[Yahoo!] Carmelo privately expressing more enthusiasm to join Rockets than Knicks

I understand efficiency is important for somebody who averages 8-16 ppg, like Lowry or Lee, but what the hell is efficiency if you average 28 ppg!!?? Almost ridiculous, and even though Morey loves that stat, I don't see him PASSING ON MELO because of it... you don't pass on a true SUPERSTAR 28 ppg scorer that says he wants to come to your team because a stat says that he's not efficient, when another stat says he averages 28 ppg! How is that not efficient? And if that is considered being an un efficient player, then i say to hell with that stat when it comes to a 20+ ppg scorer. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I'm sure you understand what I'm saying, or your brains frozen from excitement that you refuse to believe it.. Morey knows better than that. Chemistry? Well that's a different story.. but remember, he averages 28 ppg! We all wanted that star to take us to that next level, and when a superstar Carmelo Anthony says he wants to, why are some of yall hesitating? What, you thought we could get him without changes? Well, that's just what comes with wanting and getting a superstar.

 

I believe it is 28%, to be exact.

 

LOL

Some guy on the Knicks forum was saying that even if Yao comes back strong and we don't have to trade Brooks OR Martin, a lineup of Brooks/Martin/Anthony/Scola and Healthy Yao couldn't win a championship, and if we had to trade Brooks and replace him with Lowry in that lineup that the team wouldn't even be in the Top 3 in the West.

srsly tho?

 

people keep saying he(Melo) is from NY/Brooklyn. He's actually from Baltimore.

 

They have completely different games. Durant and Melo can both take you off the dribble, but Melo does it with more power, while Durant does it with his freakish length. Melo has a better post game, but Durant is a premier shooter from the outside. Melo is not a good 3pt shooter. Durant is way better than Melo.

 

I read it too. Then I remembered they are Knicks fans. 10 years of NBA purgatory will make you a little crazy.

 

Let's see . . . the Knicks' top assets that can be traded this off-season are:

(1) Danilo Gallinari (who the Knicks apparently aren't even willing to trade!)
(2) Anthony Randolph (nice young prospect, but a headcase)
(3) Toney Douglas (meh...)
(4) The right to swap 2013 first round picks (earliest possible pick that can be conveyed)
(5) Their 2014 first round pick (earliest possible pick that can be conveyed outright)

Meanwhile, the Rockets have the following assets, not even counting Aaron Brooks or Kevin Martin (one of whom could potentially be included in a deal for Melo):

(1) Chase Budinger
(2) Patrick Patterson
(3) Jordan Hill
(4) The higher of the Knicks' or Rockets' 2011 first round pick (top-1 protected if the Knicks pick is higher)
(5) The Knicks' 2012 first round pick (top-5 protected)
(6) The Rockets' own 2012 first round pick
(7) The draft rights to Sergio Llull


Other than Randolph, there is not a single asset with which New York is willing to part that is nearly as good as every single Rockets asset mentioned above.

End of story.

 

There is another possibility:

A three way trade.

The Rockets could use the exemption and acquire another player, send that player to Denver along with Jefferies the picks and Bud/Hill Taylor (whatever) and still hold on to Battier.

That is completely legal in the CBA


ROCKET!!!

 

You are looking at things from a logical team perspective.
I'm speaking on Melo's perspective.
1) Somewhere in NY, this includes Brooklyn
2) Rockets

Still it's exciting news nonetheless, but if anyone can pull it off it's D Morey.

 

Morey's argument should be:

(a) we didn't just sign Travis "Blazers Reject" Outlaw to the full MLE;
(b) our front office is not run by Billy King (got run out of Philly for a reason);
(c) James Dolan does not own our team;
(d) our injury-prone big man is signed for only 1 year, if he doesn't work out, we are not ****ed like NYK would be with Amare;
(e) our franchise did not give away lotto picks in '06 (turned out to be LaMarcus Aldridge), '07 (Joakim Noah); '10 (Gordon Hayward), '11 (right to swap), and '12; and
(f) our franchise has did not fail to win 40 games for 9 straight years.

 

I'm not so sure about that.

Because the Rockets are over the salary cap, I don't think they can acquire a player using the trade exception and then immediately package that player with others in order to make salaries match for Carmelo. I think the Rockets would have to wait two months before being able to trade the player acquired with the trade exception.

A general primer for the uninitiated:

The Rockets need to send out enough salary to come within salary matching limitations for purposes of absorbing Carmelo Anthony's salary. Based on the "125% + $100k Rule", working backwards, the Rockets have to send OUT a minimum of about $13.64M in salary.

Carmelo makes $17,149,243.

Subtract $100,000 from that, it gets you $17,049,243.

Now, divide that number by 1.25. It gets you $13,639,394.40.

Bottom line: It doesn't matter whether the Rockets use the trade exception or not. They MUST send out at least $13.64M in order to acquire Carmelo Anthony's contract.

 

I wonder how hard Morey and Adelman would laugh at some of the posters from this forum if they asked questions like "are you sure Melo will fit the Rockets' culture?" or "does Melo's TS% concern you?" or my favorite "do you really think we are better with Carmelo than without him?"

Good stuff. Some of you have gone of the freaking deep end with your cherry picking of stats and overvaluing players on a team that didn't even come close to a playoff spot last season.

 

hmm based on my calculations its actually 28.67% to be exact

 

Too many people here are stuck on stats. Even Morey agrees that stats only tell part of the story.

 

I like Gallinari, actually, a lot. But wonder where his ceiling really is and about his back injury. A nice statistical season on a losing team may not translate to future greatness.

Denver may well prefer him to any of the Rockets players, though, that may not mean they'd rather have him and a 2014 pick to the Rockets players + more, more recent and perhaps higher picks. If all young players have speculative prospects for future improvement to one degree or another, perhaps Denver can be convinced to essentially buy more lotto tickets to improve their odds of hitting.


Here's one more thing about the picks the Rockets are offering:

They are not the Rockets' picks (or don't have to be, at least). This means trading Melo to the Rockets won't devalue these picks like trading Melo to NY will devalue the Knicks' picks.

 

I think Kevin Martin, for example, didn't have a very good +/- number in the last few seasons (have to verify) due to his poor D. Morey took him anyway on the basis that the D is fixable to a certain degree and he'll fit our roster better than another roster. We'll see how it works out, though Morey is clearly not completely dependent on one set of "advanced stats" or another.

 

No way? My choice would be Melo for better all around player.Age would matter to me if one of them were old.

They both do it because of their excellent ball handling. Maybe if the rules changed back to what they used to be I could see the difference but the way it is now I cant see it..

Im talking about how they play the game, not certain facets of their game, Although Durant does seem to shoot more 3's and yea he is better at it.

 

Here's how I think this is being played out. Just a theory, nothing more.

Carmelo wants to play for the Knicks.
Denver tells him that NY doesn't have enough trade chips.
Carmelo makes threats.
Denver says they'll call his bluff.
Carmelo backs off.
Denver says they will try to trade him to the Nets.
The Nets get greedy and don't offer enough, because they know the score.
Denver ask Carmelo if they can float Houston as a destination (for leverage).
Carmelo agrees, just wanting to get it over with before camp.
Houston rumor is floated.
CF freaks out.
NY fans freak out.
Hilarity ensues.
Denver waits to see if the Nets up their offer.

To be continued.



Just a guess.

 

Re-read my post. I was referring to Knicks' assets with which they'd be willing to part. I intentionally left Gallinari out of my last statement, since the Knicks apparently aren't willing to give him up.

Agreed on the "Melo Inapplicability Factor" for the Knicks picks coming from the Rockets.

 

Melo much worse than Durant? Are you kidding me?

Durant has more upside, yeah, cause he's young, but I wouldn't say he's much better than Carmelo Anthony at this very moment (we're talking about a Carmelo Anthony in his prime).

Both Melo and Durant are Tier 1 players.