GONYK wrote:KnicksGod wrote:GONYK wrote:
LA is a much bigger market than anyone else not NY, and Dallas and Houston are closer to a title than Boston is while also being in bigger markets than Boston.
Yet, he turned them down
But Boston is not the Deep South. And right now we're looking at two years since his decision, from 29 to 31, and the Knicks are not qualifying. That's not where he wanted to be. Things have changed.
Easy for us to say there's no difference between 8 and 11 -- not sure you really believe that, I know what you mean but don't buy it to be honest -- but much harder for Melo to say that. He wants to have a shot and to at least get into the playoffs.
To make the point that I don't think we can buy this "8 versus 11 has no difference" thing, if the Knicks made it as the 8th seed, we'd all say "Melo is not going anywhere, the Knicks are on the upswing."
You have to be on the upswing to be on the upswing. Melo is not a Knicks fan. He isn't looking 5 years ahead. He's got 1-3 good years left.
First off, Texas and Dallas are not the "Deep South". It's not like he's playing in Alabama. Houston is the 4th largest city in the US with a huge northern transplant population
I agree with what you are saying about Melo's potential mindset, up to a point...but there is absolutely no reason why Boston would be the place he jumps to. They have 6 more wins than us.
He's not trading down from NY to Boston and leaving all the NY has to offer outside of the Knicks to go to team with 6 more wins than us.
Changes will happen with the Knicks roster before then, or he'll go to a real team.
And Melo has disproved this notion that he'll go "anywhere" to win time and time again.
Well I guess you have me on Texas not being considered the Deep South by most. To me you can't get deeper without being in Mexico, but what do I know about American culture or geography.
On Melo, you are talking as if Phil would call, tell Melo that they can't get there with him and would like to explore trade possibilities in close contact with him, tell him Boston is interested, and he'd hang up the phone. It's not a hang-up situation to me. Maybe he'd ask for the Clippers or the Bulls, but obviously the Knicks have a say too. Boston is not the Deep South by any kind of interpretation. He'd be guaranteed a playoff spot pretty much for the remainder of his later prime. You say it's a hang-up but I don't see it that way at all.*
*If he could do it all over with a crystal ball and know the Knicks whiff twice on the playoffs after his signing, he'd have given Deep South
Mavs & Rockets a bigger look. It's now or never. NY theater and Latino culture is not enough. He's a basketball player. He can buy half of New York when his career is over in a few years.
I do buy that it could be that Ainge would say No thanks. Particularly for his Nets pick. Possible. Don't know what his view on Melo is, and we can only guess. He does have another couple Nets picks and Melo is still a prime scorer who is rounding out his game and would have to do less. So I don't buy No way possible that Ainge would bite. It's a close call I think, or at least not out of the question.
Yeah it's kind of painful that we're nearing an end of being able to compete with Melo, barring the very unexpected like KD, and Boston is ahead of us. I hate it too but look forward to better days. You have to break some eggs to make omelettes. We can't hold on to Melo forever without it hurting us most likely. And by the way this is unfair to him.
KP does in fact change things. He is on a vastly different trajectory than Melo. They do work well together but there's 11 years difference there. That is hugely significant in terms of player development.
