BOTP: Knicks' primary hope is for Melo to open up trade list beyond HOU and CLE

lol you like the mars volta? Or at least listen? So far I'm the only human besides my friend that introduced me to the band (metaphorically) that likes the band .. At the drive in.. the mars Volta

 

Ive seen them 4 times they are one of the most legendary groups of all time.

Omar is one of my top 5 favorite guitarists ever and deloused in the comatorium is a top 5 album ever for me

I also saw at the drive in in Houston last month. Omar and cedric are the truth!

 

Damn 4 times ? Lol lucky . Yeah they're a great band . Vocals are a bit crazy too haha I legit thought the lead singer was a woman when I first heard them. What's you're favorite TMV song ? Also did you ever read into the Ouija board incident they had ? Is that even true ?

 

Woj:

How has the transition been? Weird? Are you okay?

It's been great. July 1, you're hitting the ground running because of the calendar. Only strange day was June 30. I couldn't report on anything. I had to sit out when a lot was happening.

What were you doing? Breaking news to people in your house?

I was in the building. I was quartered off.

Do you believe 2018 will be the most free agent fun we've ever had?

Anytime LeBron is back in free agency, it's gonna hold up the rest of free agency. Lakers are a team that will be aggressive in there. If he looks beyond Cleveland, they may have the cap space for LeBron/Paul George. That will make it interesting. How this year goes in Cleveland & where his mind is.

I ask you, if you had to guess & be right, LeBron James leave or stays?

Not gonna do it Dan. So many variables in a year. I know this about free agency in general: what he thinks today will be very different in 4-8 months. It changes. One thing I believe: It will be hard to go anywhere & feel like it'll take 3 years to build. It has to be ready made. It he wants to win more titles...Golden State skews that. There is nothing you can put together in this league that says we're now as good as/better than Golden State. Golden State is so good that the whole idea is skewered. Maybe you just go where you want to play. Golden State throws all of this off.

Where is he today?

He has a lot of questions about Cleveland today. The direction, how much capacity they have to get better with the roster they have. Right now, they're not good enough but nobody in the league is. There's nothing tomorrow in LA or Miami that's good enough or whatever scenario you want to come up with. It's more complicated than the last 2 times he had a decision to make.

Waiters wooing Wade & LeBron's instagram post?

I missed that. There will be a lot of that. Wade will be a free agent next summer. How does that play into LeBron? There will be a lot of that. When LeBron was in Miami or if it's in LA, it's easier to recruit players with him vs. in Cleveland. When Cleveland was the best team & knew you'd win, you can get guys but when they've fallen behind, it's harder to recruit guys to play there. Carmelo has two places he's open to being traded: Houston & Cleveland. I reported that Cleveland has fallen behind. ... It's always easier to do it in Miami & LA.

What do you make of what the Rockets are doing?

Daryl Morey said it right. It's an arm race. They'll try to accumulate as much talent as they can & then figure out how to play together. There are questions whether Harden/Paul can play together. They're banking on great players figuring it out. Carmelo, as a 3rd piece, can be much more impactful than if you're trying to make him number one/two.

Carmelo?

Knicks paused talks. They'd like to talk to Carmelo this week. Knicks don't like the trade offers there. Scott Perry wants to not rush a deal. Melo will continue to tell them let's see the talks to completion. His preference is clearly Houston now. But there's still time this summer to sort through that. They don't have to do a trade tomorrow, this week, next week or the week after. It'll be hard for NY to resell Carmelo on coming back to that team.

Why hasn't Cleveland been more aggressive or successful with Melo?

They have been but not enough to get a deal done. Cleveland has the same problem as Houston. They don't want back vet players on big contracts(Anderson at $20M). That's not the direction they want to go. Cleveland doesn't have young players or picks. They have tried but not enough to get a deal done. They did get pretty close on Paul George. Indiana backed away in the end and went with OKC.

Is Melo the next big thing happening or something else?

Melo has a chance. I don't know that there's a lot of big things left. Melo will be the story of the offseason

Offseason winner?

Oklahoma City. Paul George, Patrick Patterson, that team is back. Now it's easier for Russ to sign his extension. They have a chance to keep Paul George.

 

Yeah same haha. Cedrics falsetto is so crazy lol

Yeah the bedlam in goliath story. High school stoner friends and I all tried to play a ouija board when that album came out. Didnt work haha.

Favorite tmz song? Hmmm probably concertina, take the veil cerpin taxt, or viscera eyes but there are so many good ones.

Cassandra gemini! Hbu?

 

is that woj asking or answering the questions?

and whichever one he is who's the other people in this conversation?

 

Answering & radio host.

 

When you are listing Patrick Patterson as the 2nd best signing a team makes, you are admitting that they absolutely did not win FA. It's really hard to take Woj seriously here, he really should stick to breaking news and stop trying to be a basketball analyst because the Rockets signed a better player than Paul George and have brought in 2 more FA's better than Patterson.....while starting with a better team than the Thunder.

 

Thanks. Where was the interview, DPShow?

 

ESPN Radio

 

Yeah I read into it and never got to the bottom of it lol. Yeah you can definitely count me out on playing with a Ouija board . That's stuff is plain scary. Yes, too many awesome songs . Favorite is between The Widow or Inertiactic ESP. Hopefully one day I'll see them before they're old and washed up attempting to get drafted in The Big 3

 

Knicks pretty much have all the leverage here if they are willing to sit on Melo's contract

 

Not really though because no one NEEDS to get Melo and they'd only be hurting their own team and their own reputation by holding Melo hostage. I still think they end up being forced to buy out his contract if they can't find a trade they are willing to do.

 

I wouldn't put too much stock in the "hurting their team" argument, this is the New York Knicks. They are the literal definition of disfunction. Had they not given Melo a NTC, this would be done by now. Their reputation is pretty much already shot to hell. This won't do too much damage to it.

I could see a buyout happening but I wouldn't be shocked if this stretched into the season.

 

I've learned not to take what the Knicks say at face value. That team will change course in a heartbeat.

 

I might be worried about that if he didn't have such a high powered agent. They typically don't appreciate teams leaving their guys out on a string like that. If the Knicks F Melo around, good luck getting star players to come later.

 

If leverage equals having a potential cancer in your locker room plus Melo drama for the ruthless NY media to buy into plus pissing off a major agent (doesn't he have their #1 pick too?), then yeah....they gots all the leverage.

 

We are talking about the New York Knicks. That would be a plus season for them lol