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

i just reread the thing. Dude works for TheKnicksBlog.com so ignore it.

 

Well... to put it simply, it depends on who has enough balls to turn their bluff into reality. Here is a quick outline of the situation:

- If Melo wants out, he will be traded to avoid not getting anything in return when he walks.
- Obviously Nuggets would prefer Melo stays, however if he truly wants to go, it is in their best interest to trade him earlier than later to maximize trade value and reduce the duration the rest of the team has to put up with the distraction or they risk losing value or losing Melo for nothing
- Nuggets can try to trade him to any team they want for max value, but unless Melo commits to signing an extension or resigning with the team, many teams will be scared away. Now if a team is willing to shoot for Melo despite a lack of commitment or interest, Nuggets can maximize return value while Melo becomes a disgruntled rental.
- On the other hand, Melo can say "Hey these are the teams that I prefer to be traded to or I will leave or not commit to an extension" in which case Nuggets "viable" trading partners are limited to those teams and ultimately whichever team offers the best package.

As far as NY goes, due to their lack of viable assets or to be more specific, the fact that they have no assets and would gut most of their team to make a trade package, they would not be left with enough depth to contend. Now if the Melo situation turns out to be like the Bosh/LeBron situation, Melo could wait for his contract to expire with Nuggets or whatever team he is ultimately traded to and arrange for a SnT to go to the Knicks and play with Paul and Amare. This is assuming that both do truly want to jump onboard Big Apple and MSG.

Nets seem to be in a very good position to offer the best package and are relocating to BK, hometown of both Melo and his wife. Combine that with a wealthy and ambitious GM and it could potentially be a great relationship between the two. The question here is though, would Nets be able to get away without losing Harris as their starting PG would then be Farmar. The other issue however, is that Harris and Melo both need the ball in their hands to be effective. On the other hand, Nets can also give up Harris and take Lawson in return as Melo expressed that he wanted Melo to be his PG.

Rockets are in a prime position to trade for Melo due to the fact that we make the best trade package possible without gutting the team, ensuring that Melo can still contend after a huge trade. We also have an amazing GM who can ensure a bright future for both the team and Melo as we can surround him with addition great talent. We have young prospects/talents, expiring contracts, and potentially lucrative draft picks, which Nuggets can further help increase the value of the picks by trading Melo to Houston as it further screws over the Knicks. The downside is, Denver does not appear to be very eager to trade with us and while Melo seems interested in us, he seems interested in Knicks/Nets more. Also, if Melo does not care about contending immediately, there are better trade packages out there.

Hope this clears it up for some people.

 

Again just like everyone was saying it's all rumors with Houston and I'm not believing anything until I see it DM proposed so n so for melo

 

You wont see Morey propose anything because thats how Morey works. Most of Morey's trades do not have rumors to them. Ex. Kevin Martin for Carl and Lee for Ariza.

Until something is about to be done is when you will find out what Morey really has in mind if anything.

 

Somewhat. But what kind of package can the Nets give without gutting their team also that would be enticing to the Nuggets?

Lawson for Harris would an arguably even affair. Their not trading Lopez. So what then?

 

McGrady for Jordan Hill, Jeffries and draft picks? We knew about that one for a few weeks.

 

Well, they have Outlaw, Favors, and James, all good young talent/prospects.

 

McGrady for Hill,Jeffries, and picks? Those salaries don't match.

 

Yes, but where are going to get the other 10-12M to make the salaries match?

 

Obviously that wasn't the entire deal, but the point of it was that we knew well in advance that Morey was/had talked to New York and the players involved. The whole "Morey is so secretive we never know what he's doing" talk gets blown out of proportion.

 

Perhaps. But the Ariza deal was hidden till the last moment.

 

larry hughes was also part of the deal to houston at first but then the Wizard packaged basically hughes and landry for kevin martin

 

NO ONE had a clue he was talking to Sacramento, remember the deal was McGrady to Sac Town orginally but then he squuezed Walsh's neck to give up the picks and Hill for the cap space.

Both Trevor deals came out of nowhere, Lowry/Alston was a shocker and even Artest, while chatter, was out of the blue in many ways. Even the Tyson Chandler no-deal was here one day out the other.

The most obivous deal was for Brad Miller just because it made to much sense. Morey has a rep for being secretive and hush hush about deals.

 

Troy Murphy

 

Where did you hear that? Is there a link talking about it, that would be an interesting read.

DD

 

And now they have Kris Humphries & Sean May left at the 4?

 

Nobody heard Sacramento as a possible McGrady landing point, you're right. But we've also known for quite some time that Morey wanted Kevin Martin.. just like we've known that he's wanted Courtney Lee, Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez.

The Trevor deal came out of no where for all parties -- I don't remember hearing NO talking to Indiana before it blew up to four teams. Does that mean all four NBA GMs are secretive?

In the NBA, trades can happen or dissolve in a matter of minutes. It's not about being secretive, it's just the nature of the beast. However, groundwork is usually laid down way ahead of time prior to these last-minute deals. Morey knew that Sacramento liked Landry and they knew that he liked Martin. Martin wasn't even made available until a day or two before the deadline (I'm taking this assumption from Cuban, whose remarks post-trade were that he was not made aware of KMart's availability.. or something to that effect).

I don't think Morey is necessarily any more secretive about his deals than most other GMs. He, obviously, runs a tighter ship than some past GMs we've had judging by the lack of insiders on this board compared to the Rudy years, but we've also had declining information here ever since JVG took over.

DD -- it was widely reported a full week before the deadline. I couldn't remember the details exactly right, but YoYo is right. The Rockets-Knicks were at a standstill over the protection of the first round picks that were to be sent to Houston, but the players involved were agreed upon.

 

People who oppose the possible deal, point to all his questions marks on and off the court. But, haven't we seen this before from a star in his mid-20's?

Everyone applauded the Rockets trading for McGrady. But, at the time, the general fan wondered if he could be a leader, if he gives up on his teammates and if he was a winner.

At 26, Kobe was looked at as someone who couldn't win big with a team built with him being the alpa dog. He was also viewed, by the most part, as the most hated man in the league after his scandal off the court.

At the same age, people questioned whether Michael Jordan could make his teammates better, be more than JUST a great scorer and show-boater, and take his team to a title.

Well, the concerns over TMac may have been right but he did show more of becoming a much better overall offensive player in his time in Houston. Kobe grew up and he, along with Jordan, both figured as they got older how to be better leaders, how to make their teammates better and become winners.

Now, I'm not saying Melo is either of those guys, but who's to say he could NEVER become that good? Just like neither Kobe or Jordan had THAT stature at the age, why couldn't Melo become an elite player once he grows up a little bit more and goes through the process of learning to be a winner and leader? He certainly has the talent to do so.

I guess I just see these supposed question marks about his game and his character a bit overblown.

Adding him would certainly be a bit of a gamble. It would definitely severely alter the makeup of a team that Morey has crafted over the last year or so... a team we're all anxious to see how good they truly are. But, how often do you get the chance to add a supreme talent? And, for all the talk about efficiency, shooting percentages, playmaking ability and so on, he STILL is a supreme offensive weapon and one of the best in the league.

 

All this talk about Iggy or Granger, what if those players don't become available? You do not pass up a chance to add a someone like Carmelo to your team, because those opportunities are few and far between.

As I keep saying, the thing about top ten players is that there are only ten of them.

 

Well assuming that they do this early and get Lawson, they can pull off this trade:

To Denver: Harris, James, Favors, Williams for EC
To New Jersey: Lawson, Anthony