Something that I'd personally like to see happen would be a three team trade with the Suns, Clippers and ourselves.

CLIPPERS GET: Carmelo Anthony, Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris

SUNS GET: 4th pick (Emmanuel Mudiay), Jose Calderon, Tim Hardaway Jr., Spencer Hawes and a future pick swap with the Knicks

KNICKS GET: Blake Griffin, Matt Barnes, Eric Bledsoe, the 13th and 44th picks.

Doc Rivers is a horrible GM so I suspect that he'd make Blake Griffin available in a feeble attempt to shake up the roster. This trade would enable that to occur without sacrificing much star power in the process. Melo fills the void that Griffin would leave; doing so at a position that desperately needed a talent upgrade for them. Add that to the fact that the Morris twins offer depth and are the perfect compliment to Melo as dynamic offensive threats that can space the floor and cover his defensive flaws. Yes, the Clippers get older but they are in a win-now mode anyway and instantly become a better team.

The Suns make the trade because of Mudiay and his ability to be a transcendent PG. He'd fit in wonderfully in their high octane offense and young core. It's a stiff price for them to pay but they aren't exactly giving up any all-stars and could benefit tremendously from that pick swap with the Knicks, if history is any indication.

Knicks do the trade because Blake Griffin gives the franchise more time to build a credible winner and is likely the better fit in the triangle. Eric Bledsoe is no slouch either but his long-term contract, inability to shoot the ball consistently, subpar PG skills, and injury history make him a bit of a question mark IMO.

As far as the 13th pick is concerned, I'd take Frank Kaminsky. I'd then look into trading into the 2nd half of the draft, targeting the Celtics and using my impending cap space to take Gerald Wallace, the 28th pick and 33rd picks off their hands. With the 28th, 33rd and 44th picks, I'd look to trade up in the draft to select Jerian Grant. With whatever cap space I'd have left, I'd sign Aaron Afflalo and Kostas Koufus to deals, while rounding out the rest of my roster with minimum salaried deals.

crzymdups wrote:Melo is never moving because James Dolan traded for him.

Phil Jackson is the President. He'll decide.

besides - what trade value does a 31yr old aging forward have coming off of knee surgery?!!?

NardDogNation wrote:

callmened wrote:do you really really really believe that? this is a guy who was saying that Melo should take a pay cut and sacrifice for the team. This is a guy who believes in defense and has seen TRUE elite stars. in my opinion, i dont think phil wanted him here but had to settle for him

besides - what trade value does a 31yr old aging forward have coming off of knee surgery?!!?

I think Phil wanted Melo because his primary objection was/is to win ASAP. As for Melo's trade value, time will tell but people tend to consistently undervalue our players only to see them realize that value elsewhere (see Trevor Ariza, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, etc.). It comes as no surprise that you're doing it with Melo.

I think it's funny that you're blaming the fanbase for undervaluing players and getting too little in return. That's actually the management that controls that part, not the fans.

Right now - we'd be including the pick just to clear the salary.

NardDogNation wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

callmened wrote:do you really really really believe that? this is a guy who was saying that Melo should take a pay cut and sacrifice for the team. This is a guy who believes in defense and has seen TRUE elite stars. in my opinion, i dont think phil wanted him here but had to settle for him

besides - what trade value does a 31yr old aging forward have coming off of knee surgery?!!?

I think Phil wanted Melo because his primary objection was/is to win ASAP. As for Melo's trade value, time will tell but people tend to consistently undervalue our players only to see them realize that value elsewhere (see Trevor Ariza, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, etc.). It comes as no surprise that you're doing it with Melo.

I think it's funny that you're blaming the fanbase for undervaluing players and getting too little in return. That's actually the management that controls that part, not the fans.

I think it's pretty funny that you're accusing me of something that I never insinuated.

Sorry I was refering to this quote - that's how I read what you said. "people tend to consistently undervalue our players only to see them realize that value elsewhere (see Trevor Ariza, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, etc.). It comes as no surprise that you're doing it with Melo."

crzymdups wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

callmened wrote:do you really really really believe that? this is a guy who was saying that Melo should take a pay cut and sacrifice for the team. This is a guy who believes in defense and has seen TRUE elite stars. in my opinion, i dont think phil wanted him here but had to settle for him

besides - what trade value does a 31yr old aging forward have coming off of knee surgery?!!?

I think Phil wanted Melo because his primary objection was/is to win ASAP. As for Melo's trade value, time will tell but people tend to consistently undervalue our players only to see them realize that value elsewhere (see Trevor Ariza, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, etc.). It comes as no surprise that you're doing it with Melo.

I think it's funny that you're blaming the fanbase for undervaluing players and getting too little in return. That's actually the management that controls that part, not the fans.

I think it's pretty funny that you're accusing me of something that I never insinuated.

Sorry I was refering to this quote - that's how I read what you said. "people tend to consistently undervalue our players only to see them realize that value elsewhere (see Trevor Ariza, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, etc.). It comes as no surprise that you're doing it with Melo."

Cool, how do you take that quote and draw that conclusion from it? Where did I insinuate that fans are in the driver's seat when it comes to trades being made?

jbeachboy wrote:you probably have better chance of winning with melo and company than blake and that cast

It's not as much about winning as it is about building a foundation. Simply put, keeping Melo around does not afford us the time to build a real team. As a result, I think we should look to parlay him and our pick for a younger star (e.g. Blake) and assets if possible (e.g. Kaminsky).

Who knows, maybe 2016 rolls around and Anthony Davis demands to leave New Orleans. If that happens and things aren't working out, Blake and his longer term deal should put us at the front of the line for a sign and trade involving Davis. Then on top of that Kevin Durant is also an unrestricted free agent and he might want to leave as well. Now all of a sudden, we're walking into the upcoming season with two players that will be among the 50 Greatest to ever play the game!