kosmovitelli 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.
You guys are really going crazy about this Melodrama part V ! LOL
Anyway, about this snippet, it was predictable. At the time, I said it was a mistake and it looked like Phil didn't really want him back and he was sending the wrong message when he said that publicly.
Anyway, the Bulls reportedly offered him a contract starting at $15 million and the man who was supposed to be traded to create enough cap room to sign him (Taj Gibson) was present at the meeting in Chicago ! If Melo thinks he's worth the max then he should be offended he was only offered !15 million by the Bulls ?
Lots of rumors, smokescreens, etc. The only thing that looks legit right now is the fact the Lakers offered Melo the max. I don't doubt that. It was even expected. I would be surprised if they didn't. The Lakers were a lottery team like the Knicks, they have two future hall of fame players (Kobe and Nash) but both are old and injured, they have no head coach and Kobe's massive contract will remain on the books for the next two seasons. The way I see it, in terms of basketball and winning, the Lakers can't offer a better alternative than the Knicks : it's the same speech (ok we ain't good now but we can reload with free agency 2015 and 2016). Same pitch but without Phil Jackson, without a head coach. The only reason to sign with the Lakers would be money and the wife. Maybe his wife wants to live in LA and Melo thinks he can get more lucrative endorsement deals in LA, more marketing opportunities in LA.
The Lakers wants to sign Melo but we don't know if Melo's interest is legit or if it's tactical move. As someone said, it's surpsrising at least three different sources (Bill Simmons, Ramona Shelbourne, etc.) tweeted about Melo strongly considering the Lakers within a few minutes. They probably had the same source and that source could be Melo's agent, Leon Rose or someone in the Lakers front office. The way I see things, either Leon Rose contacted the Lakers today (or the Lakers initiated the call) and he told them Melo didn't make a final decision yet but the Lakers were the frontrunners and Melo's favorite destination at this point. Then this information was quickly leaked.
If Melo's camp playing chess then :
- either he wants to force a sign and trade to Chicago or Houston
- he wants to push Phil Jackson to offer the max or push Jimmy Dolan to intervene and offer the max
It was reported Phil Jackson tendered a max offer to Melo but we don't know if it's true. It could be bogus.
If you're a fan of conspiracy theories, maybe Phil doesn't want Melo back, he wants to sign and trade him to Chicago but in order to save face, he needed the Lakers as an excuse to claim he had to sign and trade Melo to Chicago for crap and draft picks because Melo would have signed with the Lakers and we would have received nothing in return.
Anyway, at this point, Phil should just call Melo's bluff and offer the max (or a near max offer). If Melo says he wants to sign with the Lakers then it's over. Phil can call Jeannie Buss and his brother and I guess they may be kind enough to accept a sign and trade. Just like Donnie Walsh did with the Suns. Instead of signing Amare as a free agent, it was a sign and trade in order to give the Suns a big trade exception allowing them to make some trades to improve their team and move on. They used that TPE to acquire Hakim Warrick and other players. A TPE is a valuable asset. I'd rather have that than Chicago's crappy package. That TPE could be a valuable chip at the trade deadline.
So I'd say call the bluff and negotiate a sign and trade for a TPE witH Buss if Melo really wants to sign the Lakers.
If we offered the max and Melo still wanted to leave the team then be it. If he didn't believe in Phil Jackson's plan and Derek Fisher then it's best to rebuild and move on. No good reason to accept Booze and Chicago's crap. If Melo wants the Bulls then they will need to pay the price or Melo will have to sign with the Lakers. It's as simple as that. No need to panic. We were a lottery team this year so it's not like losing Melo will set us back that much. It would be a blow considering the price the Knicks paid to acquire him and the fact he's an asset that should have returned assets in a trade (if he had been traded earlier) but it's not the end for the Knicks if he leaves the team. No need to panic and pull the trigger on an ill-advised and desperate trade just to get something in return for him.
