Did Melo screw the Knicks up bad or he did the right thing?

[bagelred]

Knicks fans are talking about possibly trading Amare now and even Melo. F that shit, when this stuff was going down Melo's only responsibility was to get the best deal for himself. what happens when he accepts less and gets traded.....Melo is the one hurtin.

I'm not saying what Melo did was wrong, I'm just telling you how it went down.

And do you really believe Melo or Amare will be traded? The chances of that are close to zero.

[hawkfan]

The Knicks got Chauncey Billups, the first real point guard in a long, long time. Better than Felton.

Chandler would have left at the end of the season regardless - money. Mozgov - how good will he be? Who knows.

Lost Gallinari - bad. Lost draft picks - bad.

So the question is Gallinari and picks or Chauncey Billups for at least 2 seasons? Short term, Chauncey is better. Long term Gallinari is better.

[HurricaneKid]

Anthony had no responsibility to the Knicks to say something like that to Denver. And if he insisted on them taking a bad deal from whoever they sent him to Denver could well have said "we're not screwing ourselves to accommodate you, we'll just take the cap space, hope you tear your ACL." And then just find a team willing to rent him for a half-season that will give them someone worthwhile in return.

Very true. But then he would have gone to the Knicks in the offseason and they would have a MUCH stronger team with a lot of assets to trade for Paul. The only difference is that he wanted to go there LAST YEAR so he could sign a bigger deal (everyone saw the writing on the wall 5+ YEARS ago which is why Wade, LBJ, etc all signed shorter deals to be FAs before the CBA expired. And he gave leverage to Den that cost NYK considerable assets to insure it happened.

[HurricaneKid]

The Knicks got Chauncey Billups, the first real point guard in a long, long time. Better than Felton.

Chandler would have left at the end of the season regardless - money. Mozgov - how good will he be? Who knows.

Lost Gallinari - bad. Lost draft picks - bad.

So the question is Gallinari and picks or Chauncey Billups for at least 2 seasons? Short term, Chauncey is better. Long term Gallinari is better.

They are paying Chauncey >14M this year. Thats crazy money. I don't know if expiring deals are going to be nearly as coveted in the new CBA and that seems like a lot to me.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Very true. But then he would have gone to the Knicks in the offseason and they would have a MUCH stronger team with a lot of assets to trade for Paul. The only difference is that he wanted to go there LAST YEAR so he could sign a bigger deal (everyone saw the writing on the wall 5+ YEARS ago which is why Wade, LBJ, etc all signed shorter deals to be FAs before the CBA expired. And he gave leverage to Den that cost NYK considerable assets to insure it happened.

Well, if NY really thought they could get him no matter what they should have waited. They chose not to. That's on them, not him. They'd have had to renounce a lot of the guys they traded to max him anyhow.

[christian1923]

Whats the difference? they would have had to trade all those pieces for chris paul regardless.. now he has to wait till free angency, i dont see how melo should take any blame

[Tlova]

Blame the knicks GM for the kneejerk. Everyone n there momma knew that melo was coming to NYC sooner or later.

[MeLO MvP 15]

The truth is that we could look back and say, "oh he would've only lost $5 million if he signed as FA..." but you have to remember he would've been opting out into a lockout and no one knew how long it would last and how much the system would change. Hindsight is everything.

Not to mention for NY there was always the chance that Melo would've been scared into signing the extension with New Jersey (doubtful) or Denver if it got to the deadline.

Side note: This is why the Chris Paul situation is pretty different, Paul has more leverage than Melo meaning NY has more and New Orleans has less because New Orleans doesn't have the lockout to scare Paul into signing an extension.

[NoGunzJustSkillz]

maybe jersey was close to a deal for him (hey, they didn't mind getting a rental player) and the knicks didnt wanna take the chance?

[longtime lurker]

maybe jersey was close to a deal for him (hey, they didn't mind getting a rental player) and the knicks didnt wanna take the chance?

Exactly. Denver could have traded him to the Nets, Utah trades Deron Williams to the Knicks and it's Anthony having to take a pay cut this season instead of Chris Paul. Too many unknown variables, I applaud the Knicks for taking a gamble, we still don't know how this might turn out.

[knicksman]

If NY can't keep STAT is Melo still going there? There is no "fair" involved in any of this, if such things were fair Denver wouldn't have to trade Melo to begin with because he'd be happy in a "small" market (Denver isn't truly a small city but whatever, it's subjective). Melo wants to play with STAT and Chris Paul, he definitely wants the best teammates he can get. NY had to trade major assets not out of any sense of fairness on Anthony's part but because Melo wanted to get paid as much $ as possible.

melo already knew where hes going. So that means that denver and melo already agreed that he would be traded to new york as long as melo does what hes told to. And yeah I agree that he wants to play with amare but he also wants to be fair to his former team. He wants to get them a good return and win in this league in a fair way.

[knicksman]

Except it was the exact opposite. Rather than be on a team with pieces around him Melo decided that the bigger pre-CBA deal was more important to him.

With the labor uncertainty out there he needed to sign an extension before the CBA expired or he would have had to take less. But yes, if he was committed to the Knicks he wouldn't have come out and say he might sign an extension with the Nets, etc. That is the leverage Den needed to milk the NYK for everyone. I mean it was supposed to be Chandler OR Felton plus Fields.

If anyone else had traded for them, fine. Then he goes to NYC at the end of the year. But he wanted the extra $$$. Say what you will about LBJ, Wade, and Bosh. Wade took less than he could have gotten to make it happen and he didn't gut the team to get his.

melo was already assured that hes being traded to the knicks. Melo and denver FO already talked about it as long as melo cooperates.

And who cares about pieces around him. Thats why l like him because he has the confidence that he can win without those pieces unlike lebron who wouldnt want to join new york because another top 3 player in wade is not enough. He wants bosh too and a non gutted team. LOL Talk about the weakest minded player. And it shows in the finals how he has no confidence really in his self.

And in fact he didnt take a paycut. And its one way of saying fcuk u to cp3. Coz he really doesnt need him. He doesnt want leeches like cp3 and these other overrated pgs leeching on them and taking all the credits.

[Burgz]

knicks jumped the gun but they knew there was a lockout and that it would be impossible under the new circumstances of the CBA to keep chandler, gallinari and sign melo at the same time.

until recently we didnt know if the extend and trade would be included and without it melo may have gone to a team that couldve paid him max while maintaining their core (bulls, clippers etc.)

but really hindsight is 20/20 and realistically he was always gonna end up in a knicks uniform so it's hard to say

[PrimeJohnnyDepp]

Blame the knicks GM for the kneejerk. Everyone n there momma knew that melo was coming to NYC sooner or later.

They didn't *know* he was coming. They knew he wished to. Like every composer wants to score a Nolan movie. Thing is, you don't accept anyone. NYK is not a club or a pride of a town, it's a gym. And you can just force yourself in if your gangsta enough. Force yourself in with yo baby fat, is what i'm sayin.

[Eric Cartman]

Quick question: can u renegotiate ur contract to take less money like they do in the NFL sometimes?