Bring in Melo

[Roscoe Sheed]

I hope melo's insistence on staying in NYC doesn't give cp3 further reason to leave

[Ranma]

I'm sure his agents are trying to work out the buyout option to make it easier to convince him to leave New York since he'd get to choose his destination. However, the Phil and Dolan factors lead me to believe that is unlikely to happen, but who knows what will happen tomorrow on next week's episode of "As the Big Apple Turns".

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[nickhx2]

i'm not sure i'll ever understand his new york obsession

[Ranma]

i'm not sure i'll ever understand his new york obsession

He was born in Brooklyn and bred on the East Coast. I'm sure he's just comfortable there, especially since he's living his childhood dream of playing at the Mecca that is Madison Square Garden. He's probably got that "if you can make it in New York,
you can make it anywhere" mentality that is prevalent in that part of the country. He's making a lot of money playing where's he's always dreamed of playing and is close to family and friends. I would think that the issue with his son just made it even more of a priority for him.

[Ranma]

At this point, Melo isn't really an option for the Clippers. Even if he were to be dealt away, he's trying to stay on the East Coast to be close to his son. While his wife La La had expressed interest in coming over to Los Angeles in the past, she seems more inclined to stay settled in with the familiar surroundings for their son.

Looks like Melo vs. Phil may be resolved soon the Phil-Melo feud is over. With the way Phil has had been running things, many suspect/joked that he's been trying to get fired on purpose. Collecting his paychecks while trying to rekindle the romance with Jeannie Buss doesn't sound like a bad alternative to running the dysfunctional Knicks. James Dolan has too much money and little common sense.

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[DoItALL9]

"New York offered Carmelo and Sasha Vujacic to the Clippers in exchange for Jamal Crawford, Paul Pierce and Austin Rivers, a deal to which Rivers ultimately said no," Eaves added. "That event led Paul to feel that keeping his son on the roster was more important to Doc than improving the team.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Well this is over now. Melo and LeBron won't be coming to the Clippers. Time to move in another direction and build our team a different way.

[Ranma]

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[Ranma]

Given what the Knicks have agreed to trade Carmelo Anthony for, I think the Clippers' offer of Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford is arguably more appealing than Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a 2018 second-round pick.

Had the Clippers traded for Melo, Chris Paul likely wouldn't have left but we'd probably lose Blake Griffin and Doc may still be occupying the GM role on the hype of the Melo trade, so we're likely better off not pulling the trigger. Melo was not much of a fit anyway, but having CP3 and Melo in L.A. would have put the Clippers in pole position for LeBron James given his preceived desire to move to Los Angeles and stated wish to play with his Brotherhood members.

Obviously, we wouldn't have acquired Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, Sam Dekker, and most likely Milos Teodosic either.

However, the OKC-NYK trade sets up a possibility for the Clippers to have a golden opportunity for next off-season. If things don't work out with the trio of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Melo in Oklahoma City, the Clips could conceivably offer Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in a sign-and-trade deal. A homecoming for Griffin should be the most appealing proposition for Oklahoma City should the Thunder face the prospects of losing Westbrook and/or George for nothing through free agency.

[og15]

Clippers aren't going to offer BG in any trade IMO, nor should they. Also if you're one of those players, I'm assuming you would want to be going to the Clippers to pay with BG, nor to take his spot and have Gallo as your second best offensive player. Nothing wrong with Gallo, but he's a borderline / honourable mention All-Star at his best, and he does not have a good history of staying on the court.

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[Ranma]

We'll see how Griffin does this season, but he hasn't exactly been a draw for free agents of late after Chris Paul's arrival and Paul left town in part due to his discord with Griffin as well as Doc.

The Thunder are now like Doc's Clippers in years past: a stacked starting lineup with a depleted bench. If L.A. natives Westbrook and George can't make things work in OKC, then maybe joining forces in a different environment with stronger support players like Gallinari, Beverley, Harrell, Dekker, Reed, and Junior Rivers might be more appealing.

Getting rid of Doc could also be a selling point, but again, things could change if the 2017-18 season goes exceedingly well for the Clippers.

Even if the Clips only got one of Westbrook or George, that could be used to build upon with Jerry West providing a road map for Frank, Winger, and Redden to execute. Westbrook would be a bigger draw than Griffin in pursuit of LeBron James in free agency. Klay Thompson would undoubtedly be a target in 2019.

If Griffin plays like a stud and becomes a draw, then maybe we can use Gallinari and/or DJ for Westbrook and/or George if it came to that. Personally, I think dealing BG is the more likely scenario and Westbrook is certainly worth more than Griffin right now. George is likewise seen as more valuable than him as well, so I can't get onboard with the notion that the Clippers shouldn't pull the trigger.

Like I said, Griffin, as of right now, is not really much of a selling point compared to what Jerry West can offer in terms of targeted free agents as well as Ballmer's grand vision, especially since there are similar question marks about his ability to stay healthy as Gallo.

[og15]

Teams also make moves based on how it reflects on them as an organization. Loyalty in the NBA is very fickle, but Griffin has committed to this team, he's wanted to build the team up, he said he was going to re-sign with or without Paul. Yes, he's had a lot of injury issues which have made him quite disappointing over the last two seasons, and he certainly didn't help prevent any of the failures in previous seasons, but trading him just like that doesn't look good for a team.

If you want to get Westbrook or George, it is Griffin that will be the selling point to them. Yes, front office matters, but there's a cap, and there are salary rules, and the Clippers won't have space to put anything significant around them more than what is there now. If the selling point for one of those guys is Gallinari and Patrick Beverley, etc, it's just not good enough.

[esqtvd]

Teams also make moves based on how it reflects on them as an organization. Loyalty in the NBA is very fickle, but Griffin has committed to this team, he's wanted to build the team up, he said he was going to re-sign with or without Paul. Yes, he's had a lot of injury issues which have made him quite disappointing over the last two seasons, and he certainly didn't help prevent any of the failures in previous seasons, but trading him just like that doesn't look good for a team.

If you want to get Westbrook or George, it is Griffin that will be the selling point to them. Yes, front office matters, but there's a cap, and there are salary rules, and the Clippers won't have space to put anything significant around them more than what is there now. If the selling point for one of those guys is Gallinari and Patrick Beverley, etc, it's just not good enough.

I agree that a team should be VERY delicate about trading any UFA who freely chose to sign with the team when they could have gone anywhere else instead. [I think Hawes was relieved to get out of town.]

Also agree nobody's going to want to join a gutted team. The Clippers have sunk down the destination list, and without Blake they're totally off it. I'd rather sign with Denver.