GONYK wrote:KnicksGod wrote:After Friday's meeting with Knicks president Phil Jackson and coach Derek Fisher, sources told Yahoo Sports that Anthony had become more comfortable with Jackson's plan to use him as the cornerstone to lure free agent stars into salary cap space in 2015 and '16. One thing that still bothers Anthony is Jackson had wanted him to take less than a max contract, sources told Yahoo Sports.
Possible translation (possible): Leon Rose knows he can't use the Bulls as a threat in the final negotiations over the contract terms, so he's using the Lakers, who have a lot of money to offer over 4.
Melo not really willing to give up a lot of money, or at least his agent is not.
So while Phil said you can have it all, but I'd like you to take less. Melo doesn't want to take it all, but he wants to take close to all. Phil wants 4M less, Melo wants 1M less. Haggling now but Leon needs some haggling leverage.
Pile of feces Leon Rose leaks Lakers to improve his standing in negotiations to get close to 1M reduction or whatever the number is.
If Phil offered him the MAX, then he offered him the MAX.
Melo could just take it. He doesn't have to haggle.
Yeah but Wojina's story makes it vague. Phil wants him to take less -- so was the Max offered or not? Maybe what they want is just for Phil to take the "We wanted him to take less" off the table. The Lakers as a possibility eases the burden on Melo. Or Melo wants to take less, too, but they're haggling over how much.
So it's kind of like "I know you want me to take less but he Lakers don't want me to take any less, so let's just settle at 1.5M less and we have a deal."
Remember, too, that the agent can play good cop and bad cop. So Leon can be like "The Lakers haven't asked Melo to make any sacrifices but you have. Melo wants to stay in New York but he's also interested in L.A. As his agent, I'd rather him go to L.A. than have Melo take 3M less."
There's also this line being possible: "We don't want you to be uncomfortable with a full Max. Melo respects you too much Phil. We should go to L.A. if you're not comfortable completely. We don't want to damage your plan Phil."
So even if the Max is really there for the taking, Leon can use L.A. just to loosen things up, remove pressure, squeeze a few more dollars.
Just a theory.