crzymdups wrote:Sounds like Amar'e disagrees - he kinda implies that he and Melo alone are better than what the Knicks have now in this quote, IMHO:

alanhahn Alan Hahn
Asked Amar'e if trade for Melo guts roster, would there be enough: "I think the combination of us two would be great."

alanhahn Alan Hahn
Amar'e spoke openly for first time about Carmelo. Said he'd love to have him as a teammate. Said he can't predict what will happen.

I don't read the first quote like you did. I think that was just Amears way of not really answering question but saying something.

TMS wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

CashMoney wrote:Kobe/James James/Kobe - These two are the only playes on that level. Melo is not a boderline superstar, he is a superstar. There are only 2 SF's in the game that you can honestly say are better and number 2 is debatable. 1. Lebron 2. Durant 3. Melo

Yeah I agree that giving up the team for Melo does not help the situation. Giving up Felton is risky business considering his age but he's inked for 2 years anyway and there is no guarantee that he re-ups with the Knicks or if the Knicks will want to re-up him at that time. We can get 2 years out of Billups.

Especially considering that Melo isn't even on LeBrons level! He's a boarderline superstar. Not a top 5 player though, and that's what gutting the team is doing. Acting like we are going for a full blown super duper star.... It's completely not worth that.

And now people are willing to give up Felton? Please. Give me a break.

Superstars, IMO, play defense too. LeBron, Kobe and Wade play defense. Melo doesn't. That's what separates the two levels. Plus Melo isn't nearly the willing passer that those other 3 are.

Duncan, KG, Shaq (In his prime when he was a major shotblocker), Kobe, Wade, LeBron. These guys are all NBA defensive guys. So was MJ. Carmello doesn't even give the effort a lot of times. It's why I'm so lukewarm on the idea on getting him in the first place.

Magic Johnson never made an All-Defensive team, was he a superstar in your estimation? are Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Durant superstars or 2nd tier in your eyes? just trying to see where you draw the line, you point out examples of superstars who are all NBA defensive guys, & i agree w/all of your choices they are all legitimate superstars in their own right, but is playing elite defense the deciding criteria to determine a superstar's worth, or can he be one based on having elite offensive game? btw, i'm not comparing Melo to Magic so hopefully u won't take it in that sense... Magic was a legendary alltime player, no one is gonna confuse Melo w/him, but Melo can be stacked up with Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Durant anyday IMO.

TMS, I agree with you. Melo is currently in the same class as Dirk and Durant. One thing with Magic though. He played with numerous HOFers. As AMAZING as he was, he played with the other HOFers.

However, when I think of gutting this roster, as people on this site are clearly willing to do, I think that they feel Melo is in the class of LeBron and Wade and Kobe. Someone that can just turn a franchise around ALONE, and even LeBron was only able to do that so far. Wade needed help and so did Kobe. Melo, in Denver, had Billups and Camby and Nene and KMart and even JR Smith surrounding him. Guys that can play on both ends, at least a little. However, leaving yourself with Stat, Melo and a bunch of extremely questionable role players (Even if it's Mozgov and Douglas and Fields) then I think you're setting the team up for dissapointment. Melo is great, but he's not THAT great. We'd get burned in the playoffs by round 3 IMO. We wouldn't sniff the finals, let alone win a championship.

Add him to what we have, and I think we have something going on and even then it's tough because we'd be relying on Mozgov and AR to become the players we hope for. I'd still be all for that though.

This is why I'm praying these meeting are just to convince Melo that we'll be going for him over the Summer, so he doesn't sign an extension.