Carmelo Anthony: yes or no?

[BlazerWookee]

Not no, not hell no, but hell fucking no.

 

[Sweetriverphil]

Carmelo isn't waving anything. He's not in charge of the ocean, nor is he saying goodbye to thousands of people at once.

 

[Cippy91]

As much as I has hated on melo on the past, he honestly would help out more than Crabbe or Turner can just saying

 

[Sarni]

Firmly yes if that deal includes any of Leonard, Turner or Crabbe, as it'd also help us cut our salaries in 1 or 2 year view, and the deal would have to include at least one of them for salaries to match (unless we trade Harkless, Davis and Aminu).

We are not winning championship anyway so we may as well try to entertain. A team with Lillard, McCollum and Anthony would be ridiculously fun to watch, even if defensively fragile.

 

[mook]

If it means we trade Collins or Swanigan (or both) as part of the deal, I probably have to say no. I'd even be hesitant to include Harkless.

Lillard and CJ are great, but you have to keep three things in mind:

1. Golden State is going to kill everybody pretty much throughout Dame/CJ's peak years. It sucks, but that's where we are.
2. Nurkic is only 22, and although he's been in the league 4 years he really doesn't have much mileage on him. He could still be really, really good at 32. (The Gasols have been relevant forever, as just one example.)
3. As long as CJ, Nurk and Dame are on this team, we just won't get a lot more chances at lottery-level young talent. And we never do well with free agency. The cupboard could get really bare in a few years if we liquidate key young pieces now.

I'm not anywhere near living in the post-Dame/CJ era yet, but I also don't want to give up on young, valuable assets who fit a longer window just to make the current window a little more fun.

It's a little like that 2000-2001 window we had where we had one of the best teams in the league, and then paid for it with a 6-7 year span of hopelessness. Except that 2000 team had championship aspirations, so you can kind of look back and say, "Eh, it was kind of worth it."

A Carmelo team is, best-case scenario, winning 1 or 2 games in the WCF. (Worst case scenario the chemistry and defense isn't there and we don't make it out of the first round.) I'm willing to trade young assets who may be pretty damned good (like we did with Jermaine O'Neal) if we legit think it'll bring the final piece to a contender. But Carmelo isn't that piece.

 

[stampedehero]

Actually he would fit well with he LAKERS. We could watch them lose like the Knicks did.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

YES!

I desperately want to start a thread over at ClutchFans with this:

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Is basketball a team sport orrrrr

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Carmelo has an ETO after this year...

What's the difference between and ETO and a player option?

 

[Wizard Mentor]

He only shot 43.3% from the field though. That's not great. He also only shot 36% from three.

His PER was 17.9..... that's not superstar level. His TS% was 53.5.

What's the PER of the guys we'd be sending out?

 

[Harry's Raincoat]

He's 32 yrs old. He can't help THIS team will a Championship in 1 year. That's all he'd be staying in PDX.

As much as I'm tempted by the potential of him playing like he did previously for Olympic teams, he had MANY MANY MANY more games playing like he did for DEN and NYK. No thanks!

The only (and I mean ONLY) consideration I'd listen to is a trade where we send out Leonard and Crabbe. That's it. Reason: Cure our overspending in one shot.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Look, we got Mo for a Top-55-protected 2nd rounder. 2 years later, he's a centerpiece for a back-of-his career HoFer? That we may actually be able to shed long-term salary for?

Additionally, few people thought we could beat Dunk City Clippers. A couple of knees banging and hand slaps later, we have the 2 best players in the series and win.

But I'm gonna do the double Dennis Green/Herm Edwards on 'em...

 

[blue9]

Not really into it. Giving up Harkless for him would be a dumb move. Harkless fits well with Dame/CJ/Nurk, is young, is locked up for a few more years, and is on a reasonable contract. Giving him up for a one year rental of Melo would be stupid.

 

[julius]

don't be afraid to try something new.

 

[tester551]

Not really into it. Giving up Harkless for him would be a dumb move. Harkless fits well with Dame/CJ/Nurk, is young, is locked up for a few more years, and is on a reasonable contract. Giving him up for a one year rental of Melo would be stupid.

Hark is good, but not a game changer. Melo is average at this point, but he brings the 'name' value.

I think the best move would be to flip Hark & Noah into Love.

 

[riverman]

I'd want to sign him without the no trade clause........then we could swap him for Kevin Love or even Eric Gordon at the deadline.

 

[blue9]

Hark is good, but not a game changer. Melo is average at this point, but he brings the 'name' value.

I think the best move would be to flip Hark & Noah into Love.

I agree to a point, in that:

Love > Melo > Anderson

But honestly I'm not interested in any of the 3. Hold onto our assets (Harkless) until a truly good player is available (Davis?). Love and Melo certainly have bigger names than Harkless, but I'm not convinced either will make us a better team. Melo will want his shots, which will take away from Dame/CJ/Nurk, while Harkless fills in the spaces between our first 3 options, and shoots 50% doing it. He's also a better defender (not great, but better) than Melo. Love would provide better shooting, passing, and rebounding - but he'd weaken both our SF and PF defense and our SF offense...and is paid twice as much as Harkless. Is Love worth improving our PF offense at the expense of damaging our SF offense AND SF and PF defense? I don't see how the math makes sense.

 

[TBpup]

CJ says 'Yes'.

 

[RipCityWarrior]

I think it could be worth the risk to have him come over, if it's a complete fail he opts out at the end of the year and the blazers are free of one or two underperforming contracts.

 

[illmatic99]

CJ says 'Yes'.

What tampering rules? He isn't just liking or referencing a pic. He actually put it up on his own page himself. lol

 

[Minstrel]

What tampering rules? He isn't just liking or referencing a pic. He actually put it up on his own page himself. lol

Yeah, players are given a ton of leeway.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Not really into it. Giving up Harkless for him would be a dumb move. Harkless fits well with Dame/CJ/Nurk, is young, is locked up for a few more years, and is on a reasonable contract. Giving him up for a one year rental of Melo would be stupid.

Why even try to build a competitive team that could potentially win a championship then. If that's going to be our kind of thinking then why put this much effort into it? If this is going to be the way we think I really hope Dame, CJ and Nerk learn they have to go elsewhere to win a championship.

 

[BrunoSOC]

YES!!!

 

[blue9]

Why even try to build a competitive team that could potentially win a championship then. If that's going to be our kind of thinking then why put this much effort into it? If this is going to be the way we think I really hope Dame, CJ and Nerk learn they have to go elsewhere to win a championship.

So you think giving away good assets for old players on the last year of their deal is how you build a competitive team? You think that Melo is the missing link that turns us into a contender? If you honestly feel that way then I understand wanting to trade for him - if I felt that way I would certainly make the trade. But I DON'T feel that way - I don't think trading for Melo moves us even one step closer to being that team. So from my perspective, you're throwing away assets for nothing.

I know you never actually answer questions, but I really am curious if you believe Melo makes us a contender.

 

[Phatguysrule]

If we're keeping Lillard, CJ, and Nurkic we'll have to send out a couple bad contracts.

In that case, it's worth a shot.

 

[blue9]

If we're keeping Lillard, CJ, and Nurkic we'll have to send out a couple bad contracts.

In that case, it's worth a shot.

We've got 2.5 bad contracts. Sounds like NYK won't take Meyers, which leaves Crabbe/Turner. If we could get Melo for one of them plus Aminu and Davis I'd certainly give Melo a shot. Anymore than that and it's a misuse of assets IMO.

 

[BigGameDamian]

So you think giving away good assets for old players on the last year of their deal is how you build a competitive team? You think that Melo is the missing link that turns us into a contender? If you honestly feel that way then I understand wanting to trade for him - if I felt that way I would certainly make the trade. But I DON'T feel that way - I don't think trading for Melo moves us even one step closer to being that team. So from my perspective, you're throwing away assets for nothing.

I know you never actually answer questions, but I really am curious if you believe Melo makes us a contender.

With that type of thinking I doubt we ever go for the missing link for a player. We're always going to be afraid of them leaving. Is Harkless ever going to be an all star or even a star in this league? If your answer is probably not (like mine) we'll get over it. In other words it's a good gamble.

 

[blue9]

With that type of thinking I doubt we ever go for the missing link for a player. We're always going to be afraid of them leaving. Is Harkless ever going to be an all star or even a star in this league? If your answer is probably not (like mine) we'll get over it. In other words it's a good gamble.

Is Melo ever going to be an all star again? Not likely. Are we likely to sign a player better than Harkless? Also not likely. Are we likely to sign a player for Harkless' salary or less? Only because we will have to scrape the bottom of the FA barrel with our MLE, given that we'll be over the cap for the foreseeable future. Unless Melo makes us a contender (he doesn't) it's a shit gamble. You're basically putting down a dollar to win your dollar back with the odds stacked against you.

The good gamble was Paul George because he's a good player and having success with our team might have gotten him to re-sign with us. Melo is NOT a good player, and getting one or two rounds deep into the Playoffs isn't gong to make him want to re-sign with us.

With that said, I'd gladly trade Crabbe/Aminu or Turner/Aminu for Melo.

 

[tester551]

Is Melo ever going to be an all star again? Not likely. Are we likely to sign a player better than Harkless? Also not likely. Are we likely to sign a player for Harkless' salary or less? Only because we will have to scrape the bottom of the FA barrel with our MLE, given that we'll be over the cap for the foreseeable future. Unless Melo makes us a contender (he doesn't) it's a shit gamble. You're basically putting down a dollar to win your dollar back with the odds stacked against you.

The good gamble was Paul George because he's a good player and having success with our team might have gotten him to re-sign with us. Melo is NOT a good player, and getting one or two rounds deep into the Playoffs isn't gong to make him want to re-sign with us.

With that said, I'd gladly trade Crabbe/Aminu or Turner/Aminu for Melo.

Don't disagree with you, but I think the smart move is to move Melo to Cleveland and get Love to Portland. It's all up to the Cavs if they are willing to make that swap.

 

[dviss1]

Don't disagree with you, but I think the smart move is to move Melo to Cleveland and get Love to Portland. It's all up to the Cavs if they are willing to make that swap.

I'd much rather have this.