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

I'll get more excited when we firm this up a bit, but if we could keep Brooks and Martin in a deal for Anthony, that would be a trip. Brooks, Martin, Anthony, Scola, and Yao is a hell of a starting 5. They could do some serious damage.

 

I am in a state of disbelief mostly because the Nuggets front office is in disarray. Are they really going to ship out their franchise player before they have their GM in place? The Nuggets seemingly had a good, stable front office with Mark Warkentien and Rex Chapman and then, poof, they are gone. Was the issue behind them leaving about trading Anthony? The latest report sure seems like they want to keep Anthony. While the Rockets have a ton of assets and seem like a logical choice, will the Nuggets brain trust be in a hurry to move him? Sure, if I were running the Nuggets I would face the facts, blow it up and start reforming the roster with draft picks and young, cheap talent before the next labor agreement. The question is, will *they?*

 

I see your points, but I would like to present my argument for Melo as a better offensive option than Yao on offense. The highest PPG Melo has ever averaged is 28.9; Yao's- 25.0. Last season, Melo averaged 28.2 ppg; Yao- 0.0. Yao relies on his teammates to get him the ball and is all too often denied the ball simply by fronting; Melo can get the ball anywhere, anytime. Yao has troubles even getting the ball in crunch time; Melo is an elite closer. Yao will play reduced minutes next season, let alone be certain to play at his accustomed level; Carmelo plays ~37 minutes per game. Yao has been more efficient with his points, but his efficiency was largely garnered with much fewer shots than Carmelo. If Yao had to take as many shots as Melo, his efficiency would drop as well. From watching all the games, Yao rarely takes his team's bailout shots and last shot of the quarter shots, which usually drag down your shooting percentages, which Melo takes on a regular basis. Based on all these facts, it's hard for me to rank Yao as a better offensive player than Melo.

 

How the front office is going to keep Melo if he won't sign the $65M extension? If they do nothing they are at risk of losing here eventually.... for nothing or really nothing.

It is in the Nuggets' best interest to trade him for young assets and picks.

 

Probably nothing gets done until they hire a new GM. When that happens, I'm concerned that the guy will probably do anything possible to not botch up his first deal (involving the franchise player mind you) and might be unreasonable in his demands.

 

Fair enough.

I think two things with Melo -- I don't think we've heard a single public quote from him on this. This isn't McGrady and John Weisbrod barbing in public, everything is 2nd or 3rd hand. To me, if he's come to the opinion he's gone as far as he'll go in Denver, it's probably a good thing for the team for him not to drag them through a lame duck season like LeBron did.

The other thing is, I'm really not sure how Melo will play if he's surrounded by good, level headed talent. Thus far in his career, the #2 option on his teams to start his career were Andre Miller and Kenyon Martin -- #3 options included Voshon Lenard and Earl Boykins. Yet, he still made the playoffs. Later, he had Iverson, who's probably the polar opposite of the guys above.

I'd be curious to see how he'd perform next to a real big man, or with a scorer who can play off the ball like Martin.

 

Too bad the Knicks got Moraped, the Nets probably won't give up Lopez and Moreys too smart for that. The new GM will either have to get something in return (young players, cap relief, or picks) or let Anthony walk. Dudes dumb if he thinks other GMs would risk their teams future for a possible 1-year rental.

Spoiler

that's right am calling it Moraped from now on

 

Then let's hope the young guys start off strong, so their trade value will increase.

 

there was something lebron supposedly said to paul that keeps sticking to the back of my head, "stay in the west, only then do we get a proper dynasty", i understand lebron's thinking, if they form super teams, to not meet in the nba finals sort of defeats the whole purpose of it.

 

True. Melo is indeed a better offensive player than Yao. Melo is considered by most of the league to be one of the best, if not the best offensive player in the NBA. But, that doesn't mean Yao is not the more efficient scorer. I believe in the notion that better doesn't necessarily always mean efficient. Just take a look at the Lakers. I would argue that Pau is currently LA's most efficient scorer. And in the games when he scores over 20 points, not only does he do so at a high efficiency, he makes the Lakers near unbeatable. Now, I don't think anyone will say Pau is the better offensive player than Kobe, but it has become more and more obvious that when Pau is used offensively, he makes the Lakers that much better. It was quite evident in Game 7 against the Celtics. The momentum swung to the Lakers' favor once Pau started getting the ball and looked to score. So, with that in mind, if it was for a last second shot or a last possession, of course Melo should get the ball. He is the more versatile scorer like you pointed out. However, that doesn't mean that during the rest of the game to not look at Yao as the 1st option given that he is in a position to get the ball. To optimize both Yao's and Melo's offensive firepower, Yao should be looked at to get the ball if he is in a prime position to score: If he is single covered/pinned his man, not fronted, etc, and when Yao has trouble getting position on his defender, then the ball should be swung to Melo and let him do what he does best.

 

Spoiler

Aug 18, 2010, 2:22pm »
BTW it's really good news if these rumors are true that Melo is willing to consider other teams besides the ones in Gotham. He is an insanely valuable player if he agrees to the extension before we trade him so the more teams that are on his list, the better the end package will be. I don't know what's going to happen, but the bits I've been able to gleam have me feeling quite positive about the future of the Nuggets. I'll be sorry to see Melo go, but let's face it...Colorado and Melo weren't the best pairing. He loves the lights and attention and we aren't exactly a media mecca.

Aug 18, 2010, 1:20pm »
I really have to watch what I say right now because this is a very touchy situation. All I can say is that Melo's likely gone and we are trying to get the best package with a team that he would sign an extension prior to the trade going down. It really makes the most sense for all parties. I am actually looking forward to life after Melo. If we are ever going to win a title, it's going to be because of defense. Harrington may not be the scorer that Melo is, but the guy can play good d when he needs to. Just because he has been in D'Antoni and Nelson's systems doesn't mean he sucks at D. It just means those systems didn't ask him to play much D. When he was on IND, he was a solid man on man defender. I don't know about you, but I would much rather have a 20 ppg scorer who can lock his man down if he needs to than a 30 ppg scorer who is one of the poorest defenders at one of the most scoring intensive position on the floor. If this can possibly get us a young big, a potential lottery pick or two and/or a young player with All Star potential (which I think it will), then it could be a blessing in disguise.
If a player doesn't want to sign a max extension, it doesn't really leave you with a lot of options. One thing I do know is that the Knicks stuff is way overblown. Eddy Curry, Wilson Chandler and a future #1 (aka the poo poo platter) is not even in the same league as other packages that I've heard about. The fans would burn the Pepsi Center down if the FO did that deal.

Aug 16, 2010, 2:16am »
If you lose Melo for nothing, I think the Nuggets are in the high 30s for wins but they aren't going to let that happen. If they have to trade him, I think we would remain a playoff team with lots of upside with the pieces we could get back. You're just going to have to give me the benefit of the doubt on that point for now.

Aug 16, 2010, 2:08am »
Pritchard was my first hope/pick for a GM. I was just relaying what I heard about him from the people that make the decisions. His name was thrown out there, but they didn't want someone with his style. I promise I'm not schitzo. I was just referring to Krieger saying that we couldn't get someone like Pritchard. I personally thought he would be a great pick but I have never met the man so my opinion isn't worth a whole lot.

Aug 13, 2010, 6:50pm »
slow news time. Krieger is just mad that all of his "sources" at Pepsi Center are now gone so he is just making stuff up. Stan is a lot of things but dumb isn't one of them. If Bearups moves/suggestions weren't spot on the vast majority of the time, he would have been sent packing also. You guys would laugh at the team we would have if not for Bearup stopping Wark from going through with one dumb idea after another. It's not that we can't get Pritchard, it's that we don't want him. He is Kiki V2.0. It's all about Pritchard all the time and the team is a big believer that the best ideas come from a synergy of smart people instead of one guy doing whatever he wants. We are going to get a really good GM, don't worry. If it's Griffin, I think you guys will like what he brings. He was a huge part of making the Suns the #2 team in the West last year.

Aug 13, 2010, 8:02pm »
How would you guys have felt about Kleiza, Nene and a #1 for Zach Randolph? If Wark had total control, that would have happened. I kid you not.
Bearup is way more valuable as a behind the scenes guy than he would be the front man. He doesn't care about the credit, just about java and smoking hot chicks.

on Jul 26, 2010, 3:39pm »
Ty is pretty much untouchable unless it lands us another franchise player to play alongside melo...so yeah. Martin's contract is only covered after he misses half of the season. I don't think that's going to happen. I think we will be back by NYE or the All-Star break at the latest. He would probably sit out the season if we traded him to a loser like MIN or GS.

on Jul 26, 2010, 3:04pm »
look for them to be moved around the trade deadline. We tried as hard as we could to move them but couldn't get a 1st for JR and no one wanted KMart since the FA class next year is pretty ho hum.

Jul 26, 2010, 2:57pm »
I still think Melo will re-sign. The Knicks thing has no chance of happening for the reasons discussed earlier. If CP3 wants to play on a superteam, he would have a hard time beating DEN, but I would expect DAL, POR, HOU, ORL and LAL all to be in the mix. CP and Melo have the same agent so that could really help us, but our package would be Billups, Nene and maybe a pick or two. I think they could do better than that. The ORL package of Jameer and Ryan Andersen is interesting. It will come down to who can absorb Okafor and Posey and the upside of the best player they get back. If Nene starts averaging a double-double and being more aggressive, NOR could warm to the idea of taking him back in the deal.
Melo is really liking all the attention this contract deal is giving him. I think he felt left out this offseason and wanted to feel wanted. In the end, I think they will sign, especially if the Nuggs start well and Al Harrington gels quickly.
So far, the staff is really excited about Harrington's attitude and willingness to change his game to fit in. If he plays any D at all we could be scary when everyone gets healthy. Ty has also really shown a lot of improvement and appears to have a very high ceiling. Look for him to get 25 to 30 mpg this year with CB to get a lot more time at the 2. GK really wants more ball movement this year and having more passers out there could help a lot with the stickyball problem that tends to occur on this team.

Jul 26, 2010, 12:43pm »
New Orleans has pretty much put it out to the whole league that they aren't trading CP3. If Melo signs his deal, we are a preferred destination for Chris, but until that happens it's anyone's guess. They are apparently meeting with him today to try to talk him off the cliff but this has been building for a while and he doesn't trust the new people in the organization so I would bet on this going on for a long time. I wouldn't get your hopes up too much though. There are a ton of teams that could put together better packages than we can and now that the cat is out of the bag that he wants out it's going to be a free for all. I felt confident 3 months ago he would end up a Nugget eventually. Now?.....not so much.

Jul 12, 2010, 1:28pm »
The Nuggets have not and aren't going to offer MIN Nene for Jefferson. Melo is weak enough defensively....putting Jefferson next to him without a legit defensive big would be a very questionable move in my opinion as we don't need scoring nearly as much as we need rebounding and good defense. If we can get Jefferson on the cheap, then we will do it but giving up our best young big for him wouldn't improve the team. They wanted Dampier's non-guaranteed contract to dump him, but DAL isn't going to give it to them so our deal is still very much in play. It's just a waiting game.

Jul 12, 2010, 1:21pm »
I don't think the season is lost. If Melo doesn't sign his extension, then the franchise is pretty much lost. That's what I'm worried about at the moment. That said, we still know next to nothing since he has been in wedding mode the last couple of weeks and not had the contract on his radar. The FO expects to hear from Leon in the next week or two and will determine what to do after that. In the meantime they are working the phones trying to bolster the frontline, but have not found any takers as of yet. Still crossing my fingers for Al Jefferson. The Biedrins deal seems to be dying on the vine.

 

Go get him DM!!!

 

You know if Pritchard is a candidate for Melo than nevermind.

Pritchard is like Morey's nemesis/rival or something and he's one of the GMs I would be nervous to trade with even if I was Morey.

 

Finally an update!!yes melo!!come to my hands!!

 

Dangit, couldnt hold off fellas...I just blew my load.

 

Hmmph! Isn't the more important question this--"Where does Melo's wife want to go?"

I won't believe this until he actually signs. I've had enough this summer of superstars playing on people's feelings and actually having made a decision already.

 

Lmfao!!!

 

Is this the same Kroenke who was in those European trip pictures with Jefferson and Walton? What's he going to promise? An additional straw in that drink?

In regards to Melo and whether or not he would fit, this is a superstar league. Got to have one in order to win (Pistons being the exception). If he wants to come here and says the right things about winning, we have to do it, no matter how jaded our views might be because of the last superstar who was brought in here.

I believe Melo is far different from McGrady and this team is far different than the one McGrady came to. This is a deeper team that won't have to rely on the two superstars every night, all night. We just need that guy to go to when we need the game winning basket. Melo in the post is dangerous for any opponent.

 

Even if we do get Melo (crossing fingers) I hope that wouldn't be the last of Morey's moves this season.

Maybe bring Bowen out of retirement to take care of LerBon or Wade when we play them in the finals? >=)

 

Clyde worked for a title.