Sure but we've seen him play team ball on Team USA. Give him a good coach and good-elite teammates and I don't doubt he'd tone it down a bit.
The thing I love about the Blazers is the balance of their starting lineup. Mello is a great offensive player, but he dominates the ball. Having him in the lineup would totally disrupt the ball movement that has made the Blazers the most productive offensive team in the league. I'm no GM, but my theory is that you look for players to add to a solid core who shore up weak areas, not guys whose lone contribution would be to add to a strong point. For the Blazers, the weaknesses are bench play and defense. Anthony doesn't play defense and his salary is so high that it wouldn't leave any resources to improve the bench, ergo, a disaster in terms of improving the Blazers' title chances.
I'm not a fan of the logic that expensive superstar type players mean championship. I like our team. Look at what the Nets did with Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, etc...we are better than the Nets. Shaq, Kobe, Malone, Payton, didn't win a championship with the Lakers. Nobody predicted the Pistons to win with Chauncey, Prince, Sheed, Big Ben and Hamilton. (they had a thin bench) I do believe TEAM ball works and takes time to become second nature. You can't compare Stotts plan with Popovic because Stotts has only worked 1.5 years with part of this roster and .5 with the new guys. Patience. We could add one bench player and increase our production but probably one of the best defenders on our bench now is Claver and he's DNP. Barton can create his shot, Crabbe can create his shot. All it will take is a win streak again and folks will remember how good we are. Nic is the 3rd allstar to me and Wes is in the conversation as well.
Not necesarily. I think the team needs greater depth. The starters I think have shown they can play with anyone and beat them just as they are. The bench needs two to three quality guys. I thought Mo was one. I was really hoping CJ was further along than he was and was one. I always had hope for TRob because I see somethings there with him. Was hoping he was one. With the right kind of package to bring Tyson Chandler and maybe another wing from a team like New York. I thought this team could compete as they are. After watching the last five games. The team doesn't have enough depth on the bench. If they did. They would be serious contender right now. The starters have it. Period.
Malone got injured in the T'Wolves series and was severely limited in the Finals against the Pistons. If he is healthy that series definitely could have gone in the Lakers favor. The Pistons had a good bench, Mehmet Okur was really good for them and starting until Rasheed got there. The Nets were thrown together over the summer and have had a rookie head coach. They've gone 12-4 since the new year and are starting to look more like the team everyone was expecting coming in this year. I don't see how you can say team ball takes time to develop and then knock the nets for not being a well oiled machine right away.
Melo is the 2nd best player in the NBA, IMO. If the Blazers got him and he demanded to play PF, you'd play him over LMA. He's that good. His scoring, PER, 3pt shooting, etc., are terrific. His rebounding is a bit below LMA's but still an excellent 8.7/game. Realistically, though, you'd play him and LMA in the front court and Batum at SG or even PG. Or move LMA to C.
I don't think there's a lot of balance to the offense right now. The scoring is distributed among most of the starters but no one is getting easy points inside besides when LMA goes inside and Lopez gets his little post game going. Nic and Wes shoot so many 3's and long 2's that there is no real threat of them driving or doing anything besides taking those shots over and over. Wes this year has taken 375 shots from 16 ft or farther compared to 216 inside 16, Nic has taken 326 outside 16 ft compared to 158 inside 16 feet. The reason that I think Carmelo would be so deadly on this team is because he is a very good 3 point shooter (41% on the year) as well as a major threat inside. He can score from anywhere and does it well.
And then we'd lose LA. He doesn't want to play center, and I don't blame him. He's not built for it. This would hurt Portland WAY more than help.
in this scenario aren't we talking something like Wes, T Rob and Nic for Melo? I'd think the lineup would become something like PG Dame SG CJ SF Melo PF LMA C Lopez
That's what I would offer, yes. That lineup would be sick. Not a lick of defense, but it would be sick.
I was responding to Denny who said we'd move LMA to C... if we do that, he may not re-sign here... also, because we probably wouldn't win, IMO.
All I think Denny was saying is that you play Melo wherever he wants to play, be it power forward, small forward, or whatever. Isn't he a small forward anyway? I don't think it's an issue.
No, he's a power forward these days. LMA is a PF/C. Melo is a PF/SF. I seriously doubt LMA would not play C if the Blazers got Melo. It'd be really selfish and a downright bad basketball decision.
It's selfish but it's understandable. His skillset doesn't really fit what we need out of that position. Why not keep Lopez in the starting 5?
