Wojnarowski(yesterday): Chicago was at the forefront of his mind as a team that if he was gonna leave, was ready-made. Houston's come on late. Houston can create cap space to make a run at 'Melo. They made up ground in his mind. Right now, Phil Jackson has ground to make up with 'Melo. Maybe he'll do that. Maybe 'Melo will decide to take the most money. This won't come quickly in New York. He wants to be in a winning situation. Phil hasn't helped himself or the Knicks with his public proclamations of 'Melo taking less. Those things are working against the Knicks right now. Does Phil really want 'Melo back? A lot of people around the league wonder that. If you're gonna recruit a star in '15 or '16, you better have one here. Will Phil give him a max contract? I think they'll probably do it from the beginning. They know where 'Melo's head is. When 'Melo said he'll take less, he meant if you give me a big three scenario, of course I'll do it. Tim Duncan, two contracts ago in SA, they gave him two offers: a full max and here's $20 mil a year and here's how we'll keep all you guys together. He took the $20 million. That's not what's happening with 'Melo. That scenario is what 'Melo is talking about. ... Dwight Howard never wanted to go to Houston but they made it impossible for him to go anywhere else if he wanted to win. Here's where you fit in, here's the talent around you. New York gotta build an infrastructure. Chicago a better fit because of the coach, Rose coming back and most importantly, the conference. AW: I agree. The coach, Tom Thibodeau, both Thibodeau and Carmelo are represented by CAA. Thibs is someone 'Melo has great respect for. The one question mark is Rose. That's something 'Melo will have to decide. It's a leap of faith that Rose will hold up. What will happen with the Heat? It's a tough question. If they had won, they would have opted in and go. Bosh will follow the lead of LeBron. If he opts in, Bosh will. If he opts out, Bosh will opt out. Wade isn't going anywhere. I don't think for LeBron there is anywhere for him to go, and no one does around the league. He's not going to Chicago. It would be Cleveland, if he wanted to go home. That Cleveland team is not ready to win championships. Why would LeBron stay? In the end, he trusts Pat Riley and Spoelstra to figure out the next step here. They have the track record. Cleveland doesn't have that. He's not going to the Lakers. It's not that Miami is so promising, there's not another place set up to bring him in. Houston is the one place with cap space and they'll certainly go after him. I don't know if that's what he's looking for. 'Melo stay or leave? As of today, I say he leaves.
He would want to stay in Miami not come to Houston. He has won championships with the Heat. It's not like they get bounced from the playoffs in the first round every year. Melo coming to Houston is more of a realistic possibility. I think the Rockets should bring Jvg back. That would help tremendously more than most free agent signings. Defense wins championships.
He's on a team that has pretty much no chance against any of the top 4 in the West, why would he want to stay in Miami just to lose? Loyalty to his teammates? That's pretty much the only thing I could think of because it's not to win.
Anywhere he can find an easier route to a ring. Gone are the days of a player bringing a championship to a city.
Man if we could get things with LeBron, this would be my perfect offseason to do it: -Trade Asik and #25 to Charlotte for #9 (Executed after the draft for MEL/BAE reasons) -Draft Dario Saric at #9; Draft Patric Young at #42 -Trade Jeremy Lin, DMo, and 2015 1st for cap space (maybe too much, but trying to be realistic) -Sign LeBron for about $18.3M per year -Re-sign Parsons for about $9M per year -Sign Greivis Vasquez for about $3.3M per year with MLE money -Sign Ray Allen for about $2M per year (with MLE money, but equivalent of BAE) -Sign Veteran C/PF for minimum PG: Beverly (Vasquez) SG: Harden (Allen) SF: LeBron (Parsons) PF: Jones (LeBron, Vet) C: Dwight (Young, Vet) Obviously you would try to rotate those minutes to keep Harden, LeBron and Allen fresh all year and for the playoffs. Play some "small" ball with Parsons and James on the court together, but it wouldn't have to be too much for LeBron in the regular season. Do all that and we would still fall under the luxury tax line with plenty of room ($2-3M) to spare. Then you have Saric overseas for a year and hopefully can bring him over for 2015-16 and LeBron doesn't have to ever play PF, except in some game clinching playoff situations that make sense. Man, that would be perfect IMO.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Also - if you don't think the Clips are exploring that game plan, you are nuts. Clips, Cavs + Rockets are LeBron's suitors if he gets antsy.</p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/statuses/479070037961998336">June 18, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If for nothing else, Morey and Alexander for getting LOADS of credit for putting the Rockets in the position that top tier FA's are seriously looking at Houston over former powerhouses like LA and NY. Still not crazy about McHale, but talent on the roster and flexibility going forward speaks volumes. :grin:
The West is getting to be way overrated. Powerhouse teams like the Heat don't care who they play, except apparently the rare Spurs who couldn't miss a 3/had everyone dropping 15 points if someone else was missing. Heat would dominate so many West teams, Rockets and Thunder included. Only three teams could present a problem: Spurs, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Clippers/Grizzlies would be underdogs. They easily steamroll soft, no defense teams like Mavericks, Suns, Blazers, Warriors with no problem. They've won like 70% of their games vs the West, which is the only real fact we have. If Wade and Bosh don't take paycuts, LBJ should definitely leave. How do they even sign anyone else? Best places would be Bulls, Pacers, Rockets, but he definitely doesn't go to Indiana. LBJ on the Rockets would be amazing. Criticism at first but after two titles, haters will calm down. Make it happen
so much has changed in 2 years. Much props to Morey for completely changing the roster and putting us in the position to become contenders.
Logically speaking we should still have the edge over he Clips. They'd have to shed Deandre, Dudley, and Jamal. LeBron could come to Houston, without having to shed any of our stars, still get close to max money, and add more talent with our MLE and Bi annual.. That to me is more intriguing than a depleted Clippers roster. Some say Chicago is in our way, I don't think so. He'd get so much crap from people for going to the team Michael Jordan used to play for.. it's a horrible PR move..
He has loyalty to the team he has won championships with. Also I wouldn't go as far as to say the Heat have no chance vs the top four teams of the west. Certainly his veteran Heat team have a good chance to make the Finals again or even win depending on trades and health. It would take a lot for him to just up and start over again. Kinda a drastic move considering he just made the finals again, don't you think? Just being realistic.
He is completely wrong. That would leave the Clippers with $50.4M in salary commitments and then another $3M in cap holds. So LeBron would have to sign for less than $10M. Simmons really missed the ball on this one.
