TMS: If you're going to compare Durant and Melo you have to keep in mind that Denver played at a much faster pace last season. So it doesn't make sense to just straight compare their stats.

Not sure how the 2 compare once you adjust for pace. Just saying it has to be a factor. I think you'd agree with me on that.

I think this whole thread might be moot because if Heisley is willing to shell out for Gay and Conley has has to be willing to shell out for Gasol.

Melo is actually playing out of his mind to start the season.

Dave Berri from Wages of Wins is a Nuggets fan and had this to say

"Melo has improved his play by shooting more efficiently and pulling down more rebounds"

and don't you dare mix in TMS with iSergio. Civilized conversation in 3..2..1

fishmike wrote:TMS your arguement is if I dont agree with you its nonesense. Its my opinion that Kevin Durant is better player than Melo. I think if you disagree your in the minority but if you feel that it I wont say your wrong or its nonsense.

If Melo is such a great crunchtime scorer why has he been out of the round one only once? Whats his playoff record? If he's putting his team on his top ten NBA back in crunchtime why is the only team he advanced when Billups was the guy making more of those plays than he was?

Magic/Kareem... Clyde/Willis... Drexler/Olajuwon... Kobe/Gasol... that's what i'm looking for...

Now Melo is as good as Magic, Clyde, Drexler or Kobe? Nonsense. (just my opinion)

Melo's playoff career 39 games 24ppg, 41% FGs, 3 TOs a game
Year by year:
2010: 2-4
2009: 10-6
2008: 0-4
2007: 1-4
2006: 1-4
2005: 1-4
2004: 1-4
2003: 2-4

dude's 19-32 in these games where he's supposed to be the carry my team crunch time guy.

Tell me again why a guy (thats you) who has preached winning a title is first and foremost above all else is so married to getting this guy and figuring out what happens next? Cause I just dont see it.

just because he hasn't been able to carry his teams to the Finals doesn't mean he's not a top 10 player, that's just silly talk... plenty of guys in your own top 10 list haven't had much success in that department either... my argument isn't if you don't agree it's nonsense, my argument is when you bring up dumb examples like this to try & prove your point it's nonsense.

btw, i already said i thought Durant is better than Melo, but not to the degree that you think he is... that is an opinion based on facts... i pointed out career statlines to show why i believe this but all you can do is twist my comment to something like i somehow said i think Melo is as good as Magic, Clyde, Drexler or Kobe... i gave you those examples to show the types of inside/outside tandems that have been a proven formula... & contrary to what you believe, i am not married to Melo... i simply think he's the best option out there for us to upgrade our roster this year... i would much rather go after CP3, but he's also a guy you're not interested in trading for... i don't expect to change your mind on this & i could care less if you agree with me or not, i'm just stating my opinions here just like you are.

btw, don't mix me in with Sergio, i make my own arguments i don't need to twist anyone's words to make a point... you on the other hand, seem to have no problem with that... when did i ever say it was dumb to go after Marc Gasol? i said i prefer to go after Melo over Gasol... that doesn't mean i wouldn't want a guy like Gasol on my team... i've already said i think he's a very good player on this thread several times... but let's just ignore my comments & make assumptions... & you wanna call people out for picking what they want to read & regurgitating crap? please.

bla bla bla... isnt that what you said in another thread to another poster? Your a funny guy. Seem pretty laid back in real life but you act like a baby and snit when people dont see it your way on the internet. Cant really get my head around that one. I clearly must have upset you at some point because you take every opportunity repeat the above. I'm just a dummy from the internet. You do realize you dont like win a prize for being right or the most posts or anything right?

Hopefully you can drop the grudge.

that's funny cuz i can say the same about you... you seem like a cool guy in person but online you're a big baby that likes to dish the sarcasm & inaccuracies about other people's points of view but can't take it when you get it done to you... unless i agree with your viewpoints, i'm stupid... unless i say you're right, i'm wrong... the only time i get annoyed is when people twist my words to make a point, something you do with regularity... i don't appreciate it, & neither do you... nothing babyish about that... the grudge will be dropped once you stop pulling BS out of my comments that i never said to suit your own arguments.

Back to basketball.

Scoring is one of the easier things to aquire in the NBA. Size isnt. There is a reason the league is littered with overpaid underachieving bigmen, because their impact goes beyong their PPG.

If Kedrick Perkins is healthy does Boston win another title? I think they do

are you kidding me with the Kendrick Perkins example? since when was he a featured go to go on their team? he is a supplementary guy... Pierce, KG & Allen along w/the emergence of Rondo is the reason they won a championship one year & got to the Finals last year, not because of Kendrick Perkins... & i already said i have nothing against having size in our frontcourt... who says you can't do that & still sign Melo?

TMS wrote:

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:I like me some Marc Gasol. I like me some Melo.

TMS: If you're going to compare Durant and Melo you have to keep in mind that Denver played at a much faster pace last season. So it doesn't make sense to just straight compare their stats.

Not sure how the 2 compare once you adjust for pace. Just saying it has to be a factor. I think you'd agree with me on that.

sure i'll agree with you on pace, but the Thunder also play at a fast pace with Westbrook pushing the ball up the floor & Durant running the wing... Durant attempted 100 more shots than any other player in the NBA last year but somehow Melo gets blasted for being a volume shooter by people on this forum... i don't get that at all.

Denver was 5th last season. Oklahoma was above average in pace but 12th.Tiny sample size this season but Oklahoma is 4th this season tied with the Lakers.

Durant and Melo both can be labeled as "volume scorers". I think they both took 20+ shots last season and their teams probably needed them to.

There were 3 seasons in a row from 2005-2006 season to 2007-2008 season where Melo shot

.481
.476
.492

from the floor. The last 2 seasons, for some reason, that's dropped off to .443 and .458.

Durant was ugly his rookie season with a .430 (similar to Melo's rookie season's .426).
The last 2 seasons Durant has shot .476 while increasing the # of shots taken per game.

Kind of moot again because Durant looks to be a Thunder lifer. I think Melo has the edge in posting up. Durant has the edge in doing the Duncan/Pierce/Kobe move where they whip their arms through defenders who are reaching and get the foul call. I assume they'll both continue to improve. Both are obviously extremely competitive. If all Melo cared about was $ he'd just take the extension. I'd like to think he wants the challenge of NY and it's not just to make wifey happy.

If Melo doesn't end up on the Knicks, then I hope all his critics are right and he is just a chucker. If he ends up on the Knicks I hope we see those %ages crawl back up to close to 50%.

There is a tiny part of me that still is holding out hope that Melo and CP3 already made a pact to join up with Amare in NY.

If we sign Gasol I will be ecstatic. If MDA is a good coach he'll find a way to make it work or we have to move either MDA or Gasol.

TMS wrote:

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:

TMS wrote:

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:I like me some Marc Gasol. I like me some Melo.

TMS: If you're going to compare Durant and Melo you have to keep in mind that Denver played at a much faster pace last season. So it doesn't make sense to just straight compare their stats.

Not sure how the 2 compare once you adjust for pace. Just saying it has to be a factor. I think you'd agree with me on that.

sure i'll agree with you on pace, but the Thunder also play at a fast pace with Westbrook pushing the ball up the floor & Durant running the wing... Durant attempted 100 more shots than any other player in the NBA last year but somehow Melo gets blasted for being a volume shooter by people on this forum... i don't get that at all.

Denver was 5th last season. Oklahoma was above average in pace but 12th.Tiny sample size this season but Oklahoma is 4th this season tied with the Lakers.

Durant and Melo both can be labeled as "volume scorers". I think they both took 20+ shots last season and their teams probably needed them to.

There were 3 seasons in a row from 2005-2006 season to 2007-2008 season where Melo shot

.481
.476
.492

from the floor. The last 2 seasons, for some reason, that's dropped off to .443 and .458.

Durant was ugly his rookie season with a .430 (similar to Melo's rookie season's .426).
The last 2 seasons Durant has shot .476 while increasing the # of shots taken per game.

Kind of moot again because Durant looks to be a Thunder lifer. I think Melo has the edge in posting up. Durant has the edge in doing the Duncan/Pierce/Kobe move where they whip their arms through defenders who are reaching and get the foul call. I assume they'll both continue to improve. Both are obviously extremely competitive. If all Melo cared about was $ he'd just take the extension. I'd like to think he wants the challenge of NY and it's not just to make wifey happy.

If Melo doesn't end up on the Knicks, then I hope all his critics are right and he is just a chucker. If he ends up on the Knicks I hope we see those %ages crawl back up to close to 50%.

There is a tiny part of me that still is holding out hope that Melo and CP3 already made a pact to join up with Amare in NY.

If we sign Gasol I will be ecstatic. If MDA is a good coach he'll find a way to make it work or we have to move either MDA or Gasol.

i would prefer trading for Melo now & then signing Gasol as a free agent then just waiting til the summer & signing Melo & adding him to our current roster.

Denver doesn't seem to be cooperating with us. Perhaps their talent evaluators had a more accurate opinion of Gallo/Randolph and all of our other assets than DW and the statheads?

Michael Heisley is confusing as hell. If he was going to shell out massive amounts of $ why not keep Pau?

Anyway - Denver wants to get as much as they can get for Melo.

But, Melo wants to go to a contending team.

Both of the above are in conflict with one another. The more assets Denver gets in a trade for Melo, the worst the team Melo would go to is. I suspect this is part of the reason why Melo refuses to sign an extension. Once he signs that extension, he loses all leverage and has almost no say in where he wants to go.

So what it comes down to is - Do you believe Melo when he says he wants to be in a winning situation? Do you think Melo would want to go to a team that isn't as good as Denver? Melo is envious of Lebron/Wade/Bosh. He wants a situation where the team he's going to would be better than his current Denver team if he joined (otherwise, why would he leave???). He also wants a situation that can be as good as the Miami Heat.

I feel that any scenario where we are trading for Melo doesn't get Melo what he wants. Other teams may very well be able to trade and still be in a strong situation (Bulls, Nets) since they flat out have more assets than us. But if we have to do the same, we would be an inferior destination.

So what it comes down to is - Do you believe Melo when he says he wants to be in a winning situation? Do you think Melo would want to go to a team that isn't as good as Denver?

He really never said winning is his #1 option. If it's true about the NJ NETs being big time players in getting mello, I can't see how winning can be a first option.

It sounds to me like he wants to just get the hell out of denver and start fresh in NY with his wife.
He knows his game is suited for MDA, he knows he has a mate in AMARE, and with them 2 there, they can attract any amount of role players.

I'm not exactly sure why Gasol would even come up in a discussion, the knicks just invested 9 mill in mosgov, why in the world would they be looking at giving another C more. Mosgov looks like a keeper by far.

Panos wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

So what it comes down to is - Do you believe Melo when he says he wants to be in a winning situation? Do you think Melo would want to go to a team that isn't as good as Denver?

He really never said winning is his #1 option. If it's true about the NJ NETs being big time players in getting mello, I can't see how winning can be a first option.

It sounds to me like he wants to just get the hell out of denver and start fresh in NY with his wife.
He knows his game is suited for MDA, he knows he has a mate in AMARE, and with them 2 there, they can attract any amount of role players.

I'm not exactly sure why Gasol would even come up in a discussion, the knicks just invested 9 mill in mosgov, why in the world would they be looking at giving another C more. Mosgov looks like a keeper by far.

"Invested 9 mill in Mosgov"? Are you serious? $3M per for 3 years is hardly a big investment for a center. That's backup money. Borderline third string Center money.

i'm with you... not like it's Marcin Gortat money

Birth Date January 29, 1985
Birth Place Barcelona, Spain
Height 7-1
Weight 265 lbs.
Age 25
Position C
Experience 2 years
Salary 2011: $3,573,333

Gasol doesn't make much more and seems to be the a much better player right now. Still I think Mosgov has a higher cieling then gasol, and why would you stunt his growth by adding gasol, especially since your not really hurting at that position.

knicks1248 wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Birth Date January 29, 1985
Birth Place Barcelona, Spain
Height 7-1
Weight 265 lbs.
Age 25
Position C
Experience 2 years
Salary 2011: $3,573,333

Gasol doesn't make much more and seems to be the a much better player right now. Still I think Mosgov has a higher cieling then gasol, and why would you stunt his growth by adding gasol, especially since your not really hurting at that position.

Correction...thats total salary for gasol, so yes...mosgov almost doubles gasol sal.. No one's investing a whole lot of money in these avg centers we have in this league today..

What are you talking about? $3.5M is his 2011 salary for 1 year, and he is still on the contract he first signed. He's about to get a considerable raise when he hits the FA market.

BIg men get hurt, big men foul, and if you want to go deep in the playoffs you have two.

Why does Orlando have Gortat? They don't need him.

If Moz really blossoms you can always make a trade.

Memphis likely is hoping Thabeet can play and move Gasol to PF. Z-Dump is gone unless he takes a big cut in pay which will take a big cut in his ego.

Memphis likely does a sign and trade to get Gasol his money and something in return.

Starting centers generally seem to be getting 8-10 M. 25 year old legit centers like Gasol will get that much or more.