The vibe I get from Melo is that this is HIS city and HIS team. I don't think he's of the same kind of mindset of a D12 who didn't take ownership of the last 2 teams he was on. I feel Melo loves NY and the Northeast areas he's lived in during his early life. I think he has pride in representing this city and team. I think Melo wants to see this team succeed and he gave everything he had last year to try and help his team win. I've bashed Melo when I felt he was doggin it and I praise him when I see he's really trying. In the playoffs this year I saw a player that was giving everything he had to try and win.
As for the franchise, I think this is a very important year. This team will have major continuity for the 1st time and I think that will help this team to succeed. As long as the Knicks brass keep trying to improve the team I don't see why Melo would lose faith in this team and want to leave. Felton, Prigs, Shump, JR and Tyson were key players in the success of the team and they're all back. Now we've added AB, THJ and will likely add others to the mix. I think this team will be stronger than last year. They won't have to overuse Amar'e and I think they learned that it's best to really restrict his minutes. Melo is the face of this franchise, why would he ever want to leave when they just won 54 games, #2 seed and made a 2nd rd appearance. Unless this team fails to make the 2nd rd, I doubt he'll have any incentive to want to leave. This is a really good team and should be in the 2nd rd again this coming season.