Would you roll the dice on a Melo experiment?

[DusterBuster]

Blazers have a hole at SF and Melo flirted with the idea of Portland before. Considering he looks to be on his way out of Houston soon, would you dare even consider it at this point? Most all in Houston - players, coaches and media - agree that he shouldn't be the scapegoat for the Rockets rough start to the year, but that its just not a good fit and there seems to be writing on the wall that it's not going to be a good fit.

Most likely, he'll probably end up in LA with that franken-team the Lakers have going. But, even if in some weird world Portland actually wanted him and assuming he would consider Portland, do you take the risk of messing with the teams current chemistry for the potential that maybe he's a good fit? I have a feeling I know everyones answer, but still curious.

[The Sebastian Express]

No.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Put simply no. He has not helped a team win since his early days in Denver. NY got worse after he arrived, OKC got worse and Houston is worse. Throw in his age and likely continued decline in production and I just would not risk it

[Dame Lizard]

No way on earth.

I was interested in him coming 2 years ago (not absolutely sold, but interested), but not anymore.

[Sinobas]

If Layman and Statuskas weren't playing well in their rolls, and the Harkless injury, yeah, I probably would roll dice. But also there's the fact that he chose OKC over us.....**** him.

[Sinobas]

I'd really be interested to know what Damian thinks about this. Damian really recruited him a couple of years ago.

[Soulyss]

Not just no... HELL NO. At this point his loser disease is worse than the Howard Plague.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Didn’t like him early in his career. Not much more, now.
But yes. He’s more old Scottie Pippen than he is overweight Shawn Kemp. I’m not a fan of players as GMs, either, but a small to no risk is a good reminder for veterans that Portland and Stotts are a good option. If it worked, the player PR would be gold. If not, no shocker and Lakers and LeBron have next.

[Wizenheimer]

the first question: who does Portland waive in order to sign Melo? Layman? Trent? Layman would be the the most 'logical' candidate, But, while he hasn't had a big impact he has been playing decently and you know he won't complain about role

the next question: WTH is going on with the knee of Harkless? Is he going to miss the entire season? the next month? At what point does "knee soreness" become a serious situation? If Harkless was healthy and playing there would be no reason for Melo

last question: Melo's efficiency and impact dropped drastically as soon as his usage rate dropped form that of a #1 option to that of a role player. Is that a correlation indicating he needs high usage and lots of shots, basically the ball in his hands, otherwise he's generally useless? Portland would be signing him to be a limited role player. If he can't fit that role, there's no good reason to sign him

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Nope. Melo needs the ball in his hand and doesn't do much work off-ball, especially anymore. We don't need another ISO scorer on this team, please.

[PDXKnight]

I bet he signs with la. 95 percent chance imo..

[HoopsFanAZ]

For the purposes of discussion ... purely theoretical, of course ...

First: Waive Baldwin. With Boston Turner, Curry, and eventually young Simons, Baldwin is a year of insurance waiting for him to develop a 3point set shot (since the jumper looks none too smooth).

Next: Unknowable on Mo-knees, but Layman, Mo and Meyers-Biggie can be improved upon. Collins at 4 and 5. Aminu at 3 and 4. Carmelo at 4. “On paper” looks improved?

Last: 3 point shooting, post ups and getting his own shot. He’s a bit more of a threat than Layman, though Layman does move off the ball and hit some wide open 3’s. Carmelo has to be guarded; he has more gravity.

[d-train]

The problem with Melo would be the problem Rockets are having with Melo. As far as I can see, Melo is playing well and hard. I doubt he is the cancerous problem some say. I see no work ethic or shellfishness problems with his play. He's not the athletic franchise player he once was but he is a good player.

The problem as I see it is, Rockets are losing and the coach wants to make changes he believes will turn things around for his team. Rockets want to take Melo out of their rotation and Melo would rather the team waive him. IOW, Melo doesn't want to be somewhere he isn't an integral part of the team. I don't know if Blazers have a place in their rotation for Melo. Blazers already have more good players than there are minutes to play. Our weaknesses are playmaking and rebounding. I don't see how Melo displaces a player by improving a weakness.

[Norm2953]

Rather than Melo, I'd love to see the team to play the old Nic Batum defensive role. That guy is not
Melo

[Pattycakes]

*insert words that would assuredly get a lifetime ban* no.

[d-train]

Rather than Melo, I'd love to see the team to play the old Nic Batum defensive role. That guy is not
Melo

We have 3 wings in our rotation that are as good or better than Batum on defense.

Blazers are 6th in defense. Last year they were 8th in defense. Hornets are 11th in defense. Last year they were 16th in defense. The best the Blazers did on defense during the "Batum era" was 9th. Usually, we were in the middle of the pack or worse.

[Norm2953]

I’m not talking about the 2018 version of Batum but the guy who could match up against 1-4 defensively. Evan Turner is not that guy.

[DusterBuster]

I bet he signs with la. 95 percent chance imo..

Yeah, this is my guess too. I'll be surprised if he's not with the Lakers after this Houston thing is sorted out.

I think everyone's hesitation to Melo is 200% justified.

But to play devils advocate a bit, I think players opinion of Melo is much different than that of fans. Both ET and Dame came to Melo's defense on Twitter after news broke, as did LeBron and Wade. I think there's a strong sense among fellow players that this is unfair to Melo, which would lead me to believe that if he were to consider Portland, I think the players would lobby for and welcome it.

The other bit for me that has me at least contemplating the idea is simply how bad the Blazers SF position currently is. Who knows what Harkless' situation is, I have no insider information on this obviously, but whatever Mo has feels like a thing that could be a season-long issue for him, just based off similar past injuries to other players.

It's entirely possible (if not likely) that adding Melo would grind the Blazers current offensive flow to a complete stop. But assuming they swap out Baldwin for Melo and can drop him into the starting lineup right away, as Wiz said - on paper - that is an improvement. And I will add that unlike his last two stops, I think the Blazers roster is a more natural fit for him with the talent / play style than what he's had.

[Sinobas]

Everyone knows that Anthony is not the star he once was, but I think he'd help a team as long as he does a good job at shot selection. He can post up and shoot, but he's going to hurt you if he's flinging stuff up trying to get his numbers. (and that's a big if)

Our bench would be:
Turner
Curry
Stauskas
Anthony
Collins

So I think he'd bump Leonard/Biggie out of the rotation. If he does well, they could get him more minutes by cutting back on guys like Aminu/Curry.

I don't know if we could send Trent/Simons to D-league to make room for him?

[Wizenheimer]

I don't know if we could send Trent/Simons to D-league to make room for him?

the NBA roster limit is 15 and Portland is maxed out. Sending players to d-league doesn't remove them from the roster

in order to make room for Melo Portland would have to either waive a player or trade one for a TPE. The two 'logical' candidates are Layman, who plays the same position as Melo; or Baldwin, since Portland already has a surplus of guards

signing Melo would add around 1.55M in salary, which would also add 2.5-3M in luxury tax...so, 4-4.5M more in cost plus losing a player