Yeah, it's pretty obvious to most people, the ONLY way to justify it would be if the only way to get Lebron was to hurt the team and bail out the Knicks by trading Harden for Melo. For this very reason, I think the rumor started with some NY homer thinking of the only scenario that the Knicks won't suck next year.
I don't know where the idea that Melo was a good clutch player or that Harden was a bad clutch player came from, but that place should close.
In 50/50 games where the Rockets have LeBron, I absolutely DO NOT WANT MELO. Also, Melo was one of the worst clutch performers in the NBA.
Melo is clutch but he is a terrible iq passer. When the game is on the line he defers to the worst possible player. He needs to sometimes hold the ball a little bit longer. And when he gets double team he passes bad or too late. Harden addition by subtraction. He would score points but also let his opponent murder him. You close the lane and he just become a 1 trick pony. Chuckino ill advised shots ala melo style as well.
Melo is no better at D than Harden and he tries even less, also Melo's shooting numbers actually go down in clutch situations. There's simply no justification for calling either Melo a good clutch player or calling Harden a poor clutch player, they are both simply inaccurate statements.
An exaggeration IMO. Lebron WANTing to play with Melo is hardly Lebron NEEDing to play with Melo. Lebron NEEDs to win championships. Harden is better and will be even better going forward, Melo is at his peak. Plus Lebron and Harden are close, maybe as close as Lebron and Melo. Lebron calls Harden his lil bro, so making his acquisition conditional on trading Harden does not compute.
I'm still learning the ropes here at the GARM, and you know a lot more about the Rockets than I do, but Ramona Shelbourne (ESPN) just reported this morning that the Clippers consider Griffin "untouchable" in any trade. But I agree with you. LeBron is clearly better than Griffin so I don't know why the Clippers would let LeBron slip through their fingers to retain Griffin. If Ramona is correct, that's means there is at least one team in the league that won't sell the farm to get LeBron. I would love to know why the Clippers feel this way about LeBron, and especially why the value Griffin above all else. "The Los Angeles Clippers have strong interest in pursuing LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony if they can clear the requisite salary cap space to make a maximum-level offer to the superstars, who have both elected to become free agents starting July 1. One player they have no interest in moving, however, is forward Blake Griffin. While the Clippers would need to move significant players and money to make a run at either James or Anthony, sources told ESPN that Clippers president and coach Doc Rivers has told Griffin on numerous occasions that he considers him "untouchable" in any trade. The Clippers have $76 million committed in salaries for next season. That figure will decrease to $71.7 million after Darren Collison, Glen Davis and Danny Granger opt out of their contracts for next season, meaning the Clippers likely would have to trade some combination of prized young center DeAndre Jordan (one year, $11.4 million), Jared Dudley (three years, $12.1 million), Matt Barnes (three years, $10.1 million), Jamal Crawford (three years, $16.3 million) or J.J. Redick (four years, $27.7 million) to facilitate a deal.."
Sorry. Forgot the link: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...ouchable-free-agent-pursuit-according-sources
I say do it just based on the rivalry we have with them right now lol. Imagine Lin and his BFF parsons going up against us.
the warriors must've slipped and bumped their heads if they think we're gonna take give them parsons for a bags of chips...smh
