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

They would cut Dampier. I think his 8M+ contract is only guaranteed for like 100K or something.

 

cousins, 1st, and TE that puts denver under lux tax is a better offer than the new jersey offer imo.

 

ah...yeah 13 mil contract that isn't guaranteed.

 

I believe we have the best chance of landing Carmelo for one reason only:

Almost all possible trades Nuggets would want draft picks to come back. This is a problematic because having Melo on the team most likely means that team will at least be an average team. Houston is unique in this situation in that they do not have to give back their own picks but rather the incompetent Knicks' picks.

 

A deal with Sacramento would likely involve Tyreke Evans, not Cousins. It doesn't make any sense for the Kings to have both Evans and Melo.. they both need the ball and are both volume shooters. Pairing Melo with Cousins on the other hand would give them a good 1-2 punch. Evans probably has as much, if not more, trade value as Cousins, so you could just swap them in your scenario and still have it compete with New Jerseys.

The question is.. would Melo agree to sign an extension for such a small-market team? I'm not so sure about that..

 

He should do us all a favor and tell the Nuggets to trade him to the Rockets.

We can offer the Nuggets alot without gutting our roster.

 

quick question how many trade exceptions do we have and can we combine trade exceptions? i know they cant be combined in with a trade, if we could combine the trade exceptions perhaps we could take back kenyon martin, i know he's injured and expiring but it helps them not have to pay his salary. For us it gives us another big a few months into the season.

 

And also guts their team. Why would Carmelo agree to that?

 

Trade exceptions cannot be combined.
Houston currently has 4:
6,322,320 for Ariza
881,000 for Dorsey
1,647,360 for Landry
825,497 for J. White

 

The rumors about Sac might mean Carmelo is intrigued about the possibility of playing with Cousins.

Houston, Chicago, Minny, NJ, and Sacramento all have talented big men.

 

see last page...

 

Jep, but if Melo wants a ring, the best place for him is Houston or Chicago ...

Chicago
PG: Rose
SG: Bogans/Korver
SF: Melo
PF: Boozer
C: Noah

Houston
PG: Brooks or Lowry
SG: Lee or Martin
SF: Melo
PF: Scola
C: Yao

 

Chicago isn't really a possibility, Deng is a good player and all, but his contract is overpriced, there's no way Denver is going to take a bad contract for Melo.

 

Never say never ... with a new GM in town! :grin:

 

The most vital question right now is how much say will Melo have regarding what team he ends up with. I agree, he is not going to want to go to a team that is lotto bound and has zero chance of competing in the near future. But as I understand things, Denver would rather keep the guy. If they play hard ball with him and basically tell him that if he leaves, it will be where they want him to go, not where he does. He may just reconsider leaving in the first place.

 

Do you think there is a lot of appeal for a tier one superstar to stake an important decision in his career on playing with a rookie? Cousins could be an elite center or he could be Eddy Curry.

 

It's interesting, if you look at what some people say on this board and the other teams board, people vary in their opinions on how much leverage Denver has and how much Melo has. Some people think Melo holds all the cards, some think since it's Denver who pulls the trigger has the final say and holds more leverage leaving Melo with little say. You're right in your statement above, Denver could do that but they'd want to get the most value from a disgruntled top tier player. Melo could play hardball back just as well. The reality is that both have something to gain and something to lose and are partially in control of the outcome. Therefore both have leverage and a say in what happens. I think both Denver and Melo have a large say in where he ends up going so the team he gets traded to has to make them both happy. (existing contender, enough assets to give to denver but keep enough to stay competitive, enough cash or assets to possibly get his friend CP3 in there too later or continue to build for the future, and a city with a big enough market for his brand and his wife's career) The list of teams that meet those criteria are quite small. I'd think Rox, Mavs, Bulls....but who really knows.

 

the better question is whether or not Melo would be willing to go to a gutted Nets team which stunk BEFORE it was gutted...im thinking he may not want that

 

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wi...01/melo_will_only_sign_extension_with_knicks/

Sucks if it's true.

 

Isn't that the same tool that was on Twitter saying Houston had zero assets to offer and couldn't come close to matching any offer by the Knicks?