Found it! Nothing but speculation but interesting none the less.. No way Morey isn't all over this. Hold on to your butts. This is the opportunity we've been waiting for. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/topclips/?id=5469118&autoplay=1&callsign=WMVPAM
He is a proven winner unlike T-Mac. He's gotten to the WCF in 7 seasons, while T-Mac hasn't even got past the 1st round in his 13 seasons in the league. Also, ever since Melo got drafted by the Nuggets, they've made the playoffs all 7 times he's been on them. Not even LeBron or Wade can say that. Too many people underrate him because of his supposed thuggish attitude.
Ric Bucher was on ESPN radio saying that Houston is a strong possibilty in landing Melo because we have the most assets that Denver would want. Basically if were giving up Martin as the centerpiece I want Afflalo a part of the trade, but if it's Brooks, I want Lawson. Also throw in Hill and Patterson to net us Anderson using part of the trade exception.
He's also won a national championship in college and one the leading scorers on the olympic team. People are just going to hate.
we need more talent obviously. i would love carmelo here since i think he can play good defense when motivated, he gets to the line non-stop, and i think he is getting past his knucklehead phase now that he is married. but man we would be tempting the injury gods to strike us down with melo, martin, and yao. who knows if he would even want to come here with the yao situation being so unknown. anyhow, i think denver blows up their team if carmelo does end up really wanting to be traded before the season begins. pretty sure they can easily trade nene too since he is their only big contract that doesn't expire. both our knick firsts, hill, taylor, battier, jefferies. denver buyouts battier and get him back in houston...that would be the dream scenario.
IMO, this is the time that all of us Rockets fans have been waiting for. A superstar can be finally had according to ESPN and this is Morey's time to shine. He didn't aquire the NY lotto picks for nothing. He didn't aquire Martin or any of the cheap and talented rookies for nothing either. Pray to God that Morey comes through in the clutch for us. I am convinced that this will be basically a sign and trade in season. Melo will get traded to his new team and will likely sign the extension with them. He has too much to lose if he doesn't.
ny is always mentioned in every big name rumor...and look what it got them? amare and raymond felton lol.
Ever since he lost his baby fat and shaved his head, he has become a new man. He actually improved his defense drastically these last 2 seasons. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s2wg5wO_5Fo?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s2wg5wO_5Fo?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
Ric Bucher on ESPN Radio did mention that Houston is a frontrunner in landing Melo because of all of our assets.
Also Melo is a very underrated passer and has the best post game for his position, even better than LeBron or Durant.
if we trade martin/jj/young players (likely bud) for melo then i'd be disappointed. imo we need martin + melo, and clearly yao, to actually compete for a title. melo for martin is an upgrade, but it's not a big enough upgrade to get us out of the west. brooks, lowry healthy martin, lee melo, battier scola, patterson healthy yao, miller that's a legit championship contender.
Who are we gonna give up in your trade for Melo? I think one of Brooks or Martin will have to go and my gut is Brooks is out. I think we can offer an enticing package with either one of them as the centerpiece. If Martin is included in a trade: we can offer this package Martin + Battier + Hill + Patterson + NY 1st round pick for Melo + Afflalo + Anderson Brooks/Lowry/Smith Lee/Afflalo/Taylor Melo/Budinger Scola/Anderson/Jeffries Yao/Miller/Hayes If Brooks is included in a trade: we can offer this package Brooks + Battier + Hill + Jeffries + Patterson + Knicks pick for Melo + Lawson + Anderson Lowry/Lawson Martin/Lee/Taylor Melo/Budinger Scola/Anderson Yao/Miller/Hayes I can see the latter trade happening because of Brooks favorable contract and his restricted free agency status.
1st of all let me say that I am not confident neither pessimist about this trade going down, but let me explain some things that people are forgetting, some are just strong convictions I have: - Melo will be traded before the season starts - If Melo comes to Houston, it will be only after Denver accepts our trade offer, and he verbally agrees with Houston (DM) to resign, there will not be a 1 year rental as some people are saying, simply because DM will not gut the team for 1 year shot at the little - I doubt Kevin Martin will be in the deal, simply because Denver will not want his contract, and specially because DM and Adelman love this guy (me too), and if you see, the team is being built around him, and if by any chance a bigger star comes, Martin is a guy that will not make a problem out of it, he is a humble athlete that just wants to win, no ego involved - And if I had to put my money, I would say that AB is the "big" guy that is most likely to be in the deal (even if I don´t want/like this idea, I am just trying to predict thinks, I am not putting out my opinion). Even if Denver thinks that they have a more valuable player in Lawson, which can make sense for some people, they know that AB´s market value is top notch with a bargain contract, and they can decide after what to do with him...(trade AB or Lawson) - Hill AB NY 1st round pick Option to swap with NYK pick And salaries that make this trade possible (expirings or TE) -People that said that we would take Lawson back, are just dreaming, Lawson is a great player, be happy if you can take Melo, and stop dreaming about robing Denver Right now nothing is out, there is no public interest by the Rockets, so let Morey do his Magic (if he wants to do is magic for Melo) in close doors PeAcE
i'm of the opinion that denver would likely blow up their team if they trade melo. i don't think they would want martin's contract with my random scenario. denver is positioned so they can blow up their team if they want and honestly i think they should since everyone important is expiring outside of nene. i posted this earlier since i thought about it a little more i feel like if we did a trade like that it would probably have to include c-bud too and maybe a 3rd first round pick. if we can get battier back then i think that's a pretty fair trade if they don't want to take on salary past this year.
Leeb, you and I both know who the better player is between Melo and Granger. That's not even worth debating. The point is you can still build a championship level team with a player that's 8 or 9/10's the player Carmelo is for a fraction of the price. In a perfect world -- yeah, okay....you end up with Carmelo. That's not to say a player like Granger couldn't potentially put you over the top, though. We're at a point where we have three obvious options: 1) Stand pat, 2) Wait for an elusive big fish that expresses no interest (i.e. Bosh, Melo) or 3) Use the multitude of trade assets and financial flexibility we have to pounce on teams looking to cut salary. Would you agree that standing pat we're a 5-8 seed with a realistic ceiling of reaching the second round and no further? Would you also agree that pursuing one of these big fish, while absolutely necessary from a "What if? standpoint, has an EXTREMELY low probability of ever amounting to anything? If 'yes' to both, what else is there left to do? Unless your goal is to realize your team has peaked and elect to maneuver around the salary cap to avoid the luxury tax (which is a reasonable path to choose), you're pretty much "stuck" pursuing the likes of a player like Granger. Which, if you ask me, isn't all that bad of a fallback option. Don't forget, Pau Gasol was also once this 'mega-loser' before he started closing out Game 7's of the NBA Finals. Anything can happen when the right player is put in the right situation. If you understood the context of the comparison you shouldn't be laughing. But clearly we're on different pages here. How Player X would fare in Player Y's role and how that relates to the Rockets is quite the dubious point to stand by.
i am curious if there is some way to get chauncey if brooks is involved in the trade since they would have 3 pgs. lol yes there is http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=22l654z actually a pretty interesting trade for denver if they were to implode the team. if they could pick up the 2 ny firsts and 1 of our firsts to go along with brooks, c-bud, hill, taylor, and they save 6.1 million. man now that i think about it who in the hell knows what denver is thinking....i just remembered they signed harrington to that dumb 5 year 33 mil deal. he will be perfect in denver. he plays no d and shoots waaaay too many 3's. i'm surprised they didn't try to find some way to give him a max deal.
