[Camelo Thread Part 12] - Melo's list grows? pg. 50

[Context]

Again, Melo is not stupid. If the Knicks can get Melo for Chandler, AR, Walker and Curry and one 1st (you can make it TWO if it's a deal breaker but you start at ONE) Then fine- However, if you have to give up either Gallo, Fields, or Mozz- you wait till free agency- period...

[BLACKFEET 2010]

I posted this in the Wark thread but it's as applicable here as anywhere.

That Warkentien's name has surfaced with Anthony in Newark tonight is interesting. Warkentien recently left his agent, Steve Kaufmann, to join William Wesley and the ever-powerful CAA. Wesley is the longtime associate of Leon Rose, Anthony's agent. Wesley has emerged as a key player in Anthony's future destination.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/e ... 1Cauo8IUNy

[Justdatdude]

People make a big deal out of everything. We hired a guy who use to work with the Nuggets, that's great. Why the celebration? Carmelo isn't coming here because we have a guy that was a part of the same organization as him. Our players didn't suddenly become more attractive to the Nuggets because we hired a guy that know their way of thinking. If Carmelo come here, its because he wants to come here. All of you putting all this stock into what his agents are doing or us hiring a guy that use to work for him isn't necessary. If he want to come here, he'll come here. His agents are doing their jobs as far as pushing Carmelo to multiple teams that way he can have multiple options. That is their job. Why people bash his agency on the consistent basis is ridiculous.

Carmelo is a grown man. He hasn't been a PR guy throughout this whole thing. In his interviews, he says what's on his mind, barely holding back punches. A hiring here and want agent is pushing there, isn't going to make Carmelo go one place or the other. He's a grown man with millions of dollars. He's not going somewhere just to get a few more millions or just because he's friends with this or that person.

[Knickplaya]

That is all true, but some people feel Melo's mind changes, so that is why a lot of people take so much stake into what he says, and there are the others who just think everything he says is handled very polictically.

[Jay10]

wow@ WWW being Warkentien's agent

CAA is definitely gaining a lot of power around the league

[Hoops4Life06]

Warkenstein is a Donnie protege'

Donnie has always wanted to bring him onboard. Not surprising, what is surprising is that Dolan signed off on it. Donnie is clearly running things, but it's also clear that Dolan is 100% with it.

It's a slick move by the Knicks front office. They damn sure are stepping their game up!

[cgmw]

People make a big deal out of everything. We hired a guy who use to work with the Nuggets, that's great. Why the celebration? Carmelo isn't coming here because we have a guy that was a part of the same organization as him. Our players didn't suddenly become more attractive to the Nuggets because we hired a guy that know their way of thinking. If Carmelo come here, its because he wants to come here. All of you putting all this stock into what his agents are doing or us hiring a guy that use to work for him isn't necessary. If he want to come here, he'll come here. His agents are doing their jobs as far as pushing Carmelo to multiple teams that way he can have multiple options. That is their job. Why people bash his agency on the consistent basis is ridiculous.

Carmelo is a grown man. He hasn't been a PR guy throughout this whole thing. In his interviews, he says what's on his mind, barely holding back punches. A hiring here and want agent is pushing there, isn't going to make Carmelo go one place or the other. He's a grown man with millions of dollars. He's not going somewhere just to get a few more millions or just because he's friends with this or that person.

Celebrating? Big deal?

All this does is confirm that Donnie is serious about positioning himself as best as possible for a run at Carmelo. What amazes me is how people keep forgetting that Denver holds all the cards here. This move creates a little leverage for New York, which is (as far as these things go) pretty exciting.

To imply that coming to NY is all Carmelo's decision is just flat-out wrong. Until the day they trade him, the Denver Nuggets hold all the cards here. Grown-ass man or not, all Carmelo can do is sit and wait. By being aggressive, Walsh is attempting to gain a bargaining advantage that could open up the window for a trade.

By all accounts, if all Carmelo had to do to become a Knick was be a grown man with a million dollars, then he'd already be here. This Warkentein move is public confirmation that Donnie is doing what he can to speed along the process.

[alphad0gz]

What amazes me is how people keep forgetting that Denver holds all the cards here.

What amazes me is that you really think that. Melo holds ALL the cards. Denver's apparent power is in the assumption that Anthony will only play where he can get the maximum money and there have been plenty of quotes directly from him that says that may not be the case. Next, Denver is counting on the CBA fear of huge max contract cuts. This is just not going to happen overnight. The Union will never go for that. The stars make the rules, not the role players. Denver has no real say in where Anthony will decide to play and that is why Anthony has all the cards. Only he can say yes or no.

[cgmw]

What amazes me is how people keep forgetting that Denver holds all the cards here.

What amazes me is that you really think that. Melo holds ALL the cards. Denver's apparent power is in the assumption that Anthony will only play where he can get the maximum money and there have been plenty of quotes directly from him that says that may not be the case. Next, Denver is counting on the CBA fear of huge max contract cuts. This is just not going to happen overnight. The Union will never go for that. The stars make the rules, not the role players. Denver has no real say in where Anthony will decide to play and that is why Anthony has all the cards. Only he can say yes or no.

Respectfully disagree.

Does Denver hold "all" the cards? Of course not. But from a straight-up negotiation point of view, Denver is in the driver's seat. Why?

Because all they have to do is refuse to deal. That's it. All they have to do is sit on their asses and let the deadline expire. That's their trump card and right now it looks like the most likely scenario. Once they play it, Carmelo's wish for maximum MAX dollars swings in their favor. New York will be forced to ditch quality assets in the mere hope that Carmelo signs.

Regardless of what Carmelo wants, Denver is in a position of strength vis-a-vis the Knicks or any other team looking to deal.

To say the Wark hiring isn't a big deal because "Carmelo's a grown-ass man" is just ridiculous. We actually have to negotiate some deals for him to get his wish. And by refusing to deal him, Denver would force us into making risky roster decisions just to clear cap. Donnie doesn't want that.

Denver has something Donnie wants. Not the other way around.

[j4remi]

What amazes me is how people keep forgetting that Denver holds all the cards here.

What amazes me is that you really think that. Melo holds ALL the cards. Denver's apparent power is in the assumption that Anthony will only play where he can get the maximum money and there have been plenty of quotes directly from him that says that may not be the case. Next, Denver is counting on the CBA fear of huge max contract cuts. This is just not going to happen overnight. The Union will never go for that. The stars make the rules, not the role players. Denver has no real say in where Anthony will decide to play and that is why Anthony has all the cards. Only he can say yes or no.

Respectfully disagree.

Does Denver hold "all" the cards? Of course not. But from a straight-up negotiation point of view, Denver is in the driver's seat. Why?

Because all they have to do is refuse to deal. That's it. All they have to do is sit on their asses and let the deadline expire. That's their trump card and right now it looks like the most likely scenario. Once they play it, Carmelo's wish for maximum MAX dollars swings in their favor. New York will be forced to ditch quality assets in the mere hope that Carmelo signs.

Regardless of what Carmelo wants, Denver is in a position of strength vis-a-vis the Knicks or any other team looking to deal.

To say the Wark hiring isn't a big deal because "Carmelo's a grown-ass man" is just ridiculous. We actually have to negotiate some deals for him to get his wish. And by refusing to deal him, Denver would force us into making risky roster decisions just to clear cap. Donnie doesn't want that.

Denver has something Donnie wants. Not the other way around.

They force us to make some risky moves to open up cap space but really the only integral piece we'd need to move is Chandler (and it wouldn't be guaranteed that we lose him we'd just rescind the qualifying offer). Meanwhile, just by refusing to move him Denver will be taking a much bigger risk. They're risking losing a superstar for nothing when MANY people believed all along that he would leave them...so they'd look like absolute fools. There's no Prokhorov happy ending for these dudes, they look like idiots if Melo leaves for nothing. That's MASSIVE risk. Not only that, but until this situation is figured out, the Nuggets can't do anything to help other guys who are looking at extensions (the elephant in the room being Nene).

Simply put, Denver is taking much bigger risks. They hold some cards, sure...but their hand is weak and predicated on Melo blinking first...yet he's gone this long without budging, so what does that do but inspire confidence in us?

[moocow007]

What amazes me is how people keep forgetting that Denver holds all the cards here.

What amazes me is that you really think that. Melo holds ALL the cards. Denver's apparent power is in the assumption that Anthony will only play where he can get the maximum money and there have been plenty of quotes directly from him that says that may not be the case. Next, Denver is counting on the CBA fear of huge max contract cuts. This is just not going to happen overnight. The Union will never go for that. The stars make the rules, not the role players. Denver has no real say in where Anthony will decide to play and that is why Anthony has all the cards. Only he can say yes or no.

Respectfully disagree.

Does Denver hold "all" the cards? Of course not. But from a straight-up negotiation point of view, Denver is in the driver's seat. Why?

Because all they have to do is refuse to deal. That's it. All they have to do is sit on their asses and let the deadline expire. That's their trump card and right now it looks like the most likely scenario. Once they play it, Carmelo's wish for maximum MAX dollars swings in their favor. New York will be forced to ditch quality assets in the mere hope that Carmelo signs.

Regardless of what Carmelo wants, Denver is in a position of strength vis-a-vis the Knicks or any other team looking to deal.

To say the Wark hiring isn't a big deal because "Carmelo's a grown-ass man" is just ridiculous. We actually have to negotiate some deals for him to get his wish. And by refusing to deal him, Denver would force us into making risky roster decisions just to clear cap. Donnie doesn't want that.

Denver has something Donnie wants. Not the other way around.

Denver doesn't hold all the cards. They hold some cards. Melo holds some cards. The Knicks also hold some cards. That's why this thing is dragging out. IF Denver held all the cards they'd have either got him to extend (their no.1 option) or they'd have dealt him to NJ (their no.2 option). They most definitely do not hold all the cards.

Sure Denver can hold onto him but they risk him leaving for nothing...something that, if it were to happen, would set that franchise back big time. Not to the degree of what's happened in Cleveland or Toronto but absolutely it'll be a dagger in the abdomen instead of the heart. People who hold all the cards wouldn't be staring down the barrel of a shotgun.

Position of strength compared to the Knicks doesn't equal "hold all the cards". Your use of that phrase may be the problem here.

As far as Warkentien? No one has any idea what the various reasons behind the hiring is. Sure it could be because Warkentien is a Walsh protege. It could be that he's viewed as a possible GM in the wings. Could be that it's because he's just a good judge of talent. Could be that it's because he's represented by CAA. OR (amazingly) it could be all of these factors?

[seren]

I just hope this is not another compromise move to please CAA.

[moocow007]

I just hope this is not another compromise move to please CAA.

I doubt it (as far as only that goes).

Walsh was reported to be interested in bringing Warkentien for some time but had been rebuffed by Dolan. Warkentien is a Walsh guy. The fact that he's represented by CAA probably factors into the "sooner rather than later" equation and I wouldn't be surprised if Walsh used it as an argument to convince Dolan. Bottom line...it really can't hurt them. Warkentien was a former exec of the year and he's apparently viewed as a great details guy able to work behind the scenes to make deals happen.

Even from a "future GM candidate" goes Warkentien may be a better option than either Houston or Mullin tbh.

[kosmovitelli]

Denver doesn't hold all the cards. They hold some cards. Melo holds some cards. The Knicks also hold some cards. That's why this thing is dragging out. IF Denver held all the cards they'd have either got him to extend (their no.1 option) or they'd have dealt him to NJ (their no.2 option). They most definitely do not hold all the cards.

Right now, they hold almost all the cards in the sense that Melo is their player. He's under contract with the Nuggets.
The Nuggets owner and his GM can :
1) Sign a contract extension (with Melo's approval)
2) Sign a trade agreement and send Melo elsewhere (with or without his approval)
3) Keep Melo until the end of the season (with or without his approval)

If an extension is the aces, a trade the kings and doing nothing the queens then I'd say Melo and the Nuggets both have two aces but the Nuggets have all the kings and queens cards.
They can do 2 and 3 without Melo's consent while Melo needs the Nuggets approval for everything.
Holding all the cards doesn't mean they can do what they want. It means they control the game until the trade deadline and nothing can happen without their consent. It's their player. If they don't want to trade him (even if the other team offers a pretty good package) then nothing will happen. That's probably what Donnie Walsh meant when he said Denver holds all the cards the other day. As the Nuggets are in control, the Knicks (and Melo to some extent) need to push them to make a mistake. Walsh played his cards very well but Melo showed his hand when he said signing an extension before the next CBA was important for him. Melo's not a good poker player. I think Denver also played very well because we're really left in the dark and we don't know what they want (from us). I don't think any of us could say wether they like Gallinari, Fields, Chandler or Randolph better. We don't know if they're truly ready to call Melo's bluff or not. That's where Warkentien will have a huge impact in the game. He knows Stan Kroenke and his son, he knows the kind of NBA players they like, he knows how they negotiate, when they're bluffing, if they're risk takers or not, etc.

The Nuggets control the situation and that's why the Knicks and Melo need to play well and make them panic. We need the Nuggets to believe Melo will only sign an extension with the Knicks and moreover he's ready to play out the season and enter free agency next july. So far, Melo seemed to be too focused on getting an extension done and it made the Nuggets feel comfortable. Hiring Warkentien could of course alienate the Nuggets owner and push him to refuse to negotiate with the Knicks but I think it's a move that will make the Nuggets uncomfortable. They thought they were in control and now we can read their game.

As Warkentien is from Indiana and a long time friend of Donnie Walsh, I don't think Walsh hired him only to acquire Melo but he will definitely help and the timing of the decision will make the Nuggets think harder if they thought they could obtain everything they want from us. Walsh could have easily waited one more month before hiring Warkentien but he decided to do it now. Bold and gutsy move. As Warkentien is aslo represented by CAA, he's also a convenient channel to send messages to Melo's camp via CAA without fearing to be warned/punished for tampering. Basically with Warkentien we have direct access to Melo's agent and knowledge of the Nuggets ownership negotiation habits.

[Johnny Hoops]

I've lived in Denver the past 12 years and follow Nuggets pretty closely.

Last summer when Warkentine and Chapman were fired by Kroenke the local papers made a very big deal of it because they said Melo and Warkentine were very tight.

Not sure what that means but it would seem to play in our favor.

I do think there is something to the timing of this.

This news could have come out at any time but fact we release it (let it get out) the night Melo is coming to NJ does seem a tad odd.

As a player would you prefer to come to a team where you don't know know anybody personally on the management side or would you prefer coming to a place where a former boss and apparent friend is boss.

[K_ick_God]

KEN BERGER

But it is difficult to predict how Kroenke, who is still ultimately calling the shots behind the curtain while his son and Ujiri handle the day-to-day business, will respond to the Knicks' hiring of Warkentien. It is possible, according to one source who understands Denver's still complicated organization dynamics, that Kroenke would stubbornly recoil from any talks with the Knicks and refuse to give Anthony his wish -- or give Warkentien the satisfaction. Also possible, the source noted, is that Kroenke would redouble efforts to once again engage the Nets in trade talks as a far more palatable option than dealing with Warkentien. Another person with direct knowledge of the Nuggets' trade discussions has told CBSSports.com on multiple occasions recently that the Anthony talks have not evolved since the Nets dropped out last week. One reason may have been the Knicks' impending hiring of Warkentien, which sources say leaked to some members of Denver's basketball operations.

One way or another, it would appear that Warkentien will play a prominent role in the Knicks' pursuit of Anthony -- via a trade or as a free agent. Warkentien is believed to be on board with the notion that Anthony wouldn't lose nearly as much money as some pundits think if he were to play out the season and become a free agent under a new collective bargaining agreement. Estimates showing that Anthony would lose $40 million in such a scenario are nothing short of irresponsible.

Imagine the irony, though, if Warkentien ultimately winds up signing Anthony to a contract with the Knicks -- a contract he thought he'd be finalizing with the Nuggets last August. The plot, as they say, thickens.

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/m ... 3/27318220

[kosmovitelli]

About Warkentien's negotiating skills, here's a snippet of an old and long article from SI two years ago :

5 negotiating lessons from the Executive of the Year

5. Keep trying to improve. "We're always on the players to take the time to get better," the 56-year-old Warkentien said, and so he applied the same dictate to himself. Early last month, he enrolled in a prestigious five-day workshop at the Harvard Negotiation Institute on the law campus at Cambridge, Mass.

"I wanted to look at the other guys' playbook,'' Warkentien said. "Often in my chair you have to joust with attorneys and agents that have negotiation training, and they're professionally educated. I don't think a whole lot of us sitting in NBA front offices have that kind of training in negotiations. You have experience but you don't have training."

4. Prepare. Before a GM sits down at the negotiating table, he needs to understand what the player's agent is going to say. That understanding is crucial to negotiation.

"I got this from [Bob] Whitsitt," Warkentien said of his former boss when Whitsitt was GM of the SuperSonics and later president of the Trail Blazers. `"What are they thinking at the other guy's breakfast table? You sit there and spend all day thinking about why you're right, why your position is just."

The experts at Harvard crystallized that point of view. Instead of fine-tuning your own argument, predict the reasoning of your opponent. "And then find all of the commonalities," Warkentien said. Because if you can find points of agreement, then you have a chance of pulling the opponent to your side of the table.

3. Get out of the office. Put away the Blackberry and the cell phone and get on an airplane. "Whenever you can, you need to close the personal distance," Warkentien said. "Sending an e-mail is probably better than a fax. A phone call is better than an e-mail. And face-to-face beats a phone call.

2. Learn from your own lessons. Warkentien remains proud of his UNLV association, regardless of the NCAA investigations and penalties that eventually chased Tarkanian out of the program. "People can make light of this, but you had to be creative there," he said. "If your kids have 1,200 scores in the SAT, you're probably not sending them off to Las Vegas. So you couldn't do [basketball] conventionally there -- you had to do it with transfers and JC guys who were overlooked and undervalued. In 11 years (1980-91) I think we had four or maybe only three McDonalds All-Americans, and one of them -- Anthony Jones -- was a transfer from Georgetown.''

And yet in those 11 years they won 84 percent of their games as well as the 1990 national championship.

1. Turn adversaries into partners. For starters, don't speak like you're the boss.

"If two guys are talking, and then the one guy stands up on the chair and looks down on the other guy, guess what? The other guy doesn't like it," Warkentien said. "They talked about the chair a lot. Often we (GMs) speak with such authority that it's like we're standing up on a chair. You need to get down off the chair. You could be up there telling the player, 'I'm going to give you an extra $1 million,' and he won't care. He won't hear what you're saying because all he notices is that you're up on the chair looking down on him."

And whatever you do, don't say 'but.'

"They taught us you should try to eliminate the word 'but' from your argument,' he said. "When you say, 'I hear what you're telling me, but ...' what you're really saying is, 'Go to hell.' That word -- 'but' -- comes across as if everything the other guy has just said doesn't matter."

[Knicks_Fan2]

KEN BERGER

But it is difficult to predict how Kroenke, who is still ultimately calling the shots behind the curtain while his son and Ujiri handle the day-to-day business, will respond to the Knicks' hiring of Warkentien. It is possible, according to one source who understands Denver's still complicated organization dynamics, that Kroenke would stubbornly recoil from any talks with the Knicks and refuse to give Anthony his wish -- or give Warkentien the satisfaction. Also possible, the source noted, is that Kroenke would redouble efforts to once again engage the Nets in trade talks as a far more palatable option than dealing with Warkentien. Another person with direct knowledge of the Nuggets' trade discussions has told CBSSports.com on multiple occasions recently that the Anthony talks have not evolved since the Nets dropped out last week. One reason may have been the Knicks' impending hiring of Warkentien, which sources say leaked to some members of Denver's basketball operations.

One way or another, it would appear that Warkentien will play a prominent role in the Knicks' pursuit of Anthony -- via a trade or as a free agent. Warkentien is believed to be on board with the notion that Anthony wouldn't lose nearly as much money as some pundits think if he were to play out the season and become a free agent under a new collective bargaining agreement. Estimates showing that Anthony would lose $40 million in such a scenario are nothing short of irresponsible.

Imagine the irony, though, if Warkentien ultimately winds up signing Anthony to a contract with the Knicks -- a contract he thought he'd be finalizing with the Nuggets last August. The plot, as they say, thickens.

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/m ... 3/27318220

Love Berger basically out Chad Fraud and the other ESPN lazy writers.

[cgmw]

About Warkentien's negotiating skills, here's a snippet of an old and long article from SI two years ago :

5 negotiating lessons from the Executive of the Year

5. Keep trying to improve. "We're always on the players to take the time to get better," the 56-year-old Warkentien said, and so he applied the same dictate to himself. Early last month, he enrolled in a prestigious five-day workshop at the Harvard Negotiation Institute on the law campus at Cambridge, Mass.

"I wanted to look at the other guys' playbook,'' Warkentien said. "Often in my chair you have to joust with attorneys and agents that have negotiation training, and they're professionally educated. I don't think a whole lot of us sitting in NBA front offices have that kind of training in negotiations. You have experience but you don't have training."

4. Prepare. Before a GM sits down at the negotiating table, he needs to understand what the player's agent is going to say. That understanding is crucial to negotiation.

"I got this from [Bob] Whitsitt," Warkentien said of his former boss when Whitsitt was GM of the SuperSonics and later president of the Trail Blazers. `"What are they thinking at the other guy's breakfast table? You sit there and spend all day thinking about why you're right, why your position is just."

The experts at Harvard crystallized that point of view. Instead of fine-tuning your own argument, predict the reasoning of your opponent. "And then find all of the commonalities," Warkentien said. Because if you can find points of agreement, then you have a chance of pulling the opponent to your side of the table.

3. Get out of the office. Put away the Blackberry and the cell phone and get on an airplane. "Whenever you can, you need to close the personal distance," Warkentien said. "Sending an e-mail is probably better than a fax. A phone call is better than an e-mail. And face-to-face beats a phone call.

2. Learn from your own lessons. Warkentien remains proud of his UNLV association, regardless of the NCAA investigations and penalties that eventually chased Tarkanian out of the program. "People can make light of this, but you had to be creative there," he said. "If your kids have 1,200 scores in the SAT, you're probably not sending them off to Las Vegas. So you couldn't do [basketball] conventionally there -- you had to do it with transfers and JC guys who were overlooked and undervalued. In 11 years (1980-91) I think we had four or maybe only three McDonalds All-Americans, and one of them -- Anthony Jones -- was a transfer from Georgetown.''

And yet in those 11 years they won 84 percent of their games as well as the 1990 national championship.

1. Turn adversaries into partners. For starters, don't speak like you're the boss.

"If two guys are talking, and then the one guy stands up on the chair and looks down on the other guy, guess what? The other guy doesn't like it," Warkentien said. "They talked about the chair a lot. Often we (GMs) speak with such authority that it's like we're standing up on a chair. You need to get down off the chair. You could be up there telling the player, 'I'm going to give you an extra $1 million,' and he won't care. He won't hear what you're saying because all he notices is that you're up on the chair looking down on him."

And whatever you do, don't say 'but.'

"They taught us you should try to eliminate the word 'but' from your argument,' he said. "When you say, 'I hear what you're telling me, but ...' what you're really saying is, 'Go to hell.' That word -- 'but' -- comes across as if everything the other guy has just said doesn't matter."

That's awesome. Two points:

1. I really love this sh*t.
2. Glad Warkentein is on our side!

[moocow007]

Denver doesn't hold all the cards. They hold some cards. Melo holds some cards. The Knicks also hold some cards. That's why this thing is dragging out. IF Denver held all the cards they'd have either got him to extend (their no.1 option) or they'd have dealt him to NJ (their no.2 option). They most definitely do not hold all the cards.

Right now, they hold almost all the cards in the sense that Melo is their player. He's under contract with the Nuggets.
The Nuggets owner and his GM can :
1) Sign a contract extension (with Melo's approval)
2) Sign a trade agreement and send Melo elsewhere (with or without his approval)
3) Keep Melo until the end of the season (with or without his approval)

If an extension is the aces, a trade the kings and doing nothing the queens then I'd say Melo and the Nuggets both have two aces but the Nuggets have all the kings and queens cards.
They can do 2 and 3 without Melo's consent while Melo needs the Nuggets approval for everything.
Holding all the cards doesn't mean they can do what they want. It means they control the game until the trade deadline and nothing can happen without their consent. It's their player. If they don't want to trade him (even if the other team offers a pretty good package) then nothing will happen. That's probably what Donnie Walsh meant when he said Denver holds all the cards the other day. As the Nuggets are in control, the Knicks (and Melo to some extent) need to push them to make a mistake. Walsh played his cards very well but Melo showed his hand when he said signing an extension before the next CBA was important for him. Melo's not a good poker player. I think Denver also played very well because we're really left in the dark and we don't know what they want (from us). I don't think any of us could say wether they like Gallinari, Fields, Chandler or Randolph better. We don't know if they're truly ready to call Melo's bluff or not. That's where Warkentien will have a huge impact in the game. He knows Stan Kroenke and his son, he knows the kind of NBA players they like, he knows how they negotiate, when they're bluffing, if they're risk takers or not, etc.

The Nuggets control the situation and that's why the Knicks and Melo need to play well and make them panic. We need the Nuggets to believe Melo will only sign an extension with the Knicks and moreover he's ready to play out the season and enter free agency next july. So far, Melo seemed to be too focused on getting an extension done and it made the Nuggets feel comfortable. Hiring Warkentien could of course alienate the Nuggets owner and push him to refuse to negotiate with the Knicks but I think it's a move that will make the Nuggets uncomfortable. They thought they were in control and now we can read their game.

As Warkentien is from Indiana and a long time friend of Donnie Walsh, I don't think Walsh hired him only to acquire Melo but he will definitely help and the timing of the decision will make the Nuggets think harder if they thought they could obtain everything they want from us. Walsh could have easily waited one more month before hiring Warkentien but he decided to do it now. Bold and gutsy move. As Warkentien is aslo represented by CAA, he's also a convenient channel to send messages to Melo's camp via CAA without fearing to be warned/punished for tampering. Basically with Warkentien we have direct access to Melo's agent and knowledge of the Nuggets ownership negotiation habits.

If an extension is aces? Melo has already come out and said it's not just about the money so it's not aces. It might be a pair of jacks, in might be a straight, but that doesn't mean that Melo and/or the Knicks don't have a hand.

Yes OBVIOUSLY the Nuggets can choose to not do anything (doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that). But taking a mule kick to the side of the head (which is what will happen if they fould this up) is not holding the cards. If it is, then, yes by all means they very much will be holding the cards regardless.

Again it's all terminology. I think you and cmgw are considering "holding the cards" literally in that ultimately they (Denver) don't have to do anything they dont' want to do. But everyone else is considering "holding the cards" meaning in complete charge of what happens to Carmelo. THAT is NOT true.