1) We can keep more of our youth by agreeing to assume Harrington's MLE contract with Azubuike's (insurance-covered) expiring.
2) As a 6th man off the bench, Harrington can provide that bench scoring we're looking for. I know a lot of people hate on him, but he loved being a Knick, has a lot of heart, and the hope is that by playing with two clear alpha dogs in Melo/Amare, he won't try to bulldoze his way over 3 defenders and play within the flow of the offense. We know he has the skillset to succeed in D'Antoni's offense. He was also the key bench player on the 60+ win Pacer teams in the past.

But most importantly:

3) If we keep Wilson Chandler in any Melo deal, we can then look to S&T Chandler in the summer, since Harrington would fill the 6th man role in Wilson's stead.

There is a huge benefit to S&T'ing Wilson:

a) He's a RFA so if any team is interested in him, they have to work with us cause we can intimidate them by saying we'll match any offer. This is how Joe Johnson or Eddy Curry or several other RFA's were able to get their home team multiple picks and assets in a S&T.
b) If the team that wants Chandler is over the cap like Golden State was in the David Lee trade, they have to work with us in a S&T if they want Chandler. Result? They have to give up more assets cause we have the leverage. See: David Lee trade and Eddy Curry trade.
c) We could try and S&T Wilson for a coveted center whose contract would've been too large to work out a trade with normally. See: Marcus Camby's $11M contract. If we S&T Wilson starting around $8M, we can then use it to get Camby from Portland...or if Portland isn't interested in Chandler, we can look to acquire the assets that Portland would be interested.

End result?

Felton
Fields
Melo
Amare
Camby

with Douglas, Harrington, Turiaf off the bench (this is assuming we traded Gallo/AR for Melo, but hey, taking on Harrington may allow us to keep one of them as well).

All in all, hate Harrington all you want, but we should not be reluctant to take on his 5-yr MLE deal.

...is what Isiah Thomas would say to Masai Ujiri.

TMS wrote:i think the guy you wanna try & get in a salary dump situation from DEN in any Melo trade is Nene or Birdman.

CrushAlot wrote:

TMS wrote:i think the guy you wanna try & get in a salary dump situation from DEN in any Melo trade is Nene or Birdman.

I think Birdman has a nerve issue in his back. I know he is out and I think it might be serious. I would love to see Nene finally play for the Knicks.

didn't know this about Birdman, but that's definitely a concern... Nene would fill a lot of the team's needs if you can get him in a Melo package... all u'd need to address after that is acquiring a backup PG, which we could easily do using the MLE next year.

Moonangie wrote:

TMS wrote:i think the guy you wanna try & get in a salary dump situation from DEN in any Melo trade is Nene or Birdman.

In that order, too, with Affalo a close third... BUT, I still refuse to give up Fields under any circumstances. He is a solid untouchable.

i love Fields & hope we can keep him, but i'm gonna stop short of calling him an untouchable... bottomline, i would hope he's not included in any trades this year, but i wouldn't kill DW if he dealt him in a Melo deal as long as we're holding onto at least 2 of the other young guys we have out of the 4... if we're taking on Nene's contract then definitely i would not want Fields included in the deal, since the cap savings should be a pretty significant added asset we're giving up in & of itself in that case.

Solace wrote:If we trade for Melo and Nene, the trade should be this:

Eddy Curry (Expiring)
Anthony Randolph
Denver's pick of Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler, but not both
Kelenna Azubuike
Two future first rounders (2014, 2016?)
Roger Mason (if filler is needed)

The bottom line is that if our goal is to win this season, Landry Fields is our only solid option at SG (Not interested in J.R. Smith as a replacement) and we can afford to lose Gallo or Chandler, and have the remaining one be the sixth man at multiple positions. Meanwhile, Nene replaces AR, so no problems there, and Nene belongs in NY. I would be happy to use the first rounders to suppliment the fact that we can't afford to trade as much of our current roster, because if we give up more than this, the Carmelo trade will not improve this team's record. I think if Carmelo is truly demanding Knicks or bust that the Nuggets take this, because this is a hell of a lot better than losing him for nothing.

for Melo & Nene i would be OK with giving up Gallo & Wilson along w/the other filler you mentioned. You're looking at replacing 2 wing role playing starters with a legit starting C & a huge upgrade at SF in that scenario. That equates to a big upgrade for us at both positions. You're also upgrading at the PF by shifting Amare back over to that spot fulltime... after that i bring PEJ back on a minimum salary contract to add a little depth on the bench... i think that's reasonable & still gives DEN a solid package of talent to justify the trade w/at least 2 or 3 promising young talents to rebuild their franchise with going forward as well as a boatload of cap savings... i think all parties involved would make out well under the circumstances.

C - Nene
PF - Amare
SF - Melo
SG - Fields
PG - Felton
6 - Douglas
7 - Turiaf
8 - Williams
9 - Walker
10 - Mozgov
11 - PEJ
12 - Rautins

of course if u can still hold onto Wilson or Gallo, all the better, but u have to at least present a package that doesn't insult the other team to get them to the bargaining table... they're not gonna trade away their franchise stud & their starting C for just 1 starter like Wilson or Gallo who may or may not end up being a star down the road... AR is a promising talent but as of now his value isn't all that high either, u don't know what you'll get out of him, & those draft picks would be very low picks after you made that trade in all likelihood so they don't carry much value either in this case.

That frontcourt would be a beast, and with a Felton/Fields backcourt, we'd be set to take this playoff run to the next level.

TMS wrote:

Solace wrote:If we trade for Melo and Nene, the trade should be this:

Eddy Curry (Expiring)
Anthony Randolph
Denver's pick of Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler, but not both
Kelenna Azubuike
Two future first rounders (2014, 2016?)
Roger Mason (if filler is needed)

The bottom line is that if our goal is to win this season, Landry Fields is our only solid option at SG (Not interested in J.R. Smith as a replacement) and we can afford to lose Gallo or Chandler, and have the remaining one be the sixth man at multiple positions. Meanwhile, Nene replaces AR, so no problems there, and Nene belongs in NY. I would be happy to use the first rounders to suppliment the fact that we can't afford to trade as much of our current roster, because if we give up more than this, the Carmelo trade will not improve this team's record. I think if Carmelo is truly demanding Knicks or bust that the Nuggets take this, because this is a hell of a lot better than losing him for nothing.

for Melo & Nene i would be OK with giving up Gallo & Wilson along w/the other filler you mentioned. You're looking at replacing 2 wing role playing starters with a legit starting C & a huge upgrade at SF in that scenario. That equates to a big upgrade for us at both positions. You're also upgrading at the PF by shifting Amare back over to that spot fulltime... after that i bring PEJ back on a minimum salary contract to add a little depth on the bench... i think that's reasonable & still gives DEN a solid package of talent to justify the trade w/at least 2 or 3 promising young talents to rebuild their franchise with going forward as well as a boatload of cap savings... i think all parties involved would make out well under the circumstances.

C - Nene
PF - Amare
SF - Melo
SG - Fields
PG - Felton
6 - Douglas
7 - Turiaf
8 - Williams
9 - Walker
10 - Mozgov
11 - PEJ
12 - Rautins

of course if u can still hold onto Wilson or Gallo, all the better, but u have to at least present a package that doesn't insult the other team to get them to the bargaining table... they're not gonna trade away their franchise stud & their starting C for just 1 starter like Wilson or Gallo who may or may not end up being a star down the road... AR is a promising talent but as of now his value isn't all that high either, u don't know what you'll get out of him, & those draft picks would be very low picks after you made that trade in all likelihood so they don't carry much value either in this case.

I hear you. Maybe we arrive at the trade you mentioned if they won't bite to earlier trades. I'm hoping to use some leverage since they are clearly not going to be successful dealing him anywhere else. If Pau Gasol can get traded for garbage + Marc Gasol, then there's a possibility that Gallo is enough to get Melo. Nene is the tougher piece, but maybe it's worth to do what you said in that case.

One other thought is we could also have a three-way trade where we forward Nene to Portland and take Camby. Portland may have better assets to help offset that, and Camby should not be as expensive as Nene.