[ClutchFans] Not much to dislike about the Rockets signing Carmelo Anthony

Not officially signed yet. Trade still has to be league-finalized, then clear waivers, then sign.

 

Let's all just take it easy for a minute.

 

Doubt very much Morey is finished tinkering with this roster. Ryno will be moved somehow some way IMO. As of now this is my roster depth guess:

CP3/MCW/Melton
Harden/EGo
PJ/Ennis
Melo/Green/Qi
Capela/Nene/Hartenstein

Onuaku, Hunter, Markel are on the way out too. VE, Clark, Duval and Deng may be G League bound or packaged if/when upgrades become available via vet min, MLE, TPE or trade.

Nene could be gone as well if Morey gets an offer too good to turn down. Silver and GSW better bend over and hang on because MDA and the Rockets are on a mission.

 

If the last few years has shown us anything, it is that leaving OKC and Russ behind is good for your career.

 

Imagine if gsw added him....

all the front pages would run 'NBA is ruined again!'

And we were better than gsw last year in regular season AND playoffs

hARDEN AND CP3 WENT 5-2 VS GSW

 

Sports Line Conspiracy.

@Os Trigonum

 

At the price - Veterans Minimum contract - I cannot complain at all. At that price , you can accept the risks and negatives and hope Prime Melo shows up.

If he accepts his place on the team and actually plays (or tries to play) defense and hustles up and down the court (not just when it suits him) he can help this team.


If he doesn't give defensive effort and plays outside of the scope of the schemes , a veterans minimum contract is as risk free as it gets , the team can walk away without any significant consequences.

 

He can not do much worse than eric gordon... this is a massive improvement that will be felt all around the team, everybodys role will be much easier and everybody will be able to devote even more energy and focus to the defense

 

I'm honestly shocked at the responses. Melo has been nothing but a selfish, ego driven player his whole career, a cancer on multiple teams. He's become an irrational confidence player which is okay for a bench guy who plays 15 minutes but it's not okay for a guy like Melo who will start sulking as soon as he gets benched.

I hope it works out because with Paul's age and injury history this might be the best shot we ever get again to win a title for a long ass time.

 

I am honestly shocked that you don't trust CP3

 

I've disliked Melo's character from afar for a while now, but even I don't really see much downside here on a 1 year minimum deal. If he sucks or starts sulking due to playing time, you simply release or trade him.

Looking at it glass half full, the last time he had a good and stable supporting cast was the '12-'13 Knicks (Kidd, Amare, T.Chandler, Felton) and before that his last year in Denver (Billups, Nene, W.Chandler, good Ty Lawson, Affalo). Our team is more talented than either of those and has a similar leader in CP3.

The downside is that Melo chose the money and spotlight to stay in NY instead of going somewhere to win earlier in his career, which is why I've always questioned his desire to win and thought he was selfish. Then the whole thing last year about laughing when asked to come off the bench. But again, the contract mitigates all of the risk here.

 

The man was born in New York, played college ball in New York and then he chose to play in his hometown for the Knicks (probably a team he grew up cheering for). Why are you questioning this? Who doesn't want to win for their city?

 

despite all these legitimate questions and concerns, apparently these aren't considered logical. be careful. CA at 34 years old will be different they said

 

Personally I think it is a big risk too.

35% everyone is durable during postseason and playing at their best.

65% Morey has to pay more than what he has bargained for, with questionable chemistry and CP3 huge risk of breaking down again. And Harden gassing out.

Melo has games shooting 40% from 3 but also abysmal shooting games. And he is going to the rack alot less.

 

I have no real issue with the decision to go to NY the first time around (can't remember if it was as a UFA or forced trade from Denver), but to re-sign there in 2014 with that roster and the team spiraling downward tells me that winning was not his priority. He had a strong Bulls team pursuing him and our up and coming Rockets team.

 

Seeing how spectacular Harden was in the playoffs
That is high praise indeed

Rocket River

 

That Bulls team was overrated but yeah I think he should have considered Houston more during 2014 especially looking back.

But its hard to knock him for re-upping. We had cap space the next two summers and Phil sold him a dream then tried to destroy his image.

 

Is Chris ready to babysit Melo?

 

In his defense, he didn't know the future of any of the squads that were pursuing him. He did have Phil Jackson leading the team and he probably believed in Phil's leadership that has won a ton of titles. What he didn't think about was that Phil cherry picked talented teams to coach that merely needed a nudge. The Knicks needed more than a nudge so the weak minded Phil Jackson went to the front office instead.

 

If you can get a 10 time All Star, at a position of need, to fill a scoring gap on your team, for cheap....ya, you do that, all day, every day, and then you go back and do it again, just to be sure.

As I posted elsewhere...how might the WCF have gone if the Rockets had had Melo then, during their scoring droughts, when they just needed somebody to get a bucket? Fix that for about $1.5M? What's not to like? Plus, with Melo there, spacing likely different, giving others better shots too.

As Clutch said, Melo isn't an Ariza replacement, he's a Rino replacement. DEFINITELY an improvement there. He clearly WANTS to play for Houston. That's a big plus, which likely mitigates many of the concerns.

In evaluating these things, its important to look at what the player will be expected to do going forward, not comparing them with what they did in the past. Perhaps a good example would be when the Mavs acquired Vince Carter. They didn't expect the Vince Carter of old (although most criticisms of the deal were around him not being that anymore). They expected someone who could replace a very over the hill Peja Stoyachovich. He did that, and much more. He averaged around 13 ppg for the Mavs, but was a critical role player for them. They managed his minutes and role to allow him to be successful, which he hadn't been viewed as in PHX and ORL, even though his numbers were similar. Melo would likely have a similar role for the Rockets, and I fully expect him to play it just fine.

To further the comparison, say Melo plays about 25 minutes a game, averages 15 points, and is a key player for them...is that success? I would think so. Can Melo do that? I think definitely yes. Could he exceed that production? I think also definitely yes. Which is why this is a no brainer.