Ok sure "common sense" says all-star caliber players are bad for teams, got it.
I'll go ahead and answer your questions anyways
Not that I necessarily agree with the notion of having a 'number one option' or whatever but from the teams perspective it'd probably look like this
1a dame
1b cj
2a melo
2b nurk
5-13 everyone else is a role player
Plenty of teams have been able to stop 1 of the two which has led to a ton of losses this year (cause we literally had no one else who could score). Even with both of them going and scoring combined 50+ ppg we still would lose games cause dame and cj are effectively the same player. So its easy to load up on them and trap the ball out of their hands. We saw what adding Nurk gave us. A 3rd guy who can semi-reliably put the ball in the hoop, it totally changed the dynamic of the team all of a sudden dame and cj start getting more open looks, shooting a better efficiency, all cause teams cant help off nurkic. Having a 4th guy who can do that? that would be invaluable. I would argue makes us a 53+ win team and puts us realistically in the hunt for the WC finals.
Just imagine for a second if you trade all of AC + Aminu's shots ~ 15-18 spg to melo. THAT is a dynamic offense with 4 guys who could go for 30 on any given night. The three man weave that we love to run would be crazy with the three of them running off nurk and vonleh picks. Moses and the red sea come to mind when thinking about how open the lane will be for nurk rim runs. It's all about the gravity that melo creates as a player. You can leave hark and aminu and honestly crabbe gets left alone a lot too to try and stop dame and cj but you cannot leave melo alone. No more help defenses collapsing the paint, no more doubling the ball out of dame and cj's hands instead we have a 3rd ball handler who can score on anyone, create shots for himself and others and be a respected veteran presence in the locker room. Thats why I think it's a smart basketball move. you can argue all you want about attitude and character and being selfish but I'm not letting that get in the way of adding an allstar albeit an aging one to our roster. Nurk sure worked out fine, why wouldnt melo?
There are so many holes in your faulty theory, where to begin?
First, Melo is on the downhill side of his career. All of his stats this season are below his career average, and heading down. His peak was 2-3 seasons ago.
To imagine trading all of AC and Aminu’s shots to Melo, he would need to come off of the bench. Your analogy is very faulty since you have him starting and probably the third option.
In reality, if he starts for us, almost all of his 15-18 SPG will be taking shots away from Dame, CJ and Nurkic and Harkless. All four of these starters shoot a better FG % than Melo. Melo taking those shots will equal fewer points. This means we lose more games, not win more. There are only so many shots to go around for the starters.
Starting Melo also means we are weaker defensively than if Harkless starts, which will result in more loses.
Melo was a great individual offensive player, but, he does not make the rest of the team better the way great players do.
I do believe Melo would make a great bench player for us, a spark off of the bench. Even though Crabbe is a far more efficient shooter than Melo, Melo can create his own shot when the bench players bog down. We do not need Melo creating shots as a starter, we have one of the best offensive starting 5 in the game. But he could help our bench. I doubt he would come here to be a bench player. Plus Melo makes too much to be a bench player.
