HofstraBBall wrote:jrodmc wrote:Chandler wrote:jrodmc wrote:Chandler wrote:franco12 wrote:so we shouldn't have traded him and let him walk for nothing. Got it.
No. We should have did what Pat Riley did with Ewing, when Ewing was frustrated with the Knicks. This isn't the first time this has happened
Convince him we have a plan and then execute that plan.
Instead, we said trust us, you'll get paid; then had a horrible plan on offense and defense (Hornacek had better defense); then said stupid things about the status of his rehab
We had a FO that was supremely insecure. And when their star player expressed frustration, they had their moment of glory by shipping his ass out; One year later it already looks among the stupidest trades in the history of sports when DSJ can't get on the courts and the Mavs picks look more and more like late first rounders
Anyone who thinks KP didn't want to be here is wrong; he wanted to be here. He just didn't want this FO!
And for those who think otherwise, they still have to get a grip on the fact that we sold low, when he was injured.
Phil -- for all of his foibles -- would have been selling high
Right, he singlehandedly made Melo into an untradeable piece of **** AFTER giving him an NFT.
Then he got all pissy over a missed meeting and started shopping the Unicorn. Phil was a **** Prez who did two things right when he was here: didn't give away any first rounders (which is like deciding to let your hair grow) and he was here when KP was picked.
Any of that was overshadowed by the rest of the putrid, in over his head, no ****ing clue FO senior moment management he provided when not sleeping.
Please let the Phil balloon go. It's not 1973 anymore. And nobody gives a **** what he did with the Albany Patroons.
I would argue Melo made Melo untradeable. Phil said he held the ball too long and didn't play D. Both the truth and not a state secret
Melo decided NOT to change his ways and became a poisonous cancer in the lockeroom infecting KP among others
Two subsequent teams have validated this, 3 if you include the bulls.
and i agree Phil made many mistakes.
Or 4 if you want to include the Hawks. Just make sure don't ask the Blazers anything.And who the **** was he supposed to pass the ball to? KP in a suit? Noah on PED's? GLeague rejects? Rose while he's in court or AWOL? Phil the genius Prez speaking as the retired, out of the league coach. Great truth.
Who led the team in assists before Phil the genius arrived to make a million a month and lead us to 17 wins and the brilliant coaching that was Derekurt RamFisher?
Where's the poisonous cancer quotes from the locker room? You know more than Lance Thomas did? Bull****. KP loved Melo. Why? Oh that's right, because he was a poisonous cancer. The league is full of players in locker rooms every where that apparently just love poisonous cancer.
I can do this all day. I love hearing revisionist history over and over again.
Wait, we still talking Melo and Phil? Lmao
Always fascinated the hate most fans have for anyone that we take on that was highly paid (Melo). Think it stems from unreasonable expectations. Feel like most that blame Melo for everything including the crime rate in the late 80's were fans that had unrealistic expectations and were upset when reality kicked in. Never understood how self proclaimed intelligent basketball fans would expect ONE player to bring them a chip. Or how they never recognized the the level of talent/garbage that Melo was surrounded with. Not did they place any blame on the people that were being paid to do so. Including Uncle Phil and his decisive and victorious gutting of a 54 win team. Only to expertly construct the makings of a Harlem Globetrotter opponent. With the exception that the Generals ran a more relevant offense. But of course he did his best to do nothing. Which I agree was the best he could have done. But not a big task given the thing he liked to do best was sleep a lot.
As for the Rockets, guess the success once Melo left proved he was the cause, after just 10 games. of their failure. Guess it was so bad that it infected CP3 and he too had to be dealt. Or maybe it was Melo's fault that OKC with the now departed players of Westbrook and PG at the helm, did not win it all. I mean look at how good they are now with much better additions like Gallo and CP3.
Agree that blaming Melo for being a "poisonous cancer to KP" is like blaming a guy for giving his buddy medication to treat all the **** he contracted from being married to a prostitute with seventeen different types of Venereal diseases. 
As said many times before, Melo was an average at best defender, he held the ball a bit too long and did favor taking a shot over setting others up. However, he was the only All Star/HOFamer, that was not a cripple, that actually wanted to come here in the last 20 years. He gave us the best shot at the conference finals in the last 20 years. He was also the best player we have had in a long long time. He proved that if a decent team was put around him (Even if they were mostly in the last years of their careers or over achievers), he can make us quite competitive.
PS. abck to thread topic. I vote to keep Morris and Payton. 
Phil's big mistake was hubris. He thought he could change Melo the way he had changed other players before. He wanted him to expand his talents into more defense and team ball. some might consider it laudable that he hoped for the best with melo; others might consider it foolish. History shows this was one of Phil's first Big mistakes
Melo wanted to be feted. So he put on his free agency road show, only to find no one else wanted to give him max money. Two things here: (1) not what someone would do if they wanted to be in NY and (2) he took the money and not the opportunity to take Chicago over the top. Very telling about Melo. Phil doubles or tripes down on his mistake by giving max and NTC. Even bigger mistakes
There are many old articles and threads on this board recounting the stories/rumors that Melo did what the military would call treason or mutiny by telling teammates to forget the triangle and ignore the coaches. In football you'd get your pay docked for that; the Heat would have docked him. On top of that the Rockets, Bulls and (i forgot) the Hawks all didn't want his veteran presence. Let that sink in for a minute before people start disputing he's a cancer. Supposed HoFer (i hope not -- way too selfish) and the Bulls and Hawks think he has nothing to add. Most reasonable people would find that pretty damning. I could add Stat was more willing to share the spotlight than Melo was.
Only after he's been out of the NBA for however long does he, or more accurately his trainer, say he now embraces the change Phil asked for so long ago. If nothing else this is an admission of guilt. He was stubborn, and he paid for it. Unfortunately, we as Knicks fans suffered too. If he had embraced change way back when who knows what would have happened.
In my mind the enduring images of Melo will be (1) getting stuffed by Roy Hibbert (for god's sake) at the pivotal moment in that series and (2) going one on two-or-three (depending on how you count) to force a shot with KP absolutely wide open under the net for alley oop of dunk. As talented as he was, he was also more selfish and dumb
If you want to soft-peddle his short comings (e.g., "average at best defender" is the understatement of the year) you're entitled to. If you want to soft peddle the deleterious affect he had on this team including poisoning KP's mind against the Knicks you're entitled to that too.
But logically speaking, the fact that Phil made many mistakes, in no way negates the deleterious effect Melo and his ego had on this team
12/19/2019 3:45 PM
