fishmike wrote:lol at this witchhunt. This is well written article with the same substance that Berman, Isola and Stephen A put out there. At least this guy is upfront about that. People seemed to gloss over that.When did a rich jock become so important?
People really hate this player for interesting reasons. My favorite part of this latest surge of Melo-drama is I have never seen so many articles written about a player's feelings.
Lets talk about some of the recent groundbreaking stories..
I mean if someone posts a picture of Melo pouting its in the tabloids the next day with "MElo hate's Phil's moves" written under it.
If Melo didn't tweet "this is the best thing that's ever happened to the Knicks" its obvious he's being passive aggressive about the draft.
If Melo is bummed a guy he played with for 2 years is off the team its obvious that he feels lied too by Phil.
If Melo tweets "we got a steal" about the draft pick its obviously damage control over his brand because he did it a day late.
If Melo spoke w/ KP directly to tell him the stuff he's reading is bull****, and welcome to the Knicks it means... Im at a loss here but it sure made KP's big brother happy. Surely there is a good selfserving MElo first reason for doing that right? Chuck? Guns? Help me out here...
Whatever... enjoy the ride. This is not defense of Melo. This is me honestly puzzled by this bizarre phenomenon. Easy to dislike guys.. look at all the ARod venom. Whats interesting is the Melo hate isn't wide spread. He had no problem hobbling his way to an all star start. Players around the league like him. Yes he's not Lebron or that type of alpha leader, but he IS liked. What is interesting is the fans and media who don't like him utterly despise him. Like Rush hates Barak despise. Like Sunnis hate Shiites despise.
When did Melo say this is his team? Fact extrapolated from forcing Dolan to trade and pay him twice right?
Melo is a philanthropist and his charities are ranked among the highest because he pays the operating costs out of his pocket, as opposed to using the donation revenue to fund more fun raising as most charities do. But that article is BOOOOO-RING.
Im labeled as the MElo lover and defender here. I once really couldn't stand him. I was vocal about that and the reasons. He got MDA fired and had no excuses. He followed that with player of the month and a playoff berth. Oh... about that.
Before Melo: 9 seasons, 1 playoff berth and it was that 39 win Lenny Wilkins team that got swept by the Nets.
After Melo its 3 straight playoff berths and the first series win 10+ years (but folks want to credit Jason Kidd who scored 2 baskets in the entire playoffs). And lets not forget it was Melo who forced the Knicks to trade every decent role player for Bargs sending out a pick. Has Melo brought the Knicks to the promise land? Pa-lease. Was the team immediately better with his arrival? After 9 years of losing records it certainly was.
I don't really care if people like this guy or not. At the end of the day he's rich jock and how he feels doesn't matter, so long as he's putting the ball in the basket. What I would ask to the stout supporters of this well written essay is what the phuck did Melo do to deserve such honest to goodness hate? I mean disappointment? Sure. Fine. No prob. I'm not enamored with the "Melo era" much either. I don't want his head on a stake, I don't pretend to know his feelings and I find the vocal group who feed into this stuff like its Kardashian fodder to be pretty delusional. The amount of venom simply doesn't match the crimes, which consist of getting paid and not being Lebron James.
This is not basketball.
That's the thing - he hasn't said **** to Kristaps or his brother. Or anyone else involved in the Knicks organization.
Fish, I hear what you're saying... but Melo also left a sour taste in my mouth when he got D'Antoni fired and helped make sure Lin never came back. And it's well known CAA did force the Bargnani trade on the Knicks because Melo was sick of playing the 4 - and that led directly to Glen Grunwald quitting. And now he's pouting about losing Tim Hardaway and hasn't welcomed a single new player to the team. It's the exact opposite of leadership. We've known since he got here he's not a leader, but this way he's acting is downright detrimental to the team.
How would you feel if you got a new job, a big job, and the top guy in the company didn't even acknowledge it? Just didn't even acknowledge it had happened. That's what happened to Jerian Grant. To Kristaps Porzingis. To Robin Lopez. To his supposed boy Arron Afflalo. To Kyle O'Quinn. To Derrick Williams. None of them have heard a peep from him. It's toxic behavior. I don't care about the brand stuff. I really don't. I'm glad about the charities, but honestly that doesn't move the needle much either. My question - is he a part of this? Is he on board? Or is he #StayMe7o for life? (his hashtag, not mine)
The silence is toxic. Look at every other star in the NBA - they have done something for their team this off-season - unpaid, for the sake of the team. The one exception I can think of is Derrick Rose and his issues as a leader and team player are also well documented. He signed up for this. He chose to be here. He could have left. He took the most money and the best market for his brand. He set back his rehab because he had to play in the all-star game, where he got embarrassed. At a certain point all the little things add up and it becomes a full picture.
If he were on board - heck if he's on board come training camp, I don't really care about his social media posts - I'm on board to root for him. But all this feels like the end of the Marbury era to me. I don't think Melo's gonna cry on a webcam eating vaseline any time soon, but I also don't really see him tweaking his game, playing his ass off and leading a young team to the playoffs any time soon. I see him angling to get to the Clippers or maybe Lakers or Mavs or Rockets or Bulls or Wizards.
Hey, it's not fair. But that's part of why he is paid $25M a year. He's supposed to at least play the part. It's the same thing with Bargnani. If you don't look like you're trying, if you don't look like you care about the team, fans will turn quickly. Is it all theater? Sure. But again, that is why he makes $25M a year. If he doesn't want to play the part, he shouldn't have signed the deal.
7/15/2015 11:06 PM
