TripleThreat wrote:nixluva wrote:You really think it's not possible to build a team just cuz Melo is on the team? We're about to see a major change in this roster. There's no way around it. Melo is one player of 15 and no team is about just one player. When we get better players, that can play team ball, it will make for a better team.
I'm at the point where I think you simply cannot see or don't want to see the larger long term view of how teams are built in the modern NBA.
Melo makes 40 percent of the cap. While the cap will go up, it's not like the other teams in the league are going to be restricted and only the Knicks will get the bump in money. Also, raising the cap will work in a relative sense, player salaries will go up as well. To win a title, you need rim protection, you need a guy who can defend who play above the rim who isn't a complete stiff on offense. Young guys who can do this take time to develop, big men historically take longer to develop than other NBA skill positions. Older guys who can do this are veterans and the minimum cost for a player who can do this is going to push 10-12 million a year. A contender also needs wings who can defend and are athletic enough and long enough to work the perimeter, slash and shut down passing lanes. Wings get paid. Even ones just on potential. Even guys who aren't Alpha quality wings get paid. There's a reason Tyreke Evans, Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward and Avery Bradley all got paid recently, mostly on potential instead of production. To contend, you really need two effective wings. You also need enough bench depth to give your lead pivot a solid big man rotation. You need a quality third guard and you need some glue guys/solid role players. All cost money.
Melo is a power forward. Call him what you want, but he's not able to defend the average NBA wing and as he ages, it will only get worse defensively. His best position and where he creates the most mismatches and uses his extra weight to his advantage is power forward. The Knicks have big money tied up now in PF and PG going forward, which are the two positions where many elite teams are able to get by and spend less and use more mining and less expensive options to get by.
You simply can't make 40 percent of a teams cap and not play defense and ever hope to win. You can't make that much, plus Calderon's salary which can't be moved easily, and find money for a true pivot and couple of effective wings. Maybe you can draft them. Except the Knicks are barren of draft assets in the next few years. And even if you could draft them, they will take time to develop, by that time, Melo's contract will likely be up.
Here's what Melo can do for you. He can help you win just enough that you never get bad enough to get deep into the draft lottery to get a chance at a game changing prospect, usually the top one or two guys in any draft. You are just good enough to fringe that 8th or 9th spot in the weakened East, but if you get to the playoffs, you won't get anywhere since you will be firebombed by the top seeds. Then you can enjoy the 12-14th pick in the draft, if you even have a draft pick.
How do you get better players on a perpetually bad team? You can overpay them. But that means you are choking out even more of that 60 percent left for the rest of the roster situation when you need a quality pivot and pair of wings. And you face the reality that "better players" might be better than what you have, but there's a reason why free agents were let free by their own franchises. The true game changers were likely locked up or restricted.
No team is one player, that is correct. But when your star player has so many deficiencies that you need expanded roster help to build a team around him, you start to play a game of how much cap space do I really need to build a team? This is why Chicago was willing to give Melo their open cap space but not gut their team in a sign and trade for him. Because his limitations would mean they needed much more of their roster held to actually contend with him.
You also miss the issue that Melo doesn't make his team mates better. He doesn't elevate the play of the guys around him. People like to point to the quality of opponent that the Knicks faced during Linsanity. That certain teams were weakened by injury or having a bad year or this team was on the end of a back to back. But Jeremy Lin simply elevated the play of the guys around him. His impact on the roster compared to Melo was like night and day. On the current roster, Melo, if he was what the Knicks needed, and at his base cost, should be elevating the play of those around him. When you make 40 percent of the cap, it's your duty as the team leader. ( Or did it elude you that the year the Nuggets made a push, it was Billups who lead the locker room and floor?)
Do you know who have no leadership responsibilities, are designated gunners set to run an offense while the other four guys do the rest of the dirty work, and often are built for beating other players in a one on one environment?
Sixth men. Melo would be a quality 6th man on a very elite team. But a 6th man can't make 40 percent of your cap.
Melo is in a situation very close to what Herschel Walker went through in Dallas with the Cowboys. Except Walker was in elite shape, cared, tried to be a leader and gave his all in all instances. If you have no clue why Walker got traded off the Cowboys roster, then you'll have no conception why Melo is a bad roster fit for this current Knicks team.
Melo is so much like Rod Tidwell without the happy ending in Jerry Maguire that it isn't even funny anymore ( i.e. a pro athlete who desperately wants the love of the fans and public but is too arrogant/ignorant/tone deaf to understand why he won't ever get it)
Oh stop it...Pecentage of what a guy makes has nothing to do with winning..There are plenty of teams that won with guys who made over 40% of the cap on their roster...Kobe in 2009,2010, Duncan, Garnett in Biston, MJ in Chicgo, Dirk in Dallas and I can name more and more..It depends on the skilled front office roster building ability..Surrounding Melo with the right talent..If anything, it shows you need at least one high priced player to win...