You see what Brads doing with this roster imagine if he had Melo at his expense and a legit big? Look out
Melo would do as he pleased and would be sitting on the bench because Stevens is a team ball guy not a let the volume scorer lose kind of guy.
Melo is the pyrite of the NBA.
Melo hasn't had a quality team assembled around him other than the Knicks last season- and they had Felton and Shumpert starting for them with a mix of Kidd, Prigioni and Chris Copeland starting. Other than Chandler and Kidd, the rest of his team mates really haven't been stellar, and Chandler is not an offensive player.
I think what advocates for Melo are saying is that we need a guy who can score the ball because our best player is not a scorer which is a huge problem.
Melo is the leading scorer in the NBA-or is always competing with Durant for that title. That's an incredible talent- but it also puts an incredible amount of pressure on you come playoff time when you don't have any help.
They almost got the trio of Amare, Chandler and Carmelo but Amare got injured 50 games in with Melo and they were still working it out as a unit.
Essentially for Melo to succeed, I believe you'd have to put him at the power forward position for large portions to exploit his speed and size.
People love to call him a chucker and a hack that doesn't pass but he's had a depreciating Billups and Allen Iverson (even bigger ball hog) on his team as his help. They were both when he was much younger too. Remember Pierce when he was 27?
Give him some real All Star help in Rondo and another wing scorer like Jeff Green to take the pressure off and let him play. If we want a title shot before Rondo hits free agency there isn't too much choice.
I've sprouted this so many times, but this line up is a serious contender:
Rondo
Bradley
Green
Melo
Chandler (or Asik)
You either have Sully at the 4 or Melo at the 4 so Sully can be moved for a better shooting guard than Bradley, or a nice first round pick.
Or you keep Sully at the 4 and Melo at the 3 and let Melo play 4 against certain teams/matchups.
i never saw this till now
but
imho
a team of Rondo Bradley Melo Sully and Asik
with faverani and some pieces really can make some noise
as much as we have to give some ..old time regrets on those
The only hard part is deciding if Avery Bradley is going to be a legitimate 3 point shooter and jumpshooter- because he MUST become a 40% three point shooter for this team to win it all.
You gotta have Melo, Green, Sully and Bradley all hitting the three ball with Asik fighting inside on pick and rolls.
Rondo would do wonders for Asik.
What people tend to forget is that guys like Melo and Asik have rarely played with pass first point guards.
The only time Melo did was with Chauncey on the back end of his prime, and they made the Western Conference finals.
Would be a very tough team and would stretch the floor.
Think of it as an Eastern conference version of San Antonio where instead of Duncan or Parker as our best players we have Melo and Rondo creating havoc penetrating and dishing to three point shooters.
Green is our Leonard and Asik is our rim protector.
Bench is solid with Sully and Craw.