Reportedly, Anthony and Billups for Gallinari, Felton, one other starter, Curry's expiring and a 1st-rounder. Link The unnamed other starter would have to be either Wilson Chandler or Landry Fields. Knicks reportedly called this "steep"...yeah, I'd say that.
Why buy the cow if it'll walk over to your farm anyway. Of course, maybe it won't.... I'm actually coming around to the possibility that Melo would shut up, sign the extension, and play in Denver if he's not traded.
That was my first thought as well, but it looks like the Knicks would have to shed some salary to sign him outright to a max deal starting at ~$18MM.
If I were the Knicks, I would definitely do Anthony and Billups for Gallinari, Felton, Wilson Chandler, Curry's expiring and a 1st-rounder.
Yeah, I think I would too. Toss in Fields, I wouldn't care. And I certainly do hope that Anthony is traded -- it'd be better for the league with the way his stay in Denver has become toxic.
Yeah, you were on this one a while back. I still think it's a big risk from Denver's perspective. If they fork over that contract and Melo decides to pout... that's a big risk to take.
Were I think Knicks, I'd keep my talent and offer to take the Nuggets other longer contracts off their books. Unlike most teams, the Knicks can easily afford to pay longer term deals, but like most other teams, there's a hard limit to how much talent they can give. Taking Chris Andersen and Al Harrington off the Nuggets hands would in no way harm the Knicks. On the court, it'd actually be helpful for them. If they sweeten the deal by taking on those guys for other expirings (Azubuike, Turiaf, Roger Mason), I'd think that'd be preferable to giving up talent. They'd end up with something like 1- Billups, Carter 2- Fields, Walker 3- Melo 4- Amare, Harrington 5- Andersen, Mozgov Actually kinda scary.
That's a team that is a bit long in the tooth for a franchise looking to raise its stakes from cellar dweller to contender. It would definitely be a short term run for the top even if Melo re-signs. The Knick definitely doesn't have a ton of long term building potential for a Melo run for the prize in the immediate future although they could put a decent team together around Melo and Amar'e.
From the Knicks' viewpoint, I agree it probably makes sense to go all in and hope that Amare and D'Antoni will be the difference for NY. Unless they're not convinced Melo is enough of a difference maker for it to work? Or unless they're reluctant to part with Gallo for the sake of the Italian community?
I would have agreed with you in the past. But players in the last four or five years don't seem to be aging like they used to. There seems to be the same rise and peak, but then they ostensibly stay relatively good forever. I would have never have thought that the Celtics would have been possible. Steve Nash is still killing it, as is Jason Kidd. JASON KIDD! He was done like a decade ago. We see this on the Bulls with Kurt Thomas where every one assumed he was bad because he was way too old, and there he is just plugging along. He's putting up comparable numbers to what he did in '06-'07, six seasons ago. I think you make a move for Billups and look toward free agency to fill in the gaps.
According to Spears, supposedly the Knicks have thrown in Gallo, after giving the Nuggets the choice of Gallo or Fields. According to Woj, the Nuggets still prefer the Nets deal. I think the reason the Nuggets prefer to deal with the Nets is the difference between Curry and Murphy and its effect on the rest of the deal. Curry/Gallo/Felton/Chandler/Pick vs. Murphy/Favors/Harris/4 picks One factor that folks need to understand is that the Nuggets are roughly $14M over the luxury tax line. The Knicks deal doesn’t work as stated in the Spears article, you have to add Roger Mason too. But in that form, it knocks down the Nuggets cap figure by $7.7M. So then they’d still be about $6.3M over the luxury tax. They could get completely under it by giving away Felton, or by trading Curry plus pick and cash to a team under the cap. The Nets deal is drops the Nuggets cap figure by $8M or so, and to get completely under the cap, they can send off Murphy, who actually has some value around the league. To see how this would work, picture a team like Cleveland, Sacramento, or Minnesota. They’ve all got trade exceptions or cap space to take on Murphy or Curry and not send any salary back to Denver. If Denver offers Curry+cash+1st rounder to one of those teams, they get under the tax, but their net from the trade is just Felton, Gallo, Chandler, getting under the LT (probably about $20M in cash difference) and no picks. If Denver offers Murphy+cash+1st rounder to one of those teams, they get under the tax, and their net from the trade is still Favors, Harris, getting under the LT (probably about $20M in cash difference) and 3 picks. So what’s better Favors + 3 picks or Gallo and Chandler? I’d probably go with Favors + picks. A final point is that you have to find that third team to take on Curry or Murphy. Even for a pick, Curry is a bag of worms. A savvy team might be able to do some serious money laundering with Murphy. They get him from the Nuggets for a pick and cash, then trade him to the Warriors for Dan Gadzuric, Brandan Wright, and potentially another pick and/or cash. So a team like the TWolves or Cavs cold end up with two first rounders, cash, and a flier on a young big like Wright out of the transaction, if they get lucky and play their cards right. They won’t get that out of Curry, so maybe he’s not worth the trouble. Thus, from Denver's perspective, it's a lot better to get Murphy... there's a market for him, and hence a much more solid prospect of a $15-$20M payoff. ----------------------------- The other thing I see from this is that if the Nuggets end up having to deal with the Knicks, it sounds like they’d prefer Gallo based on the Yahoo article. But it also sounds like they’d prefer first rounders to Gallo. If the Nuggets preference is Picks>Gallo>Fields And the Knicks will offer Gallo or Fields... Suppose we call the Nuggets and tell them to ask for fields, then trade them JJ the two firsts we can offer for Fields. On another note, I’d take this as pretty solid evidence the Nuggets aren’t interesting in letting Afflalo go for free.
Example trade: TWolves trade Sebastian Telfair, get Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry (remaining salary $3.7M), $3M cash from the Knicks, $3M cash from the Nuggets. The TWolves are basically giving up Telfair and $700k for Randolph... who they supposedly like, and about $3.8M in net cash inflow (cash plus not paying Telfair). The Knicks trade Curry, Felton, Chandler, Azubuike, Fields, and Randolph + $3M cash. They get Billups, Melo, Balkman and S. Williams. The Nuggets give up Billups, Melo, Balkman and Williams, and $3M. They get Felton, Chandler, Azubuike, Telfair, and two first round picks (ours and Charlotte's). They drop their team salary as computer by the salary cap by $17M and get under the luxury tax. Their net cash position changes as follows. They no longer have to pay out $5.6M in salary over the rest of the year. They no longer have to cut a $14M check to the league at the end of the year. They now get a $4-5M check in escrow distribution from the league at the end of the year. They threw in $3M cash in the trade, so that has to be subtracted out. So total improvement in their finances is something on the order of 5.6+ 14+4-3 = $20.6M
^^Unstated in the post above, but you're talking about a way for us to get Fields out of all this. I like it. The money is great for Denver. Are the two picks enough for building their future? They're not great picks, though Charlotte's could be good.
Just thinking that as I was scrolling down to type that. Billups - Fields - Anthony - Amar'e - Mozgov is pretty damn good.
Anthony and Amare won't win you a championship. Sorry. Always thought Melo was overrated. I'll stick to that.
How can you say Melo & Amar'e won't win you a championship? Not to mention they would have a championship proven PG...I don't think they can win this year, but they are really close if they were to make this trade. LeBron is overrated....Melo not so much.
