This is how I construe Carmelo's comments that he'd "take a long hard look" at the extension.
We all know he missed shootaround with the Nuggets on Monday, supposedly to meet with the Nuggets FO. The last time he missed shootaround for "personal reasons" was after the Nets/Prokhorov pulled out of the deal.
If I had to speculate, there are only two possible conversations he could've had with the Nuggets' FO in their meeting:
1) They tried to convince Melo one last time to stay in Denver -- gauge his interest in resigning,
AND/OR
2) They told him that if he wanted to be a Knick, they'd be willing to trade him there, but Carmelo had to play ball -- that is, he had to stop making any sort of comments that reduce Denver's leverage in the situation. If you read the Vecsey article on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade (
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_spo ... NkbdEfPIfP), it's the same thing the Bucks had told KAJ.
So if #2 did happen, no surprise, the very next day at shootaround, Melo tells reporters that he'd take a "long hard look" at the extension.
To me, it's an obvious ploy to gain leverage against NY, and likely requested by Denver's management. I don't think Carmelo's actually wavering, as KnicksGod suggested in the previous thread, but it's a statement (conveniently timed after his meeting with the FO) to get NY to cough up more assets. Regardless of whether Donnie flinches though, I still feel a deal will eventually get done by the deadline with NY.