Knicks will let Carmelo choose teammates in 2015

[sed522002]

The Knicks can assemble an entirely new team in 2015.  If they do decide to give a then 31-year-old Anthony a max extension, they'll still have plenty of money to throw at guys like Rajon Rondo and LaMarcus Aldridge to create a three All Star squad and make another deep playoff run.  They can give Shumpert a proper extension, see if Tyson Chandler will take a reasonable deal to stay, and then fill out the rest of the roster with reasonable deals and potentially draft picks that have blossomed into productive players.

http://www.bloguin.com/crossoverchronicles/2013-articles/july/report-knicks-will-let-carmelo-anthony-pick-his-teammates.html

[KGs Knee]

Who says Carmelo will even be a Knick in 2015?  His contract has an early-termination clause next summer, which I fully expect he will exercise.

NY should be more worried about trying to retain him, before they concern themselves with poaching other team's free agents.  I'd say it's 50/50 (at best) he stays in NY.

If Melo wants to play with Rondo so badly, he should come to Boston.

[manl_lui]

Who says Carmelo will even be a Knick in 2015?  His contract has an early-termination clause next summer, which I fully expect he will exercise.

NY should be more worried about trying to retain him, before they concern themselves with poaching other team's free agents.  I'd say it's 50/50 (at best) he stays in NY.

If Melo wants to play with Rondo so badly, he should come to Boston.

I guess giving him more power will be their way of getting him to stay

[nickagneta]

Is this article for real? Does the author understand the salary cap?

How exactly are the Knicks going to sign two other max contract type guys without Anthony taking a massive pay cut? Does he understand the type of guy Carmelo is and that getting Carmelo to take a near $10 million a year pay cut is rather preposterous?

Felton and Smith are not going to opt out of the $10 million combined that is owed them. Melo is due to make somewhere in the $24 million range. Hardaway and Leslie will be owed some $2.4 million. Their 2015 first round pick will be slotted for another $1-2 million.

That's $37-38 million in salary between six players with say, conservatively, another $3 million in empty player slot holds against them. Let's call it $40 million. Even if the cap rises some, I doubt Rondo and Aldridge will head to NY for $10 million a year each. So unless Melo is willing to take about a $10 million pay cut and Rondo and Aldridge are willing to take $15 million a year contracts to be with Melo, I doubt this will get done.

Anthony will ETO next year and go elsewhere. For top dollar because that's the type of guy he is.

[Finkelskyhook]

So if the snitchster gets to choose his teammates his team will essentially look like Iverson's team that went to the Finals....Where nobody else scores but him.

Only problem is there will probably never be as perfect a coach for that kind of team as Larry Brown was for Iverson's....

And the snitchster isn't nearly the player that Iverson was.

[LooseCannon]

Is this article for real? Does the author understand the salary cap?

How exactly are the Knicks going to sign two other max contract type guys without Anthony taking a massive pay cut? Does he understand the type of guy Carmelo is and that getting Carmelo to take a near $10 million a year pay cut is rather preposterous?

Felton and Smith are not going to opt out of the $10 million combined that is owed them. Melo is due to make somewhere in the $24 million range. Hardaway and Leslie will be owed some $2.4 million. Their 2015 first round pick will be slotted for another $1-2 million.

That's $37-38 million in salary between six players with say, conservatively, another $3 million in empty player slot holds against them. Let's call it $40 million. Even if the cap rises some, I doubt Rondo and Aldridge will head to NY for $10 million a year each. So unless Melo is willing to take about a $10 million pay cut and Rondo and Aldridge are willing to take $15 million a year contracts to be with Melo, I doubt this will get done.

Anthony will ETO next year and go elsewhere. For top dollar because that's the type of guy he is.

It's doable if you assume that the expiring contracts of Felton and Smith (should they exercise their options) are easily moved, either directly for a hypothetically  All-Star (possibly as trade ballast in a sign-and-trade) or to a third team in a salary dump to create cap space.

[nickagneta]

Is this article for real? Does the author understand the salary cap?

How exactly are the Knicks going to sign two other max contract type guys without Anthony taking a massive pay cut? Does he understand the type of guy Carmelo is and that getting Carmelo to take a near $10 million a year pay cut is rather preposterous?

Felton and Smith are not going to opt out of the $10 million combined that is owed them. Melo is due to make somewhere in the $24 million range. Hardaway and Leslie will be owed some $2.4 million. Their 2015 first round pick will be slotted for another $1-2 million.

That's $37-38 million in salary between six players with say, conservatively, another $3 million in empty player slot holds against them. Let's call it $40 million. Even if the cap rises some, I doubt Rondo and Aldridge will head to NY for $10 million a year each. So unless Melo is willing to take about a $10 million pay cut and Rondo and Aldridge are willing to take $15 million a year contracts to be with Melo, I doubt this will get done.

Anthony will ETO next year and go elsewhere. For top dollar because that's the type of guy he is.

It's doable if you assume that the expiring contracts of Felton and Smith (should they exercise their options) are easily moved, either directly for a hypothetically  All-Star (possibly as trade ballast in a sign-and-trade) or to a third team in a salary dump to create cap space.

Even under those conditions its a assumption that $60 million is going to be split up between 3 players and every single other contract will be a vet minimum contract. Its also assuming a pay cut for Carmelo.(2 All-Star 9 year vets at $17 million, $5 million in empty player slot holds, give or take, the rest to Carmelo, around $20-21 million)I might be able to see Melo taking a pay cut of a couple million but him sacrificing big bucks for good of the team, I don't see that.

[bfrombleacher]

MAN, Rondo's such a high maintenance diva. Slows down the entire offense, screws up chemistry and doesn't care about the team.

[Mazingerz]

MAN, Rondo's such a high maintenance diva. Slows down the entire offense, screws up chemistry and doesn't care about the team.

 

This came out of nowhere

[LooseCannon]

Is this article for real? Does the author understand the salary cap?

How exactly are the Knicks going to sign two other max contract type guys without Anthony taking a massive pay cut? Does he understand the type of guy Carmelo is and that getting Carmelo to take a near $10 million a year pay cut is rather preposterous?

Felton and Smith are not going to opt out of the $10 million combined that is owed them. Melo is due to make somewhere in the $24 million range. Hardaway and Leslie will be owed some $2.4 million. Their 2015 first round pick will be slotted for another $1-2 million.

That's $37-38 million in salary between six players with say, conservatively, another $3 million in empty player slot holds against them. Let's call it $40 million. Even if the cap rises some, I doubt Rondo and Aldridge will head to NY for $10 million a year each. So unless Melo is willing to take about a $10 million pay cut and Rondo and Aldridge are willing to take $15 million a year contracts to be with Melo, I doubt this will get done.

Anthony will ETO next year and go elsewhere. For top dollar because that's the type of guy he is.

It's doable if you assume that the expiring contracts of Felton and Smith (should they exercise their options) are easily moved, either directly for a hypothetically  All-Star (possibly as trade ballast in a sign-and-trade) or to a third team in a salary dump to create cap space.

Even under those conditions its a assumption that $60 million is going to be split up between 3 players and every single other contract will be a vet minimum contract. Its also assuming a pay cut for Carmelo.(2 All-Star 9 year vets at $17 million, $5 million in empty player slot holds, give or take, the rest to Carmelo, around $20-21 million)I might be able to see Melo taking a pay cut of a couple million but him sacrificing big bucks for good of the team, I don't see that.

And how is that different from him going anywhere else?  Any team that is going to have the cap space to sign him is also going to have the problem of building a bench with mostly minimum salary guys.

It really depends on Carmelo being able to sell guys on coming to New York for a discount the way Iguodala turned down 4 years and $52 million from Denver to sign for 4 years and $48 million with Golden State.  Are there All-Stars who can make the max but will take less to sign with the Knicks?  Will Carmelo be required to take some sort of pay cut to convince them to come?

If Carmelo is all about the money, does the fifth year that only the Knicks can offer on a new contract make it seem like he will stay in New York?

[D.o.s.]

My best guess is that 'Melo's going to opt out and then sign an extension with the Knicks.

He wants to be in NY and he wants a ton of money (as we saw with the Melodrama in Denver).

[nickagneta]

And how is that different from him going anywhere else?

Well, I guess the main difference is he could be signed and traded to a team with an All-Star or 2 or potential All-Star or 2 already on a team that is over the cap, with a solid core and so doesn't have to build from scratch with vet min type players.

Is a team in 2015 of Melo, Rondo and LMA with 10 vet min guys better than say a 2014 team with Melo, Rose, Noah, Dunleavy, Gibson, Butler, Snell and Teague and still having the ability to use an MLE?

And let's not get into the exact details of how that would or could happen, its just a quick example. The point is there is an awful lot of assumptions of variables to occur to make it very likely, for what the author wrote, to happen. And there is a very smart agent involved that will lead Melo into whatever direction he wants, whether that be top dollar(in NY but not with the best surrounding players, at least not without a lot of trades happening) or a ring(tons of ways to do that and the best probably not being the one the author wrote up) or something in between.

And to get back on point, the author is assuming keeping Melo at a max extension($25+ million per year), signing Rondo and Aldridge and retaining Shumpert and Chandler. I just don't think he clearly understands what he is proposing is nearly impossible without renouncing Shumpert and Chandler, getting Rondo and LMA at severely reduced rates then resigning Shumpert and Chandler to basically vet min contracts. The max extension for Chandler makes it just an extremely unlikely scenario and if that is what NY is selling Melo on, Melo's agent is going to see through that and advise him accordingly

[LooseCannon]

The point is, it's not impossible if Melo can find two All-Stars who want to play with him in New York.  I think they'd probably have to make a choice between Shumpert and Chandler (or have that choice made for them), but the basic idea is at least possible without huge stretches.