newyorknewyork wrote:BlueKnickers wrote:Brunson cooperated with the front office and his deal was structured to give them enough flexibility to continue building the team around him.It is not about how much Brunson left on the table by not locking in X amount of years, etc. regardless of whether it sets him up for a bigger deal sooner.
Brunson is the opposite of Melo who squeezed the franchise for every penny he could. He arrived by forcing a roster depleting trade which backfired on him. The FO then had less assets to build or trade with to continue building the team.
Brunson has been fair with the Knicks by comparison because he is ten times smarter than Melo was about what it takes to build a winning roster.
Yes, the Knicks would need to pay him a giant salary the next go-around, but that is about the nature of today's NBA as a business, not Brunson.
The one thing I would object to a no-trade clause. They are terrible and ruin franchises, because sometimes you need to part ways and reboot.
Not exactly a fair comparison. Brunson's father played for the Knicks during the 99 finals run, and Brunson was around it. Brunson has known Leon Rose basically his whole life. His father also is an active coach on the Knicks. NBA was going into a potential lockout when Melo was to enter FA.
Most importantly, the Knicks are actually run by competent people. None of this was the case leading to Melo getting traded to the Knicks. Narrative is often put on Melo for "forcing" his way to the Knicks through trade. But its more on the Knicks for being an incompetent org putting themselves in that situation. Than relying on Melo to save the Knicks from its incompetence. Walsh drafted Jordan Hill over Derozan, Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague etc once Steph was off the board. Even though D'Antoni needed a G for his system. Nabbing any one of these players would of allowed for an asset to fall back on or reduced assets needed to be moved in the deal. Walsh essentially got back nothing for All Star David Lee, when his value should have netted a lottery pick. So another asset for the Knicks to fall back on lost. When Knicks did trade for Melo. They were in position to clear all cap with Billups expiring contract and the available amnesty from the lockout. Knicks could have potentially cleared cap and built a whole team around Melo after letting Billups expire for better overall and end game results.
I absolutely agree on the Knicks FO incompetence. For years I screamed into the void: GET A PG! but nothing. We tried to turn Toney from a decent SG into a PG and we ruined that player due to the stubborn refusal to prioritize the PG position. Our FO was a nightmare.
That does not change my POV about Melo's character. He was a guy who clearly needed surgery in mid-season, not a major operation, but a needed one and in his never-ending vanity he decided to play through the discomfort just so he could qualify for one more AS game. The man was all about himself regardless of the failures of the organization he was in. Melo had no leadership skills and he was only qualified as a person and a type of player to be the second banana to a better player or at least one with superior leadership skills.
So, yes, a top level PG should have been the goal. Having a quality floor general in their prime would have been the best thing for a team with Melo, someone who would guide him better than he could guide himself. Melo's judgment with the game on the line was some of the worst I've ever seen from a so-called superstar. He needed someone else to be his brain on the floor.
