On Carmelo Anthony's final act in New York, and why the Blazers should be his next team

This is how I feel about that article:

 

Melo is the wrong kind of target. We need a lockdown defender/rebounder. We have plenty of scoring.

 

Just what this team needs: a perimeter oriented chucker who stops the ball, doesn't defend for shit, and is two steps from the glue factory.

 

Phil Jackson had Will Purdue and Luc Longley in Chicago....it's not a stretch to think he'd bring in a guy like Meyers.

 

actually I think this is just his MO in NY....if you watch Melo in the Olympics or world games with a good coaching staff...he's a hell of a player. I think he's never been in a system that fits his game...and I think Stotts would be good for him....I just think he's too old for our core

 

Keep in mind that NY is one of those teams that is well below the cap. So it's not just about getting Melo, but possibly about the opportunity to dump some large contracts while getting a vet in return who can bridge the gap until a young rookie is ready. I am not sold on Melo being that player, because honestly I have not watched him this year. I have no idea what he has left in the tank. AndI certainly would not give NY all our picks for him.

 

If he was on a team of nothing but All-NBA players maybe that'd be enough to keep his ego in check, but that's not how it works in the NBA. This would be a horrendous acquisition. The money is wrong, the fit is terrible, and he is close to finished. He was the same selfish ball-stopper in Denver.

Let him be somebody else's problem.

 

This thread is a total soccer mom pta meeting. All this Melo hate for his defense is just more evidence of it. This fan base has an inability to see beyond its own roster. Good god if you get Melo and the knicks to agree to a deal to send him here for:

1 of our bad contracts: AC/ET
1 of our good contracts: Hark/Aminu/davis
2 picks: 2017 Mem 2017 Cavs 2018 ours

you do it and ask questions about defense later. I mean its like you guys dont even want us to be good or something. Calling Melo a chucker is warranted but I would suggest looking at the complexion of our own roster and ask yourself why you dont have a problem with dame and cj throwing up garbage on a nightly basis and playing hero ball but you do with melo. The guy is an allstar nearing the end of his career who can still play, I really dont see what the issue is. He is one of the most polished offensive players in the NBA still. If that deal comes to NO desk and he passes because he thinks AC + Hark are more valuable he deserves to be unemployed.

Just imagine for a second a closing lineup of

Dame
CJ
Melo
Aminu or Hark or Vonleh
Nurkic

nobody wants to try and stop that with 2 minutes to go so many options in the pnr couldnt double anyone.... I know this deal will never happen but it's for melo to say no to, everyone else should be on board.

 

This is where your love of Melo falls apart.
Dame and CJ are very efficient chuckers, you might say elite. Melo’s chucking efficiency is only about average.

Plus Dame averages more than twice the number of assists then Melo, so he makes other players better and more efficient.

We need a young 3-D sf on a rookie contract. Not a mediocre over the hill volume chucker with poor defense that is making max.

 

I am playing devil's advocate here since I agree with most of what you are saying, but again if he wants to come here (and I believe he has a no trade clause) he would probably come here knowing he is not the first or 2nd option. Hell he would be 4th. If he is tired of losing he might not have a problem with that. At 242 lbs he can play both forward spots. I think we can still rotate him in with a a young 3-D SF and Vonleh at PF.

 

Valid point, and Melo might? work here for one season.
It is the second year left on his contract that becomes a problem. Re-signing Nurkic & Vonleh will be impossible.

 

There is a chance he could opt out after 1 year. So maybe we use the trade to get rid of a bad contract and if he works out.....great. And if he does not work out........he probbaly won't stick around for that 2nd year.

 

I'd seriously Consider
Crabbe/ET/Biebs/pick for Melo/KOQ

because it would help us by almost $16 mil.
Dame/CJ/Melo/Vonleh/Beast
rookie/Harkless/Aminu/KOQ/Davis off the bench

 

I do not believe Melo will use his early termination clause. He would be walking away from a $28 million season. Plus he would be 34 years old at the start of his new contract. I doubt any GM will offer him a max contract at that age.

Also, I believe his best use would be to come off of the bench, as a scoring spark plug, not as a starter next to Dame & CJ. We need to have a perimeter D player in our starting lineup.

Which begs the question, how much more efficient would Melo be than Crabbe?

FWIT. I have never been a fan of Melo’s game, even when he played for Denver. His high usage and mediocre efficiency translates into a couple of lost points per game. Which are enough points to lose more games, compared to Dame & CJ taking those shots.

 

Would never want Carmelo.

 

it's not that I necessarily LOVE melo but he's easily better than anyone on the squad not named dame or cj. Anyone who would say otherwise, or even that we would be better off without him is letting emotions get the better of them. That's all Im saying. AC + Hark +2 firsts might one day possibly be as valuable as Melo, but that is wishing on a hope to open a championship window rather than just opening one.

 

Not emotions, but rather common sense. Let’s try this from a different direction.

IF we played your starting lineup: Dame, CJ, Melo, Nurkic, and a PF. Which player is your #1 option on offense, second, third, and fourth option? I will assume the PF is the 5th option.

Also, how many teams have been able to stop both CJ and Dame in the same game?

 

Ok sure "common sense" says all-star caliber players are bad for teams, got it.

I'll go ahead and answer your questions anyways

Not that I necessarily agree with the notion of having a 'number one option' or whatever but from the teams perspective it'd probably look like this
1a dame
1b cj
2a melo
2b nurk
5-13 everyone else is a role player

Plenty of teams have been able to stop 1 of the two which has led to a ton of losses this year (cause we literally had no one else who could score). Even with both of them going and scoring combined 50+ ppg we still would lose games cause dame and cj are effectively the same player. So its easy to load up on them and trap the ball out of their hands. We saw what adding Nurk gave us. A 3rd guy who can semi-reliably put the ball in the hoop, it totally changed the dynamic of the team all of a sudden dame and cj start getting more open looks, shooting a better efficiency, all cause teams cant help off nurkic. Having a 4th guy who can do that? that would be invaluable. I would argue makes us a 53+ win team and puts us realistically in the hunt for the WC finals.

Just imagine for a second if you trade all of AC + Aminu's shots ~ 15-18 spg to melo. THAT is a dynamic offense with 4 guys who could go for 30 on any given night. The three man weave that we love to run would be crazy with the three of them running off nurk and vonleh picks. Moses and the red sea come to mind when thinking about how open the lane will be for nurk rim runs. It's all about the gravity that melo creates as a player. You can leave hark and aminu and honestly crabbe gets left alone a lot too to try and stop dame and cj but you cannot leave melo alone. No more help defenses collapsing the paint, no more doubling the ball out of dame and cj's hands instead we have a 3rd ball handler who can score on anyone, create shots for himself and others and be a respected veteran presence in the locker room. Thats why I think it's a smart basketball move. you can argue all you want about attitude and character and being selfish but I'm not letting that get in the way of adding an allstar albeit an aging one to our roster. Nurk sure worked out fine, why wouldnt melo?