crzymdups wrote:let's hope the nuggets aren't watching this game.

probably salivating at what they can get if they offer us JR Smith... can never have enough 3 pt shooters.

Markji wrote:

PresIke wrote:

Markji wrote:Every commentator says "It's about the money". Yet the Miami Big 3 - LeBron, Wade and Bosh ALL took less money so they could play together and win a championship. And 2 of them, LeBron and Wade, are better than Melo. Why do they think that Melo won't take less by waiting until the end of the season to sign with the Knicks?

maybe because melo himself DOES care about the money more than the others. it is possible.

this is also a different situation than last summer because it may be that melo gets significantly less under a new CBA. who knows?

clearly he wants to win too, but he wants his cake and to eat it too, and in his case, he has a lot of leverage.

the worst case scenario for him is he becomes a free agent. but it would make sense to tie up an extension now for him.

Does Melo care more for the $ than winning? I think he wants both. To get both he has to make some sacrifice somewhere as did the Heat players.

in the bold print from my post, you can see that i wrote that i think he may want both as well, but there is no reason to assume he is going to do the same as the heat players did.

so because amar'e signed with us for more (a previously crappy, highly questionable team) he didn't care about winning?

i just don't think it has to be 50-50 or all or the other.

i believe melo may think that he and amar'e will be a huge attraction for role players, and perhaps another star, and that just the two of them will be a potent force in the nba.

TMS wrote:
i think it's hard to judge him wanting to sign an extension now w/a looming lockout & new CBA on the horizon... we don't even know if he'll even be able to opt out this summer for all we know the new CBA might include a franchise player tag provision... that kind of uncertainty is not something that Lebron, Wade or Bosh had to deal with this past summer, nor has any other bigname FA in recent memory... of course ideally we would all love for Melo to wait til free agency & simply sign here but there's a ton of uncertainty surrounding that scenario, i personally would rather not take any chances... if we can get Melo on a fair trade i say we do it.

i was saying this as well. i completely agree. the situations are just not the same with the looming cba. melo could get significantly less if he doesn't get a re-up now.

TMS wrote:

Markji wrote:

TMS wrote:

Markji wrote:

TMS wrote:

Does Melo care more for the $ than winning?

Did Amare care more for the $ than winning when he agreed to sign w/the Knicks? every FA is entitled to go after the most money he can get, most players only get a chance to do this once in their careers.

Melo is "entitled to go after the most money he can get" as you say and I agree. But that isn't the argument. If Melo wanted the most money he should have agreed to extend with the Nets and he would have had his money months ago. But he doesn't want to play for the Nets because all of their good players and draft picks would be gone.

He has chosen to play for the Knicks and team up with Amare! I would love to get Melo before the trade deadline, but if not, then Melo can wait til after the season and sign with us. Denver is really the one's controlling this and they don't want to make it easy for anyone to get Melo. They want Melo to extend with them.

Also, perhaps Melo will refuse to extend with the Knicks if we gut our team. Ever think of that?

Melo is entitled to try & get himself into the best situation for him & his family... in his eyes that situation is apparently playing for the NY Knicks... that's why he's angled to get himself into this position & refused to sign that extension w/NJ... that doesn't mean he should want to leave millions on the table if he can help it... he wants his cake & eat it too just like most other high profile athletes in every sport out there... i'd want that too if i were in his shoes & so would most other people.

& if he refused to sign if we gutted our roster then no deal gets done to begin with, don't see any reason to be concerned about that... no team is going to give up a good package assets w/o a commitment from him to sign a contract extension.

TMS - maybe it is your choice of words and we are almost thinking alike. There are 3 things I can see that Melo wants.
1. Money
2. Play in NY for the Knicks with Stat so he can achieve #3
3. Win a championship

The question arises - will he sacrifice a little from #1 above in order to achieve #3 (and #2). Because the team has a better chance of winning if we have cap space to sign some very good complimentary players. This is what LeBron, Wade, Bosh did and Michael Jordan before them. That is my point. If Melo signs here, takes a little less, he and we have a better chance of winning it all....and that is supposedly his primary goal.

i think it's hard to judge him wanting to sign an extension now w/a looming lockout & new CBA on the horizon... we don't even know if he'll even be able to opt out this summer for all we know the new CBA might include a franchise player tag provision... that kind of uncertainty is not something that Lebron, Wade or Bosh had to deal with this past summer, nor has any other bigname FA in recent memory... of course ideally we would all love for Melo to wait til free agency & simply sign here but there's a ton of uncertainty surrounding that scenario, i personally would rather not take any chances... if we can get Melo on a fair trade i say we do it.

sealy wrote:

scoshin wrote:

crzymdups wrote:let's hope the nuggets aren't watching this game.

Why? Chandler's the principal trade piece and if they had any doubts about his slump, he just reassured them (and with no Amar'e).

I'm really hoping Fields is kept off still. I'm one of the few who'd rather keep Fields over Gallo on these boards it seems, but I'm just not that high on Gallo, and especially not if we get Melo who plays the same position.

I really hope that both of them stay. Gallo could definitely be on the floor with Melo at the same time. I also think Gallo's game would improve alot bc of it. Defenses would really have to spread the floor with two shooters like that on floor and Amare would see alot less double teams meaning some serious beast mode for him.

Wilson Chandler plays the 4 in spots all the time with Gallo at the 3 and Melo is either just as big or bigger than Chandler.

AR/Fat Curry/Chandler + 1 is enough. They have no leverage and I will NOT be mad if DW doesn't budge by the deadline.

I agree with this...