Andrew wrote:crzymdups wrote:Man, Melo looks shook in the post-game. Hate to see it. He doesn't deserve this treatment from Phil.
I'll ask what has Phil done to melo? He had a no trade clause. If he is being shopped, it's because melo said it was OK.
Melo has specifically said he wants to stay in NY but if Phil wanted to move on, that was a conversation they'd have to have (implying they had not had it yet). Phil went on record in early December that he thought Melo was a ball stopper and bad for team chemistry, then his hatchet man Charley Rosen wrote a column in early January criticizing Melo and saying it was time to move on - the entire league knows this is Phil's mouthpiece. And if you dispute that one, Phil could've easily said or tweeted that he wanted to keep Melo and doesn't agree with Rosen. He hasn't. Then someone leaked trade rumors about Melo, probably on the Knicks side, but who knows.
Melo is clearly upset by this if you watch any of his interviews since early December. He was pissed when they were in LA playing the Lakers and he was waiting to talk to Phil. It has destroyed the team chemistry that was building in early December. They're 7-17 since Phil called out Melo after they had started 14-10. Even their supposed sit down after the Rosen column was, according to Melo "5 to 7 minutes" and he has said he hasn't spoken to Phil or Mills since then.
Phil is very clearly trying to force Melo out. Like I've said, I think it might well be in the team's best interest to trade Melo, but I think Melo deserves far better treatment from Phil. No one around the league thinks Phil has done a good job. He drafted KP, which is huge, and he hasn't moved the other picks in trades, for which I'm grateful. Outside of that, it's been a dubious tenure at best. Last year at this time people were calling me out and saying Phil had brought in Rolo, Grant, and Galloway (some even mentioned Derrick Williams!). All those dudes were gone by July 1.
Like I said, I think moving on from Melo and getting a good draft pick and starting a real rebuild is probably the right move. But Melo deserved better treatment from Phil - Melo has been a good soldier through three different complete tear down rebuilds from Phil. He doesn't deserve this.
1/27/2017 10:35 PM