It's great and all that all these guys are giving their expert opinions on Melo

[Quetzalcoatl]

Why assume a 3rd superstar is required at all?

In today's era, if you want to go beat the Heat and win the Finals, you need three, not two.

So, the Spurs are dead in the water, I guess.

Their Big 3 is Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. I thought it was obvious by now? Plus, Spurs are different, since even if their stars are not all-time superstars, their coach and front office makes up for it by putting right talent around them and making them play the right way.

You're saying Ginobili is a star in today's NBA? I think he's a fine player, but I do not consider him a star. He may have been once.

If Ginobili is a star, does that make Chandler Parsons and Nic Batum stars? Both put up as good as, if not better, numbers than Ginobili this season. If so, why aren't Houston or Portland playing right now, if three stars are what you need to make the Finals?

Edit: to me, it's that last sentence that's key. Fit is as important as talent; the sum is greater than the individual parts. And this goes with Miami as well. They have terrific role players around their three stars.

Chandler Parsons - 37.6 Min per game
Batum - 36 MPG
Ginobli - 22.8 MPG

Batum averaged 13 pts, Ginobli averaged 12.  Ginobli can get you a bucket whenever you need one, he is just a force.  Those other two are great, but Ginobli is just a beast

[mmmmm]

At the two guard position,

I think up-and-comers like Klay Thompson or Bradley Beal would be great fits as a third star. Both are excellent jump-shooters who can handle the ball a bit and make some plays off the dribble. Two guys who can create a good amount of their own offense but are also highly effective off the ball and have proven to be effective alongside ball-dominant PGs (S.Curry, J.Wall).

I wonder a bit about how well Lance Stephenson would do alongside Rondo offensively. Stephenson has never played with a ball-dominant PG before + needs quite a bit of the ball himself + is a fairly mediocre player off-the-ball (offensively). That said, the combined strength of Rondo's & L.Stephenson's defense and rebounding would be one hell of an advantage for the Celtics. Perhaps somewhat similar to Wade & LeBron in that they (Rondo, L.Stephenson) might not be the smoothest fit together offensively but their combined strength in terms of defense + rebounding and their overall individual talent could be just too strong not to be able to overcome any offensive issues.

Who, would you put Gordon Hayward a notch below Beal and Klay on your two-guard list? Or would you prefer to see Hayward at the 3?

I would prefer Hayward stay at the 2 (where he played about 60% of his minutes this year).

Especially in the East, where he would be at a size disadvantage against some of the big 'power SFs' that are in this conference:  Lebron, Melo, Paul George, etc.   Jabari Parker is likely to end up in the east (probably Philly) and he's in that same mold.    Gordon may eventually play PF but will likely play SF his first few years while his body continues to grow.  If he gets by Utah, he's likely to end up in the East.  Fair chance some other combo 3/4 players like McDermott & Saric will end up in the East as well.   The SF position is basically getting bigger these days in both conferences, but especially in the East.

Most of these guys are all pushing at least 15-20 lb of muscle around over Hayward.

I like Hayward much better as a 'long 2'.

[jambr380]

Why assume a 3rd superstar is required at all?

In today's era, if you want to go beat the Heat and win the Finals, you need three, not two.

So, the Spurs are dead in the water, I guess.

Their Big 3 is Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. I thought it was obvious by now? Plus, Spurs are different, since even if their stars are not all-time superstars, their coach and front office makes up for it by putting right talent around them and making them play the right way.

You're saying Ginobili is a star in today's NBA? I think he's a fine player, but I do not consider him a star. He may have been once.

If Ginobili is a star, does that make Chandler Parsons and Nic Batum stars? Both put up as good as, if not better, numbers than Ginobili this season. If so, why aren't Houston or Portland playing right now, if three stars are what you need to make the Finals?

Edit: to me, it's that last sentence that's key. Fit is as important as talent; the sum is greater than the individual parts. And this goes with Miami as well. They have terrific role players around their three stars.

Chandler Parsons - 37.6 Min per game
Batum - 36 MPG
Ginobli - 22.8 MPG

Batum averaged 13 pts, Ginobli averaged 12.  Ginobli can get you a bucket whenever you need one, he is just a force.  Those other two are great, but Ginobli is just a beast

I agree that their 'Big 3' is probably still the same, but Leonard is awesome and easily one of the top 4s if we are extending past 3.

[JBcat]

I think most stars would work well alongside Rondo and K-Love. Those two guys do a lot to help their teammates and are both pretty easy to play alongside.

Kevin Love needs a strong interior defender next to him ... but aside from that, I think K-Love can play with anyone. I think all perimeter players would love to play with a big man as skilled as Kevin Love. He does such a great job of opening up the floor for his teammates and punishing scrambling defenses. So basically, just avoid poor defensive centers.

Rondo can play with pretty much any type of big man and most perimeter players. The perimeter players need to be able to play both on + off the ball. Not someone like Tyreke Evans who has only been effective on the ball so far in his career. I think Rondo would work as well with Melo as he did with Pierce. So, just avoid perimeter players who can't play off the ball.

That leaves a wide pool of star players to choose from.

I agree mostly with this.   Some star type centers who might not be ideal for defensive reasons that I could live with are:
Cousins
Gasol
Hortford (always liked him)
Even the current version of Al Jefferson and Kevin Love ( better than the old version when they played together)
Bosh (If Lebron left Miami he could go on the block.  Maybe not a true center but I think would work well with Love.)

Our offense especially with our frontline would be awesome with any of the above guys and I could live with Green and Bradley starting (for now at least).   If you signed a true defensive center backing up one of these guys a nice 3 big rotation could form. 

If you went the other way with your star player being either a SG or SF aside from Melo it might be harder to find.  Some could be:
Durant- I mean if OKC were ever afraid of losing him in free agency. Probably a pipe dream now and a year or 2 away from OKC even thinking it.   Would probably take every asset Ainge has leftover under his belt.
Paul George- If the Pacers ever implode with West getting older, and Hibbert & Stephenson on shaky ground
Evan Turner- kidding
Eric Gordon- risky but only 25 and his career could bounce back a little.  Would be a nice 3rd star.
Monta Ellis- If Dirk suddenly shows his age and the Mavs clean house.
from here it's really slim pickings as you have a bunch of young guys we would probably never be able to obtain at least for now like Thompson, Beal, and Derozan.

How about this for a twist.  Say Philly picking 3 loses out on Wiggins (seem to be higher on him than Parker) and suddenly puts the 3rd pick on the block.  If we can somehow move up with other assets to get Parker he could be our third guy if Ainge is hot for him (Seems to be.  He saw him play at least a couple games in person).  We would have a couple years to see how that mix works with Love only 25, and I see Rondo aging well with his smarts. 

[BigAlTheFuture]

^Gasol not ideal for defense? I thought he won DPOY last year.

[Celtics4ever]

it's not just people here.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/bob-ryan-i-dont-want-carmelo-anthony-0

Yep, Bob Ryan does not want him either!

[gpap]

I just think Melo makes so much sense as the 3rd guy.

NBA superstar who's yet to really attain any sort of playoff success, decides to ditch the bright lights of NYC for the Celtics tradition.

And, I also think Melo is getting a bad rap from critics (or should I say idiots like Felger and Mazz who don't even watch basketball.)

He's an amazing scorer and is too talented of a player to never end up winning a championship.

Not to mention, the NBA is a superstar league.

If you acquire 3 big names on one team like Love, Melo and Rondo, the chances of winning an NBA title increase exponentially.

[Roy H.]

I'm not down on Carmelo, but I don't see a realistic way to get him here.  It would require the Knicks agreeing to take back Wallace's contract, and I don't see why they'd do that.

That being the case, I'd rather pursue two lesser players that we have the resources to acquire, like Asik and Kevin Martin.

[Vermont Green]

If we get Love and then have a an opportunity to get Melo, that is a deal we would have t jump on.  Melo may not be perfect, he may have some flaws, but were are not going to get LeBron or Durant so Melo would be a great acquisition.

I think Melo would be at the top of all player other than LeBron or Durant.  I don't see how we could do any better than Melo.

[RJ87]

I'm not down on Carmelo, but I don't see a realistic way to get him here.  It would require the Knicks agreeing to take back Wallace's contract, and I don't see why they'd do that.

That being the case, I'd rather pursue two lesser players that we have the resources to acquire, like Asik and Kevin Martin.

Agree - I think we have a legit shot at Love, but all the Melo scenarios are far fetched. I'd like to have Melo for sure, but there's just no realistic way to get him here that would appeal to the Knicks.

[McHales Pits]

I'm not down on Carmelo, but I don't see a realistic way to get him here.  It would require the Knicks agreeing to take back Wallace's contract, and I don't see why they'd do that.

That being the case, I'd rather pursue two lesser players that we have the resources to acquire, like Asik and Kevin Martin.

Agree - I think we have a legit shot at Love, but all the Melo scenarios are far fetched. I'd like to have Melo for sure, but there's just no realistic way to get him here that would appeal to the Knicks.

When we have more 1st round picks than any other NBA team in the next 5-6 years, I guarantee a handful of them appeal to a team that has no 1st round picks to trade until 2019 (or somewhere around there)

[timpiker]

I'd take Melo....whatever gets us #18.  Its not like LeBum will be coming and maybe just maybe the rumors have some truth.  We need a superstar scorer and Rondo/Love is not enough.

BANNER 18 BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  TRUST IN DANNY.

[BigAlTheFuture]

Was wondering if a guy like Courtney Lee would be a great fit to our team with Love on it... lol

[Roy H.]

I'm not down on Carmelo, but I don't see a realistic way to get him here.  It would require the Knicks agreeing to take back Wallace's contract, and I don't see why they'd do that.

That being the case, I'd rather pursue two lesser players that we have the resources to acquire, like Asik and Kevin Martin.

Agree - I think we have a legit shot at Love, but all the Melo scenarios are far fetched. I'd like to have Melo for sure, but there's just no realistic way to get him here that would appeal to the Knicks.

When we have more 1st round picks than any other NBA team in the next 5-6 years, I guarantee a handful of them appeal to a team that has no 1st round picks to trade until 2019 (or somewhere around there)

Sure, draft picks are appealing.  However, so is cap space, especially to a team like the Knicks.  They can clear a ton of it for the 2015/16 season.  Why would they jeopardize that to take on Wallace, especially when there will be other teams bidding that won't require they accept an albatross contract?

[Kane3387]

Is it unlikely? Yes. Getting love is too. It's hard to get a top ten talent. Period. But...  If we wanted to trade all those picks we could get it done if the other teams would play ball.

It's not hard to trade players to teams under the cap if you attach picks. Look at how GS got iggy. Philly would be a prime place to take on salary for picks.

The Knicks would take on expiring salary for assets bc it does nothing to change their present cap situation good or bad.

Straight trade:
Green sully bogans and picks for love. That's a win now veteran, a good young player with potential, an instant cap dump, a lotto pick, and future picks like pick 17 and a Brooklyn pick..

Three way trade:
Wallace and a Brooklyn pick to Philly in absorbtion with cap space.
Bass Anthony and clippers pick to New York.
Melo in sign and trade to Boston.

That three way allows us to keep the TE. We could separate the three way into individual 2 team trades but we'd sacrifice the TE bc we'd have to use cap space as part of the melo sign and trade.