Melo Thread 19: It's Spidey Austin..it was Spidey all along.

[ingvald]

Im kind of pissed bc Bulls came into free agency without enough money. We waited years for this summer an we dont freakin have enough money. Unreal

I'm sorry, but this is **** hilarious. You're the same guy who bitched the last 3 seasons anytime Paxson mentioned the word 'flexibility'. What did you want the Bulls to do - trade everyone like we did in 2010, and watch Melo go back to NY anyways?

By any credible account - the Bulls had the capability to create the cap space necessary to sign Melo outright (just as Houston would have done as well). But obviously didn't want to do that - both because of the risk Melo could go elsewhere, and because putting as strong a team as possible around Melo is the Bulls biggest selling point.

angry fan is angry

[senseindc]

Kobe is also more of a question mark than Rose. He could very well be on the major down slope of his career ala Wade. I just don't see Kobe being a selling point any longer.

[Ben]

Im kind of pissed bc Bulls came into free agency without enough money. We waited years for this summer an we dont freakin have enough money. Unreal

We have enough money. We would just have to trade Taj and maybe MDJ for future assets, both of which moves would be eminently do-able. But we weren't going to make them without knowing whether the prime free agents were really interested in us. Maybe--and this is a growing suspicion-- we like Taj so much that we don't want to trade him even for Melo, and IMO that would be a mistake. But we don't know how things are panning out yet.

Also, as to "waiting for years" for this summer: many of us have assumed all along that Lebron wouldn't change teams, or wouldn't be interested in us if he did, and Melo didn't opt out of his contract until this summer. Who else should we have been planning for by not offering guys like Taj long-term contracts?

In sum, exactly what would YOU have done?

[OldSchoolNoBull]

Melo is in LA. It's 7AM there now. How can he and his camp already know that no decision is coming today? There's a whole day in front of them to deliberate, but they already know it won't happen today? That makes it seem like they're waiting for something. For an answer from the Knicks on a NTC, for Bulls to get trades lined up, to see what LBJ/Bosh do, or something else.

[red222]

[Axl Rose]

i think if Melo wanted to come here he would say he'd sign but wants the full 4 year max

then thats when Bulls would make moves to accommodate that

i dont know why everybody stressing out about the money

we can get him a max deal if he wants one one way or the other

[DRoseCantStop]

Not even a mention of Chicago by SAS.......

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[kdapiton]

SAS is just obsessed with Miami

[TyrusRose2425]

If SAS talked about a no trade clause and Melo can't even get one, I wouldn't even worry about what he has to say. Don't think he knows anything.

[DRoseCantStop]

SAS is just obsessed with Miami

It's sickening.

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[thejet1711]

seems like he's waiting for Miami like a little bitch. so sick of the borderline collusion every offseason in this garbage league. This is why I love baseball more and the entire country embraces NFL more.

[wolffy]

The Lakers just make too much sense. New York shouldn't pay him the max, they can miss the playoffs without him. I don't think Chicago wants to pay as much as they could, I think they got involved because they thought he might be willing to take less to play here. I don't think Chicago or New York wants to be looking at a 35 year old max salary Carmelo.

The Lakers tho? The whole Lala in LA thing is seemingly prefect for her, and her career makes him(them) money as well. The basketball side does too. LA needs a big time star and will do what they need to make it happen. They have more money than any franchise so spending is never gonna be an issue. They can get Melo now and figure out how to bring another star later. They can afford a 35 year old max salary Carmelo.

I don't agree that it makes basketball sense for him to be in LA if he wants to make the playoffs eventually.

Every damn "real" basketball mind such as George Karl, Tom Penn, PJ Carlesimo and others unlike Stephen A Smith have told the Bulls are the best fit for Melo. If he is going anywhere else, it is not about basketball but other factors such as money, playing with friends, wife's career or some other issue.

I totally agree its the best on court fit for him, by far. But I don't feel him at the max for 5 years is the best fit in most cases. LA meets a lot of criteria, the only hole is, how do they compete for titles soon enough? My best guess is they spend whatever they need and can convince Melo that its doable. He crosses his fingers and takes the plunge.

[Red Larrivee]

Stephen A isn't going to say anything different than he did last night on Sportscenter. Nobody besides Melo knows the decision right now.

[chitowndish]

I guess I'm staying optimistic, with that contract Kobe has I just don't see it, they wouldn't have any room to build a team. That's basically taking the money and writing off his chances IMO. He may as well just stay in NY in that case take the money and maybe he does have a shot at winning down the road. I just can't help but see them as leverage. Is it leverage against NY or Chi is the question. That no trade clause thing is interesting because I could see that being a sticking point with Phil. I never bought leveraging Phil for the max since Melo could get that anyway from them but I could see needing leverage for the no trade clause.

I also don't know about MIA and I don't know if I'm buying the LBJ stuff. They would just be too redundant together and basically if you go play with LBJ you have to completely subvert your game. I mean look at how Wade and Bosh are viewed now. If Melo really wants to cement his legacy is it to completely subvert his game for Lebron? IDK I really kind of think he'd rather beat Lebron and be compared to him and Durant rather than go and be a sidekick. Could be wrong but if I am I won't be losing any sleep over missing out on him.

[LOUDO]

Is it not totally obvious that he's waiting on Lebron?? Ugh

[Bo Dupp]

My fear is that he's waiting on LeBron to see if and/or where they can possibly team up.

And that pisses me off royally.

[Boardwalker]

Im kind of pissed bc Bulls came into free agency without enough money. We waited years for this summer an we dont freakin have enough money. Unreal

And so begins the annual exercise of finger pointing by people who find a way to blame the FO for not landing the big FA even though by all accounts they did a bang-up job. I guess at some instinctual level it makes us feel better to blame the FO, rather than having to accept that there are things outside of their control (wife, kids, loyalty, etc.) that play a bigger role in a FA's decision.

[Zartan]

The Lakers just make too much sense. New York shouldn't pay him the max, they can miss the playoffs without him. I don't think Chicago wants to pay as much as they could, I think they got involved because they thought he might be willing to take less to play here. I don't think Chicago or New York wants to be looking at a 35 year old max salary Carmelo.

The Lakers tho? The whole Lala in LA thing is seemingly prefect for her, and her career makes him(them) money as well. The basketball side does too. LA needs a big time star and will do what they need to make it happen. They have more money than any franchise so spending is never gonna be an issue. They can get Melo now and figure out how to bring another star later. They can afford a 35 year old max salary Carmelo.

Yep. I'm seriously wondering if Garpax ever wanted to pay Carmelo Anthony 22+ million per year.

[Ben]

Melo is in LA. It's 7AM there now. How can he and his camp already know that no decision is coming today? There's a whole day in front of them to deliberate, but they already know it won't happen today? That makes it seem like they're waiting for something. For an answer from the Knicks on a NTC, for Bulls to get trades lined up, to see what LBJ/Bosh do, or something else.

Could be. But as I wrote in the Miami thread, Melo announced last October that he had always wanted the free agent "experience."

It's like you have an evaluation period, you know. It's like if I'm in the gym and I have all the coaches, all the owners, all the GMs come into the gym and just evaluate everything I do. So yes, I want that experience.

With all of the people courting him, and all of the media attention, why would he want to cut it short? You or I might want to do that, but he's already stated that he wants this experience. He probably savors every day of it.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Im kind of pissed bc Bulls came into free agency without enough money. We waited years for this summer an we dont freakin have enough money. Unreal

We have enough money. We would just have to trade Taj and maybe MDJ for future assets, both of which moves would be eminently do-able. But we weren't going to make them without knowing whether the prime free agents were really interested in us. Maybe--and this is a growing suspicion-- we like Taj so much that we don't want to trade him even for Melo, and IMO that would be a mistake. But we don't know how things are panning out yet.

Also, as to "waiting for years" for this summer: many of us have assumed all along that Lebron wouldn't change teams, or wouldn't be interested in us if he did, and Melo didn't opt out of his contract until this summer. Who else should we have been planning for by not offering guys like Taj long-term contracts?

In sum, exactly what would YOU have done?

Now Ben, you know that three years from now someone is going to use this post as evidence of a Deng : Kobe situation with Melo & Taj...