I think yall wasted a lot of pages on the 'trade Melo' debate. The facts are the Knicks organization and Melo are married to each other. And Melo has an iron clad pre-nup in the form of a NTC. Where does this championship or bust mentality come from?
It's not championship or bust, it's "build the best possible team"
The reality is we don't become contenders any quicker by trading him now for young unproven assets than we do if he plays out his contract here.
False, if you keep him and his contract, you are invested in a fading asset and player, and then have to start over when he's gone. If you trade him now for picks and a piece, then you jumpstart that process, and have a stronger team over the next five years.
And at the end of the day the owner of the team we root for is in the business of making money. He's not trading a draw like Melo to build a young team that could challenge for the playoffs. In a couple years.
In a couple of years, Melo will be 34 and nobody will want him.
But if you tweak and build around the young potential franchise player you just drafted along with your all star draw that's in his prime, you may have something on your hands.
The window on melo's career is already shutting. And this team isn't very good, "tweaking" wont' change that. They will have to scrape just to have a shot at making the playoffs.
You'd still have to tinker with the lineup with the scraps you get for Melo, so why not keep him and address the PG position? Or find a playmaker to use in the triangle?
Address the coaching situation. This is the 1st time in NY or in the NBA I've heard of the GM or team president having so much influence on what the coach runs on offense.
Riley.
RC Buford aint telling Popovich what he gotta run. Dave Checketts wasn't telling JVG what to run.
Those guys aren't better basketball minds than their coach. Fisher is here because Phil can't physically handle the day-to-day of coaching. He is a proxy. And honestly, a shytty coach from what I've seen.
Oh yeah earlier I said Melo's in his prime. I'm sure that needs to be addressed.
It sure does.
He is indeed coming of knee surgery. But he's only 31 coming off surgery for a wear and tear procedure, not a career threatening injury.
He has been in the NBA since he was 19... he has a TON of minutes on his legs, and has been more injury prone over the last 3 years than at any other point in his career.
He never has or will play above the rim.
You should go back and watch clips from his first 6-7 years in the league.
But he will establish a rhythm. His timing will return. Hopefully he will understand when to take heat checks,
He has never understood this.
His new improved defensive #s should satisfy the stat/efficiency whores
No, because 1) anybody that cares about stats understands sample size, and 2) his defense doesn't have anything to do with his inefficient offense.
The fact is we've seen this script before in NY basketball with Ewing.
Ewing was traded at the end of his contract, and it set the team back because they took on longer deals and did not get enough future value in talent or picks. Melo would have to be traded for young players and/or picks.
Different team, different time, different GM
