Lindecision wrote:Yeh, that's the point. We simply will not move any of our core to do this deal.
If the Knicks don't want 4 (or more) 1st rounders then Melo will sign for a team with cap room and leave for nothing. The Knicks will have next to zero leverage come summer time.
I obviously agree with your first point, but while the Knicks look to have little-to-no leverage in this situation, Carmelo Anthony has shown in the past that he is quite reluctant about leaving money on the table. If the Knicks don't trade him by the deadline this season, he would lose out on tens of millions of dollars his Bird rights would otherwise afford him by re-signing if he were indeed to leave New York on top of the marketing opportunities (and dollars) represented by the Big Apple.
Given that, he'd likely only consider Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Brooklyn as destinations. Almost none of the teams in those locations even have the space to sign him outright, so a trade would have to be figured out.
Melo would obviously have the Clippers at the top of the list since he is close to Chris Paul and friendly with Blake Griffin and we'd represent the best situation for success both on and off the court. However, such a scenario would involve giving up an unsavory package of DJ, Crawford, Dudley, and filler (Green, Mullens, Wayns, etc.). Even though that package does not include CP3, BG, or JJ, it would still be an unappealing circumstance from a balance, depth, and luxury tax standpoint, plus, the Knicks have higher,albeit unrealistic, aspirations for a return package.
Chicago could be a viable option since the Bulls supposedly want to deal Deng rather than commit to his asking price, but the Windy City is not as appealing as either L.A. or N.Y. from a location and marketing perspective even though it is a major media market.
The Heat would have to deal Bosh for Anthony, but I don't see that as being likely although I do consider it plausible. Likewise, the Nets would have to give up Deron Williams in order to get Melo and I don't see that happening.
The real threat are the darkhorse Lakers if they do follow through on the Bynum-for-Gasol deal. Such a deal would save them about $20 million and get them out of repeater-luxury-tax territory this season, so they can make a play for him as an unrestricted free agent this off-season. He'd still leave the significant Bird Rights money on the table by departing from the Knicks, but the Lakers do offer a better competitive situation and possibly an even more appealing marketing situation given his wife's career aspirations. It'd get him closer to his good buddy, Paul...but only as far as across the hall.
Then again, maybe he could leverage the Lakers as a threat to work out a sign-and-trade with the Clippers, but the Knicks could always call his bluff, again, given his known affinity for scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of money-making opportunities. But it would be kind of poetic justice for Melo to use the Lakers in getting his way to the Clips after the infamous story about Kobe's close signing with the Clippers before Jerry Buss caved into his contract and trade (of Shaq) demands.
