Rerisen wrote:I don't think we can be certain that Melo understands all these intricacies of the cap.
It's fully possible, if not even likely, that despite his puffy comments about a paycut, which could be well meaning even, he was thinking he would come in to these teams and be shown that Houston, Chicago whoever, were going to be ready to give him at least something close, 18 or 20m a year, which is not too painfully off NY, aside the last year.
He could be gobsmacked, even insulted, that the Bulls pitch is simply 15 odd something and look at our try hard cast.
Maybe. I dunno, I've been critical of Melo's style of play at various points and have always been firmly against hollowing out the roster to trade for him, but it certainly seems like he's a pretty bright guy and has been extremely thoughtful about what he wants to do in free agency. I'd be kinda surprised if he had no awareness at all of the situations the teams he's interested are in.
It's all fluid at the moment, obviously. My recruiting scenario above is admittedly far-fetched and perhaps simply implausible, but part of the reason I think there's a chance it could work is because Bulls' people have purportedly been in Melo's ear on and off for months now. I would imagine there's been at least some basic discussion of the mechanics of how he'd get to Chicago, what the dollar figures would look like, and who would remain on the Bulls if he came. So it may come as no surprise to Melo to hear that the ideal basketball scenario requires him to take less money, and that on the other end (Melo gets his max), the Bulls might have to move Taj to make it happen. Melo almost certainly does not have a Mark Deeks or Zach Lowe or Rerisen-level understanding of the moving parts, but I'd be a little surprised if he didn't have some awareness.
