NYKBocker wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:Fishmike, you're right and the more you think of it, the more it might even hurt the franchise by giving up so much for a guy who might give you an easier time scoring. He's not going to improve the team by THAT much though and lift us past Miami/Boston/Orlando. Not without frontcourt help.

This isn't going to work out in our favor. And no, Carmello at that price would not be much of a trade asset.

A Melo/Amare/Felton team will win a lot of games. Not as dominant as the Heat but they will be good because there will be nights when 2 of those 3 guys will simply light you up. I would say thats a 50 win and 2nd round team. That puts you in the Hawks zone. Good aned talented, but not big enough or great enough to get to the finals. That date is reserved for teams that are HUGE, play elite defense as Detroit did a few years ago

Yup. We basically become the Nuggets 3-4 years ago. The Melo/Billups/KMart/Nene group was very good but they did not have enough in the depth chart. We can potentially have a great team here if we elect not to give the starting 5 and add Melo into the mix. We can really be special.

NYKBocker wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:Fishmike, you're right and the more you think of it, the more it might even hurt the franchise by giving up so much for a guy who might give you an easier time scoring. He's not going to improve the team by THAT much though and lift us past Miami/Boston/Orlando. Not without frontcourt help.

This isn't going to work out in our favor. And no, Carmello at that price would not be much of a trade asset.

A Melo/Amare/Felton team will win a lot of games. Not as dominant as the Heat but they will be good because there will be nights when 2 of those 3 guys will simply light you up. I would say thats a 50 win and 2nd round team. That puts you in the Hawks zone. Good aned talented, but not big enough or great enough to get to the finals. That date is reserved for teams that are HUGE, play elite defense as Detroit did a few years ago

Yup. We basically become the Nuggets 3-4 years ago. The Melo/Billups/KMart/Nene group was very good but they did not have enough in the depth chart. We can potentially have a great team here if we elect not to give the starting 5 and add Melo into the mix. We can really be special.

if being huge & playing elite D is the only way to get to the Finals, we made the wrong choice in bringing MDA here... he likes to play small & his teams have never been known for playing elite level D.

babyKnicks wrote:Chandler, curry and AR for melo. Thatsball, nothing else, especially if we have to renounce Chandler to sign him anyway.

I'd like to keep our starting 5 and trade everyone else.

ramtour420 wrote:I don't think we are competing with the Nets, simply because if Melo would sign with them, he would be a Net months ago.

yup... it's pretty simple but people refuse to even try to believe we can get Melo without completely gutting our entire roster... if Melo accepts an extension w/NJ, then he's gonna be traded there.... if not, then NJ's offer becomes worthless & the Knicks have a great chance of landing him w/o having to match the same return of assets.

eViL wrote:moz and rautins are not guaranteed.

i didn't know this... that's interesting... but we still don't know what the new CBA will be like & if we'll even have enough cap space to sign Melo to a contract this summer & still hold onto Wilson C... i guess it all comes out to whether or not DW wants to take that risk or if he thinks an extra few months of Melo's services would be worth our while to offer up Gallo or Wilson to get Melo here this year & try to make a run... my guess is if Denver wants to talk trades with the Knicks, then DW is gonna listen... he's obviously tried to engage them in talks already.

eViL wrote:

TMS wrote:

eViL wrote:moz and rautins are not guaranteed.

i didn't know this... that's interesting... but we still don't know what the new CBA will be like & if we'll even have enough cap space to sign Melo to a contract this summer & still hold onto Wilson C... i guess it all comes out to whether or not DW wants to take that risk or if he thinks an extra few months of Melo's services would be worth our while to offer up Gallo or Wilson to get Melo here this year & try to make a run... my guess is if Denver wants to talk trades with the Knicks, then DW is gonna listen... he's obviously tried to engage them in talks already.

i double-checked and it appears rautins is not guaranteed but moz is. though, i've heard that he's not and that's why i posted what i did.

regardless, to me, it seems like it would be in both the knicks' and melo's interest to wait for free agency. let's be real here, no matter what happens with the CBA, star players are gonna get paid star money. he's not gonna be left with scraps. if anything, the current nba salary structure screws stars out of money and protects the middle of the road players. my prediction is that max salaries will not decline by much, if at all. everything i've read seems to suggest that the MLE will be slashed or abolished altogether.

the heat set the tone. this is an arms race. everyone needs to gear up. we're not beating the heat and the other eastern elite without a stacked team of our own. we have a simple and clear road towards stacking this squad. melo knows it, walsh knows it, we all know it. the denver nuggets have to fake hustle like they are making every effort to trade him even though they know he won't sign anywhere but here. they have to sell it to their fans that way. they can't even engage the knicks in trade talks with a straight face. walsh is gonna sit there and say, "hmmm... ok. so option one is trading you assets and weapons for melo. and option two is signing him outright and keep everything. hold on a second..." <click>

i feel like melo coming in free agency is the only thing that makes sense. why would he want to come here, deplete the roster, and lose to the heat every year? we are poised to stack this team up. it's been through the great patience and very deliberate calculated moves of our front office. i can't see walsh deviating from his steady plan unless something major happens. if it were up to me, we'd wait til the summer.

i think there's value to be had in getting Melo this season... obviously we shouldn't gut the roster to get him here, & i doubt very much that Melo would even want us to, but if we can get him at a reasonable trade of assets, i think it's a no brainer for all parties involved... why not bring him in now & let him get used to this team, his teammates & get accustomed to this offense in real NBA action & then be ahead of the game for next season to make a serious run at a championship? & who's to say we can't make noise in the present while we're at it?

right now i think it's clear that Donnie Walsh is interested in engaging the Nuggets in trade talks, he's already tried to approach them & has reportedly been rebuffed... i think he's still biding his time & seems to have a plan in place to obtain the assets he thinks it might take to get Melo to NY... he made it a point to mention he could get multiple 1st round picks if he wanted to... to me that says a lot about what his plan is... IMO he's trying to send a message to Melo that he's gonna try & get him to NY at the deadline as long as he remains firm & doesn't accept a trade to NJ