Around The League(Playoffs Edition)

[KingRobb02]

OKC would have been better off signing Harden to the extension, keeping him for at least a year, and looking to trade him after. would have given them much more time to decide which pairing is better - KD/RW or KD/JH, and Harden clearly would have drive his value up immensely this season.

as it is, with the contracts they took back, they basically took on the salary Harden was asking for anyway.

and filling out that roster would have been fine, even with 4 stars. with stars at 1 - 3, plus Ibaka at the 4, and Perkins clogging up the 5, they only need bench guys, and they'll get those for the vet min/rookie deals. meanwhile, you've got 4 studs under 25 who still have worlds of room to grow and insanely high trade value for the duration of their deals. you're in a much better place to negotiate where you want to go.

OKC got ahead of themselves on this deal. i don't blame them for losing now, though. not many teams can maintain a championship run when their #2 option goes down.

Except Martin expires this year. If they had kept Harden 2 things happen. 1) Teams know they are against the tax line and they are forced to take back less than market value, which is the option some would say they chose, or 2) the owner decides to keep all 4 and they never have any room to get over the hump because Bennett isn't paying the tax. You know how everyone thought that Memphis should have gotten more than Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis for Rudy Gay, well imagine the uproar if the best offer for Harden was something like Shawn Marion and Roddy Beaubios. The end of it is that Bennett made it no secret that he was not paying the tax for a team in OKC. Keeping all 4 of the young guys puts you right up to the line. People keep bringing up the ways they can add guys within the rules, but they are ignoring that the problem comes when it's time to pay. Yeah, they can add a first round pick for 2 million per year for 4 years, but when that contract is actually 4 million per year (because of the tax) and the guy isn't adding much because you drafted him 29th, it gets ugly.

[Bensational]

OKC would have been better off signing Harden to the extension, keeping him for at least a year, and looking to trade him after. would have given them much more time to decide which pairing is better - KD/RW or KD/JH, and Harden clearly would have drive his value up immensely this season.

as it is, with the contracts they took back, they basically took on the salary Harden was asking for anyway.

and filling out that roster would have been fine, even with 4 stars. with stars at 1 - 3, plus Ibaka at the 4, and Perkins clogging up the 5, they only need bench guys, and they'll get those for the vet min/rookie deals. meanwhile, you've got 4 studs under 25 who still have worlds of room to grow and insanely high trade value for the duration of their deals. you're in a much better place to negotiate where you want to go.

OKC got ahead of themselves on this deal. i don't blame them for losing now, though. not many teams can maintain a championship run when their #2 option goes down.

Except Martin expires this year. If they had kept Harden 2 things happen. 1) Teams know they are against the tax line and they are forced to take back less than market value, which is the option some would say they chose, or 2) the owner decides to keep all 4 and they never have any room to get over the hump because Bennett isn't paying the tax. You know how everyone thought that Memphis should have gotten more than Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis for Rudy Gay, well imagine the uproar if the best offer for Harden was something like Shawn Marion and Roddy Beaubios. The end of it is that Bennett made it no secret that he was not paying the tax for a team in OKC. Keeping all 4 of the young guys puts you right up to the line. People keep bringing up the ways they can add guys within the rules, but they are ignoring that the problem comes when it's time to pay. Yeah, they can add a first round pick for 2 million per year for 4 years, but when that contract is actually 4 million per year (because of the tax) and the guy isn't adding much because you drafted him 29th, it gets ugly.

i'd take my chances on Harden/Westbrook/Ibaka retaining value over Gay and his ludicrous contract. Harden and Westbrook are two of the top players at their positions, and Harden will be the best in a year or two when Kobe and Wade retire or continue to decline.

the OKC deal was fine, i don't have a problem with it and i understand it. but those deals would've been around in the future, i'm sure. Deron, Melo, Paul and Howard landed guys like Gordon, Bynum (prior to the knowledge of his bum knee - although we all could've predicted it), Iggy, Favors, Kanter (top 4 pick), W.Chandler, D.Harris, Kaman, Vucevic, Harkless, Aminu, Afflalo, plus plenty of draft picks, whilst unloading deals like JRich, Duhon, and others.

if push came to shove, OKC could've used one of the three above to land equally as good talent, whilst also unloading Perkins and saving themselves some serious cash. heck, Washington and Charlotte were rumoured to be offering a top 3 pick for him at last year's draft.

[rcklsscognition]

How the heck did David Lee come back? I thought he was done for the season. Anyone know if it was a PR stunt or if he's actually going to play through a torn hip flexor? One thing it does is make D-rose look like soft. Hope the Bulls lose because of him.

[RookieStar]

How the heck did David Lee come back? I thought he was done for the season. Anyone know if it was a PR stunt or if he's actually going to play through a torn hip flexor? One thing it does is make D-rose look like soft. Hope the Bulls lose because of him.

Maybe his injury wasn't as bad as we all thought? Yeah D-Rose looks weak with his refusal to play

[Reverse_Angle]

"Denver is better after melo trade" my ass.

If you thought that, now it is time to take a good look at yourself and notice that you lack vision to comment for long term. Apply that line of thinking to your draft predictions and everything's gonna be fine.

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[KingRobb02]

"Denver is better after melo trade" my ass.

If you thought that, now it is time to take a good look at yourself and notice that you lack vision to comment for long term. Apply that line of thinking to your draft predictions and everything's gonna be fine.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

How many times did Carmelo get them out of the first round? It's easy to mock them now playing with Gallo and only 60% of Faried and 80% of Lawson.

[Shady Franchise]

How the heck did David Lee come back? I thought he was done for the season. Anyone know if it was a PR stunt or if he's actually going to play through a torn hip flexor? One thing it does is make D-rose look like soft. Hope the Bulls lose because of him.

Lee was out there for inspiration. He played a whopping whole minute. Looks like it helped!

[Reverse_Angle]

"Denver is better after melo trade" my ass.

If you thought that, now it is time to take a good look at yourself and notice that you lack vision to comment for long term. Apply that line of thinking to your draft predictions and everything's gonna be fine.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

How many times did Carmelo get them out of the first round? It's easy to mock them now playing with Gallo and only 60% of Faried and 80% of Lawson.

One Porsche wins the race against 5 BMWs even though 5 BMWs collectively cost more. It was not winning the trade, it was submission.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[KingRobb02]

"Denver is better after melo trade" my ass.

If you thought that, now it is time to take a good look at yourself and notice that you lack vision to comment for long term. Apply that line of thinking to your draft predictions and everything's gonna be fine.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

How many times did Carmelo get them out of the first round? It's easy to mock them now playing with Gallo and only 60% of Faried and 80% of Lawson.

One Porsche wins the race against 5 BMWs even though 5 BMWs collectively cost more. It was not winning the trade, it was submission.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

Is that your way of saying Carmelo's Nuggets teams were no more successful?

[Reverse_Angle]

One Porsche wins the race against 5 BMWs even though 5 BMWs collectively cost more. It was not winning the trade, it was submission.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

Is that your way of saying Carmelo's Nuggets teams were no more successful?

No. It is my way of saying getting 5 players who could collective give you 50 points and 20 rebounds is not better than having a single player who can give you 25 points 8 rebounds.

[KingRobb02]

No. It is my way of saying getting 5 players who could collective give you 50 points and 20 rebounds is not better than having a single player who can give you 25 points 8 rebounds.

Umm OK. The fact still remains that the Nuggets were better this year than any team with Carmelo and they were also better than Carmelo's new team. I think they will just be unfairly judges based on the fact that their team wasn't healthy. I know every team has injuries, but it's just not a fair way of evaluating talent levels. You try winning a playoff series where you are forced to start Evan Fournier.

[rcklsscognition]

What you need is a guy that can give you 25 and 8 but also get 15 out of each of the other guys. You don't have to be a PG to do that, you have to facilitate in any way possible, and cut down on the ISOs. I think Melo is ISO'ing over 40% of his possessions in the playoffs right now and it's shameful.

[BadMofoPimp]

No. It is my way of saying getting 5 players who could collective give you 50 points and 20 rebounds is not better than having a single player who can give you 25 points 8 rebounds.

Umm OK. The fact still remains that the Nuggets were better this year than any team with Carmelo and they were also better than Carmelo's new team. I think they will just be unfairly judges based on the fact that their team wasn't healthy. I know every team has injuries, but it's just not a fair way of evaluating talent levels. You try winning a playoff series where you are forced to start Evan Fournier.

I disagree with this. Melo on the Nuggets had a few great seasons and did better in the playoffs. Just not the last year he was there.

[Reverse_Angle]

No. It is my way of saying getting 5 players who could collective give you 50 points and 20 rebounds is not better than having a single player who can give you 25 points 8 rebounds.

Umm OK. The fact still remains that the Nuggets were better this year than any team with Carmelo and they were also better than Carmelo's new team. I think they will just be unfairly judges based on the fact that their team wasn't healthy. I know every team has injuries, but it's just not a fair way of evaluating talent levels. You try winning a playoff series where you are forced to start Evan Fournier.

Three points:

1- Injuries also play a role in judging talent levels. How many games Gallo missed since he came to NBA? Plus GSW were also missing players.

2- You are basing your reasoning on status quo. There is not much Denver can do to substantially improve their team, because all "slots" are filled. This is the Denver team for good--unless NYK steal another player such as Felton. NYK can just keep Melo and trade for everybody else if need be.

3- Denver's inability to build around Melo should not be a factor when evaluating the team's success. I do not agree with your assessment the current Denver team is better than Melo's current or past teams. For whom they have, Melo's nuggets were more successful than the current Nuggets. Current NYK is already more successful as they are still in the race.

[KingRobb02]

No. It is my way of saying getting 5 players who could collective give you 50 points and 20 rebounds is not better than having a single player who can give you 25 points 8 rebounds.

Umm OK. The fact still remains that the Nuggets were better this year than any team with Carmelo and they were also better than Carmelo's new team. I think they will just be unfairly judges based on the fact that their team wasn't healthy. I know every team has injuries, but it's just not a fair way of evaluating talent levels. You try winning a playoff series where you are forced to start Evan Fournier.

I disagree with this. Melo on the Nuggets had a few great seasons and did better in the playoffs. Just not the last year he was there.

You would think that but they only got past the first round once in his stay there. He came into this post season with the lowest playoff winning percentage among players averaging 20+ PPG. Either he isn't a superstar or superstars don't lead to wins.

[KingRobb02]

What you need is a guy that can give you 25 and 8 but also get 15 out of each of the other guys. You don't have to be a PG to do that, you have to facilitate in any way possible, and cut down on the ISOs. I think Melo is ISO'ing over 40% of his possessions in the playoffs right now and it's shameful.

The problem is that he and JR have a habit of taking bad shots and making them more than most people, so they start to think they are good shots. The iso playmaking is just Mike Woodson pulling out the 09 Hawks playbook.

[OrlChamps2030]

How is Denver stuck where they are at? Look at how Houston got Harden.. Denver has more pieces than Houston had

[ChosenSavior]

How is Denver stuck where they are at? Look at how Houston got Harden.. Denver has more pieces than Houston had

This.

[Reverse_Angle]

How is Denver stuck where they are at? Look at how Houston got Harden.. Denver has more pieces than Houston had

This.

We will see.

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[Bensational]

How is Denver stuck where they are at? Look at how Houston got Harden.. Denver has more pieces than Houston had

This.

We will see.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using RealGM Forums mobile app

i'll be interested to see what Denver do going forward. they clearly need to find a star who can carry them through tough games, and Gallo isn't that guy. Iggy won't be worth the long term investment if he's paid over $10M going forward.

McGee ($10M), Faried ($1.5M), Gallo ($10M), Iggy ($16M), Lawson ($10M), Chandler ($7.5M), Mozgov ($4M)... there's plenty of depth there, but most of them aren't on rookie scale contracts anymore, so packaging them together is more challenging than what Houston did. they don't have any valuable draft picks, but maybe they can acquire one with a trade (like Houston did with Lowry)?

they can certainly move those pieces though. the biggest problem will be when the next star becomes available.