategy was sound, but we may end up being more lucky than good on this draft-swap deal. Ideally, get Melo, watch as NYK's season tanks because they didn't get Melo, take their draft position AND trade Melo to them for more of their assets, and bam. Not bad. But instead, NY played above their heads for the first half of the season, which, again, seemed to validate the strategy, but try as he might, Melo couldn't be dragged here even as a rental. And then like a miracle, NY gets Melo and tanks anyway, instead of taking off like conventional wisdom would have thought. So, while we might not end up with a bunch of EXTRA NYK assets, at least we kept our own (which are not bad at all) and we will still probably get to swipe their draft spot too, as long as we keep charging and they keep sucking. So in this case, it may be a case of the stars aligning in our favor for a change. We'll see....
If the Rockets had a true defensive C, they would be about 5-8 games better than where they are now. The Rockets have enough scoring, I also don't think that Melo is the type of guy you build around. As much as I hate him, Kobe Bryant is probably the only guy in the NBA I would take to build a franchise around. I think Wade would be next. Another thing to factor in is what will the new CBA look like. The Knicks might be ****ed under the new deal.
Yeah. He's only good when working with a Nash type of ball handler or wing. Carmelo or Amare aren't going to get 5+ assists in D'antoni's system. I remember talking with someone that suggested that JVG might be a good coach for the Knicks. Obviously he wouldn't make them any better offensively, but he could make that team a top 10 defensive team and they could get by on offense with talent alone, just like in Houston. I would still take him on the Rockets, assuming that meant Adelman stays. Can you imagine Melo in an Adelman system? He's not really good at doing the back cuts, but he would be the guy on the post. You get Melo the ball in the post... people are already concentrating on defending him... but if you add in addition to that a guy like Martin or Patrick Patterson cutting to the basket, either someone is going to get an easy basket or you have Melo in the post in the triple threat position.
Dude if you think Carmelo is a thug, your definintion of a "thug" is so general that its bordering on a stereotype. Melo is a wannabe at worst.
There have been career 12th men bench-warmers who had led their NCAA team to titles too, apples and oranges. Guy had lots of talent at all positions in Denver and almost always failed.
He was the main guy on that Syracuse team and FAR from the 12th man in the league. As far as Denver goes, Billups best days were in Detroit, George Karl & Nene had bouts with cancer, Chris "Birdman" Andersen was suspended for drug use, J.R. Smith & Kenyon Martin are head cases, Denver traded Marcus Camby in a cost cutting move, Yeah, Melo should've won the title every year with that going on. I don't have a problem with you not liking Anthony but at least use facts.
I'm finally using this ignore feature we have. I can overlook some stupidity, but when half of the posts in the thread say "lolwut? blessing in skies? lol," I have to put my foot down. I mean if I can't expect those people to even read the OP, why on earth would I want to have a conversation about it?
