Ha not even in dreams. heading into FA I thought Melo was leaving and we had 0 draft picks so this FA is doing better than I expected so far.
Phil Jackson is trying to deal Stoudemire right now to the 76ers. Problem is, in order to sweeten the deal, he would have to include Shumpert, which is not something he really wants to do. By trading them, he would reduce payroll so the Knicks could work a sign and trade for Pau Gasol. Or, they would use the $5 million mid-level on Gasol. Probably won't happen though because Jackson doesn't want to lose Shumpert.
Yeah I wouldn't do that unless it's for a better player than Pau. Although unless the Knicks believe they won't be signing Shump next year, but still I wouldn't do that trade just for Gasol. It would have to be to get someone a bit better in my opinion
Yeah, have to agree here. As much as I love Gasol, I think that would be a mistake. I trust in Phil though. From everything I am seeing, if we can retain Carmelo, we could be on the rise very quickly after next offseason. Everyone on the coaching staff has the same views as Jackson, so everyone is on the same page.
Getting Pau Gasol this season, could help you get Marc Gasol the next off-season. Phil Jackson has to have that in mind. Along with Calderon.
if phil moves shumpert this offseason the knicks will be the worst team defensively in the NBA, in a long time. Calderon plays no D, Melo plays very little to no D, Barniani or whatever doesnt even know what defense is, Chandler is gone, J.R. Smith is high... yikes
Lebrons decision should be coming soon apparently. Hes going to Brazil for world cup which is Saturday. So sometime between now and Thursday it will go down. I guess hes meeting with Pat Riley tommorow (which seems to me like its Pat Riley's final plea/show of a respect if Lebron is leaving).
Yup. If the Heat were going to lose in the finals, it was gonna be against the Spurs. OKC just didn't have the type of depth and talent to overtake Miami.
Yeah and I know someones going to say "Well the Heat sucked outside of Lebron, OKC would have won". Im not sure about that, the Heat were competitive the first 3 games, the Spurs just took there game to a whole another level both defensively and offensively. It was phenomenal to watch.
The Spurs were the worst matchup for the Heat. A team that could eliminate the effectiveness of their defense and a team that makes every player defend every possession. The Heat, in my opinion, match up real well against the Thunder. You can forget about Sefolosha and Perkins offensively and defensively there would be nobody to guard Lebron. Westbrook would have a field day though if Cole and Chalmers were playing that bad, but the Heat would out scheme the Thunder pretty quickly and probably Perkins would be a -100 on the court yet Brooks would keep on starting him EDIT: I do think the Thunder are a tougher matchup for the Spurs than the Heat though. KD and Westbrook draw fouls like crazy and Ibaka is by far a better shot blocker than anyone on the Heat.
Ok, now I'm getting worried. People in Knicks organization are worried Carmelo is waiting for LeBron and if Bosh moves to Houston, he would think about joining him in Miami.
Current Las Vegas odds of Cavaliers winning a title next season? 10-1 So many people have put in bets with the looming LeBron decison that the odds have gone down to 10-1 now. The only lower are the Spurs at 9-2 and the Bulls at 7-1 Lmao!!!
Thats what Stephen A Smith was saying, which probably has some truth to it. Basketball wise, having Bosh is better than having Melo, or else Pat Riley would have kicked Bosh out and not even offer a contract and just pursue Melo.
I'm not worried about the Heat because I think signing Melo would be a huge mistake for them. It would take up a ton of cap space and not solve their real issues. It would be just to sign another big name. I'm worried because the last thing I want is Melo in Miami and the Miami fans to start their talking again.
Here's the biggest reason why Melo in Miami won't happen: This is all dependent on Bosh leaving for Houston. LeBron wants a max deal, which from reports is around $20.7 million. If you go by the numbers, Melo's max would be higher than LeBron at around $22.5 million in his first year. But we're talking about LeBron here, not a chance in hell Melo gets paid higher than him on the same team, so for sake of argument, let's assume they both get the $20 million. Now, the Heat would need to sign Norris Cole at $2 million, Justin Hamilton at $816k, and Shabazz Napier at around $1 million. Equals out to $42.5 million for all five guys. Haslem currently has a $8.25 million cap hold which could only be resolved by cutting him loose and keeping Wade. This would put Miami at $48.8 million. With a $63.2 million cap, that would leave Miami with $14.4 million for Haslem and Wade combined. Wade is expected to take a pay cut, but highly unlikely he takes less than $14 million. Let's say Miami convinces Haslem to stay for vet minimum of $1.45 million which would be real tough considering he was due to make $4.6 million next year. Now, Wade signs for his $14.4 million a year for 4 years, which equals out to $64.1 million. Miami would then use their cap exceptions to bring in Josh McRoberts at $5.3 million and Danny Granger at $2.1 million. Filling the rest of the roster with minimums, including Haslem, they would be right at $81 million due to the mid-level exception on McRoberts. But here's a huge curveball, by creating cap space with Bosh's departure, the Heat become a "room" team, and in turn, would "lose the ability to sign McRoberts with the full mid-level exception. This would leave the big 3 as LeBron, Wade, and Melo. McRoberts would occupy the middle and Cole would be their point guard, with Napier right behind. But let's look at the financial portion of it all. Carmelo Anthony would need to leave more than $40 million on the table to play with James. The only way Melo would get his max is if Wade, who just opted out of a $20 million contract per year, takes a HUGE pay cut. The more likely scenario to this all would be Bosh leaving and Miami signing guys like Trevor Ariza, Luol Deng, and Marvin Williams. Only problem with this? Luol Deng is looking for a minimum of $10-12 million and Marvin Williams and Ariza are looking elsewhere for contracts.
UPDATE!! Melo to Miami is IMPOSSIBLE. By creating cap space with Bosh's departure, the Heat become a "room" team, and in turn, would "lose the ability to sign McRoberts with the full mid-level exception." This means that LeBron, Melo, and McRoberts and all the other salaries would need to fit under the cap, which between James, Anthony, and Wade, they would need to come up with $5.3 million more in paycuts. Looks like Stephen A. Smith didn't do his homework.
