A New Big Three (Melo, Love, Rondo) while adding Asik

[Aymanelgowainy]

I'm for trying to get Marc Gasol for starting center....unless Drummond can be stolen.

He doesnT have all the mental issues of Sanders or Hibbert or Howard,  and is not fragile like BLopez.

getting Drummond - a million times yes!

Andre Drummond is untouchable and going nowhere. He is Detroit's only hope.

 Gasol/Jordan/Bogut/Hibbert could all be good anchors for us. The latter two would be buy low players who both have enormous impacts defensively. If you are building a team around Love it is MANDITORY to have a defensive anchor at the center position. If you don't you will get gutted like a fish and win nothing. 3point shooters and scorers are a dime a dozen and can be found relatively cheap. I'd rather invest my money into a center.

And if none of those centers are available I'd be totally for bringing back Perkins on the cheap.

Perkins contract is anything but cheap..

[nickagneta]

Its theoretically possible to open an Einstein-Rosen bridge and travel to the Andromeda Galaxy as well but if we are being realistic, its not very likely.

While getting Melo, a player I am not overly fond is would be great to go with Love, I would rather a sign and trade sending out Jeff Green to NY with filler and picks than dumping all those options and trying to resign Melo to a contract below what he could get by resigning with NY or doing a sign and trade. Getting a feeling an underpaid Melo would be an unhappy Melo.

If you want to do a sign-and-trade for Carmelo Anthony (I don't), being able to theoretically sign him outright as a free agent helps lower the price that the Knicks can demand.

1. I don't want Melo. I would rather try to go after Marc Gasol because like Love, he could leave Memphis for nothing after next year and because he would be a better match with Rondo and Love.

2. You are wrong about theoretically being able to sign a player lowering the price the Knicks could demand. The Knicks could still and probably will still ask for the moon for Melo in a sign and trade, especially from in the division rival Boston Celtics.

3. Also, if you can already outright sign Melo then there is no reason to do a sign and trade unless you want to stay over the cap and preserve certain player's Bird rights and the MLE

[LooseCannon]

2. You are wrong about theoretically being able to sign a player lowering the price the Knicks could demand. The Knicks could still and probably will still ask for the moon for Melo in a sign and trade, especially from in the division rival Boston Celtics.

3. Also, if you can already outright sign Melo then there is no reason to do a sign and trade unless you want to stay over the cap and preserve certain player's Bird rights and the MLE

The Celtics have to give up a certain amount of assets and flexibility to be able to sign Carmelo Anthony.  That creates an upper bound on what the Celtics are willing to give up to in a trade.  The Knicks can ask for more, in which case Ainge will just bite the bullet and do what he has to do to sign Carmelo Anthony as a free agent (if that is what he wants).  The Knicks can be stubborn and refuse to cooperate the same way that the Lakers refused to talk about a sign-and-trade for Dwight Howard, preferring to lose him for nothing rather than get something back in return.

If the Celtics had no way to acquire Melo except through a sign-and-trade and were desperate to have him, the Knicks could hold firm on their demands.

Of course, the Knicks could decide to be completely stupid about this, but having other options can only help you when negotiating with a sane partner.

[nickagneta]

2. You are wrong about theoretically being able to sign a player lowering the price the Knicks could demand. The Knicks could still and probably will still ask for the moon for Melo in a sign and trade, especially from in the division rival Boston Celtics.

3. Also, if you can already outright sign Melo then there is no reason to do a sign and trade unless you want to stay over the cap and preserve certain player's Bird rights and the MLE

The Celtics have to give up a certain amount of assets and flexibility to be able to sign Carmelo Anthony.  That creates an upper bound on what the Celtics are willing to give up to in a trade.  The Knicks can ask for more, in which case Ainge will just bite the bullet and do what he has to do to sign Carmelo Anthony as a free agent (if that is what he wants).  The Knicks can be stubborn and refuse to cooperate the same way that the Lakers refused to talk about a sign-and-trade for Dwight Howard, preferring to lose him for nothing rather than get something back in return.

If the Celtics had no way to acquire Melo except through a sign-and-trade and were desperate to have him, the Knicks could hold firm on their demands.

Of course, the Knicks could decide to be completely stupid about this, but having other options can only help you when negotiating with a sane partner.

But none of that means the Knicks will ask for less. It helps strengthen Boston's stance, but it doesn't necessarily mean the Knicks ask for that much lower of an asking price. Why? They might just prefer the salary off the books over anything they get back in salary from Boston.

No biggie, just saying your stance wasn't necessarily a given or 100% correct.

[McHales Pits]

I am a huge Carmelo Anthony fan and I think he is a great player, but I wonder which situation he prefers - Boston or Houston. This is assuming the Love deal goes through because without him Boston is not on his radar.

So which is better?

Boston
Rondo/Anthony/Love (with Bradley, Olynyk, and a big man to be named later etc)
Eastern Conference
Winning Tradition
Multiple assets to add more pieces to the team
Young core

Or Houston
Harden/Anthony/Howard (with whoever is left out of Lin, Beverley, Parsons, Jones, and Asik)
No state taxes
Warmer weather
Also a young core

It is a fair question for him...

Also, if neither team can clear the cap space to sign him as a free agent and NYs help is needed to S&T - who are they more likely to help? Boston with all the picks? Houston with all the useful young players? Both could attractive given that they have no picks and that Lin and Parsons would be great in NY. I'd give slight edge to Houston there, but Im sure Danny could make them at least think twice.

[fitzhickey]

I am a huge Carmelo Anthony fan and I think he is a great player, but I wonder which situation he prefers - Boston or Houston. This is assuming the Love deal goes through because without him Boston is not on his radar.

So which is better?

Boston
Rondo/Anthony/Love (with Bradley, Olynyk, and a big man to be named later etc)
Eastern Conference
Winning Tradition
Multiple assets to add more pieces to the team
Young core

Or Houston
Harden/Anthony/Howard (with whoever is left out of Lin, Beverley, Parsons, Jones, and Asik)
No state taxes
Warmer weather
Also a young core

It is a fair question for him...

Also, if neither team can clear the cap space to sign him as a free agent and NYs help is needed to S&T - who are they more likely to help? Boston with all the picks? Houston with all the useful young players? Both could attractive given that they have no picks and that Lin and Parsons would be great in NY. I'd give slight edge to Houston there, but Im sure Danny could make them at least think twice.

I think Melo would have more success in the Eastern conference, as I think that potential core of Rondo/Melo/Love really gives the Heat some competition. The road in the West is much harder,  but that core of Harden/Melo/Howard is pretty impressive.
Rondo is a much better defender than Harden, but Dwight is a much better defender than Love.

The Celtics are the most successful basketball team in the NBA, and imo playing under all those banners would be impossible to pass up.

[McHales Pits]

I think the key decision - if it comes down to this - will be his fit with Rondo vs his fit with Harden. I think Rondo would be a much better pairing for him given his spot up shooting ability and Rondo's ability to pass. Harden is ball dominant (not that Rondo can't be, too) in a scoring fashion and I think him and Carmelo would battle for touches. Rondo, Melo, and Love would be able to share the ball pretty well given their spots on the court and the Rondo/Love passing and Melo finishing dynamic.

[knuckleballer]

Here's an explanation from weei.com of how enough salary cap space could be created to sign Carmelo after trading for Love.

http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2014/06/04/irish-coffee-the-celtics-carmelo-anthony-conundrum/

Here's the roster from the article.

Melo: $22.5M
Love: $15.7M
Rondo: $12.9M
Waiters: $4.1M
Faverani: $2.0M
Olynyk: $2.0M
TOTAL: $63.2M (including a $4.0M hit for stretching Wallace)

I think in that scenario, we're overpaying for Love and would need to throw in a pick or two for Waiters.  It doesn't mention the PTE which might be able to be used for Asik, but I'm not an expert on the CBA.

I would definitely be down for this scenario.

[Lucky17]

The writer of that article neglects to factor in minimum salary cap holds for vacant roster slots (Celtics must have 12 rostered players, or cap holds for any open slots). At rookie min salary levels (roughly $500K a pop, I think), those chip away at the offer the Celtics can make to Melo. Especially if the Celtics are shedding all but five players or so to find the cap room for Melo.

Also, there must be cap holds for the MLE (and the bi-annual exception?) factored in. If Ainge wants to maximize cap space, he'd have to renounce these as well. Can't use $20 mil of cap space to sign a FA and then -- presto -- also have the MLE to work with.

Oh yeah, that big TPE from the Nets trade: that also can't be used. There's a cap hold for that until July 14.

Academic, but no mention of Humphries' cap hold, or any of the other "historical" cap holds still on the Celtics books (Krstic, for example). Those also must be relinquished.

[Lucky17]

Again, I've yet to see a credible, feasible scenario by which the Celtics could create $20 million in cap space for Melo (or another big time FA).

Ainge would have burn a lot of decent assets, dump a ton of salary, and basically get ten cents on the dollar in a series of trades just to get close to that figure. It's just not worth it.

[badshar]

If it does come down to it where Phil Jackson has to choose whether he wants to trade with Houston or Boston, it will really be the test of his intelligence.

Does he want a bunch role players and nobody's (incoming from Houston) and do something with them (what do you do with them, trade them somewhere else?) or does he want picks to build through the draft (NY has like, 0 picks in the next couple of years)?

If he decides to deal with Houston instead without a star coming back (Harden and Howard aren't getting traded and no, Asik is not a star), then it looks like NY will continue to suck for quite some time with someone like Phil Jackson (who decides to decline better trade offer just because of Lakers/Celtics rivalry) leading the franchise.

[Evantime34]

The writer of that article neglects to factor in minimum salary cap holds for vacant roster slots (Celtics must have 12 rostered players, or cap holds for any open slots). At rookie min salary levels (roughly $500K a pop, I think), those chip away at the offer the Celtics can make to Melo. Especially if the Celtics are shedding all but five players or so to find the cap room for Melo.

Also, there must be cap holds for the MLE (and the bi-annual exception?) factored in. If Ainge wants to maximize cap space, he'd have to renounce these as well. Can't use $20 mil of cap space to sign a FA and then -- presto -- also have the MLE to work with.

Oh yeah, that big TPE from the Nets trade: that also can't be used. There's a cap hold for that until July 14.

Academic, but no mention of Humphries' cap hold, or any of the other "historical" cap holds still on the Celtics books (Krstic, for example). Those also must be relinquished.

I think Melo goes to Houston. I don't see Phil trading Melo in the division and it's extremely unlikely that we are able to create the space available for him.

[Lucky17]

The writer of that article neglects to factor in minimum salary cap holds for vacant roster slots (Celtics must have 12 rostered players, or cap holds for any open slots). At rookie min salary levels (roughly $500K a pop, I think), those chip away at the offer the Celtics can make to Melo. Especially if the Celtics are shedding all but five players or so to find the cap room for Melo.

Also, there must be cap holds for the MLE (and the bi-annual exception?) factored in. If Ainge wants to maximize cap space, he'd have to renounce these as well. Can't use $20 mil of cap space to sign a FA and then -- presto -- also have the MLE to work with.

Oh yeah, that big TPE from the Nets trade: that also can't be used. There's a cap hold for that until July 14.

Academic, but no mention of Humphries' cap hold, or any of the other "historical" cap holds still on the Celtics books (Krstic, for example). Those also must be relinquished.

I think Melo goes to Houston. I don't see Phil trading Melo in the division and it's extremely unlikely that we are able to create the space available for him.

I think Melo stays with the Knicks.

[Smokeeye123]

I'm for trying to get Marc Gasol for starting center....unless Drummond can be stolen.

He doesnT have all the mental issues of Sanders or Hibbert or Howard,  and is not fragile like BLopez.

getting Drummond - a million times yes!

Andre Drummond is untouchable and going nowhere. He is Detroit's only hope.

 Gasol/Jordan/Bogut/Hibbert could all be good anchors for us. The latter two would be buy low players who both have enormous impacts defensively. If you are building a team around Love it is MANDITORY to have a defensive anchor at the center position. If you don't you will get gutted like a fish and win nothing. 3point shooters and scorers are a dime a dozen and can be found relatively cheap. I'd rather invest my money into a center.

And if none of those centers are available I'd be totally for bringing back Perkins on the cheap.

Perkins contract is anything but cheap..

After next season I mean

[crimson_stallion]

I'd be up for this,  but [dang] that would be a historically bad defensive team. Even if you had the best defensive center and SG in the league,  they'd still struggle to cover for a trio of Rondo, Melo and Love.

Would score a ton of points though.