A lot of articles being written about Melo’s desire for a “fair well Tour”. This is not me saying this. Blogs and media are bringing this up.
SAS ranted “champions get tours” and brings up Dirk, Kobe, Dwade as recent examples.
My two cents: Seems to me a player on the road over a long career has history of rivalry and memorable battles. To have a “Tour” you need to be respected by home teams. Reggie MIller was hated but at the end of the day you had to respect what he did in the garden. I don’t know if he got a “tour” but I hope we properly showed appreciation and respect as player. 29 teams, how many of them view Melo as a special nemesis who in those arenas provided chills and spills, the agony of defeat and was a proper villain?
Melo a Basketball HOF player given his point totals in the NBA, his lone but awesome NCAA season in Syracuse and as part of the Olympic teams. Despite this I can’t see why we retire his jersey as a Knick but no doubt should given him “ a Melo Night”. He played here for 7 years, he scored a lot of points, he was fun to watch, and he got along great with fans. If we don’t retire H20’s number (I’m not advocating we do) then we don’t Melo’s. While their numbers were not as prolific s Melo, H20, LJ, Spree, and King all had memorable seasons and memorable series in the playoffs. Their Knick careers for some were just not long enough. The knicks retirement jersey collection to me seems honorable and I like the limited amount we have. Naturally I would hope great success would bring more in the future! But it has to be earned.
Melo is not Dwade or Dirk. He has the numbers but his resume is not as full as theirs. Bottom line is Melo won’t take a lessor role or a minimum contract? Then its his decision. I dont’ see him on the knicks for many reasons but if he still has game then a contender could use him. Thus far nobody has.