Could landing Melo be easier than landing Love?

[gpap]

I wrote about this a while back and thought I would revisit it.

It's obvious (or maybe posturing by Saunders) that landing Love may not be easy.

Regardless, what complicates things is Love is under contract for one more year and it sounds like Saunders is going to play hardball.

It also wouldn't surprise me if Saunders doesn't trade Love and hangs onto him for one more season because of his wild ego.

On the other hand, Melo has more leverage. He's at the point where Love will be next year and that he can opt out of his deal with the Knicks this summer.

If Melo either doesn't exercise his ETO or does but then agrees to a sign and trade, I think we have plenty of assets for the Knicks (draft picks, young players like Sully/Olynyk) and they could possibly start rebuilding their team.

For the Celts, we get our star as well as re-sign Pierce for 2 more years and acquire a center (Sanders or Asik.)

Also, if we land Melo, I am fairly confident we'll land another star. It may not be this summer, but if Love opts out of his deal next year, Boston becomes increasingly appealing.

Ultimately, it all depends on how interested Melo would be in coming to Boston and/or if the Knicks would be interested in doing a deal involving sending their star player to a rival city.

[LilRip]

call me crazy, but i don't think Melo would want to leave the knicks, regardless if they're winning or losing. Additionally, i don't know if phil jax would want to ship out his only star as his first move.

i would love to trade for melo though.

[Kane3387]

Jackson Hates us with a passion. He won't help melo come here to join rondo and love. His wife would kill him if he did. But seriously he won't help melo get to Boston.

[Clench123]

Nah...this is the hard way.  We better get Love if we want to get Melo or we don't get any of 'em

[j804]

Melo is plan b if we don't land Love guaranteed Ainge will go hard at Melo. Rondo hinted to it. He's not going to show his hand or any interest right now because it'd serve him no good. If Saunders plays hardball bet we tell him ok fine we're going after Melo good negotiating tactic too.

If we miss out on both you think Rondo's going to stick around? He'll be gone by the trade deadline too.

[j804]

Jackson Hates us with a passion. He won't help melo come here to join rondo and love. His wife would kill him if he did. But seriously he won't help melo get to Boston.

Knicks are in the Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.ter right now if it expedites their rebuild why wouldn't he do it? KO is a perfect fit for the triangle 

[SparzWizard]

Melo just gotta show how much of a joke Phil Jokerson is.

Leave Carmelo, you ain't winning any championships in New York with that kind of roster and FO.

[Nef-Oracle]

Imo yes. He's underrated but is a better player than people think. He'll be easier to have him than Love. If he exercise his eto we'll sign him or trade for him. Seriously i think we should trade Green, Bass, Anthony, Bogans, CJ, CB & #17 for him. With #17 NY could draft someone like TJ Warren, Capela or Payne. If we can add Greg Monroe then resign Bradley, Bayless, Humph & draft Gordon at #6 our roster will be:
PG: Rondo, Pressey
SG: Bradley, Bayless
SF: Melo, Gordon
PF: Sully, Olynyk, Humph
C: Monroe, Iverson, Fav

[Nef-Oracle]

Imo yes. He's underrated but is a better player than people think. He'll be easier to have him than Love. If he exercise his eto we'll sign him or trade for him. Seriously i think we should trade Green, Bass, Anthony, Bogans, CJ, CB & #17 for him. With #17 NY could draft someone like TJ Warren, Capela or Payne. If we can add Greg Monroe then resign Bradley, Bayless, Humph & draft Gordon at #6 our roster will be:
PG: Rondo, Pressey
SG: Bradley, Bayless
SF: Melo, Gordon
PF: Sully, Olynyk, Humph
C: Monroe, Iverson, Fav

[Irish Stew]

I have tried to put together a trade that I hope is legal because it involves trading 8 players and a draft choice for Anthony. It is based on the assumption that the Knicks want no part of either Wallace or Green because of their contracts. If they just let Anthony walk for nothing, at the end of next season they will probably have about 12 million against the cap, a great situation for a rebuild. I would offer the #6 pick, Olynyk, Bass, Faverani, Joel Anthony, Bogans,Pressey,Johnson and Babb. All of this comes to 22+ million in contracts. Everyone but Olynyk would be off the Knicks books either immediately or by the end of next season. We can also add as many draft choices as we need to. We then acquire Asik for the TPE and a future first round pick.

[BballTim]

I wrote about this a while back and thought I would revisit it.

It's obvious (or maybe posturing by Saunders) that landing Love may not be easy.

Regardless, what complicates things is Love is under contract for one more year and it sounds like Saunders is going to play hardball.

It also wouldn't surprise me if Saunders doesn't trade Love and hangs onto him for one more season because of his wild ego.

  I think Flip would be replaced as GM in a heartbeat if he did that.

[GreenWarrior]

I wrote about this a while back and thought I would revisit it.

It's obvious (or maybe posturing by Saunders) that landing Love may not be easy.

Regardless, what complicates things is Love is under contract for one more year and it sounds like Saunders is going to play hardball.

It also wouldn't surprise me if Saunders doesn't trade Love and hangs onto him for one more season because of his wild ego.

On the other hand, Melo has more leverage. He's at the point where Love will be next year and that he can opt out of his deal with the Knicks this summer.

If Melo either doesn't exercise his ETO or does but then agrees to a sign and trade, I think we have plenty of assets for the Knicks (draft picks, young players like Sully/Olynyk) and they could possibly start rebuilding their team.

For the Celts, we get our star as well as re-sign Pierce for 2 more years and acquire a center (Sanders or Asik.)

Also, if we land Melo, I am fairly confident we'll land another star. It may not be this summer, but if Love opts out of his deal next year, Boston becomes increasingly appealing.

Ultimately, it all depends on how interested Melo would be in coming to Boston and/or if the Knicks would be interested in doing a deal involving sending their star player to a rival city.

as for Love. they pretty much have to trade Love before the season now imo. they wait till the trade deadline and they'll get less in return. plus with the mini-bash from Saunders over the weekend.

the signs are there that Love is already gone imo. Saunders taking the head coaching job was/is the biggest sign thus far imo. he knows no competent coach would be willing to lead the "Rubio era" so he's basically falling on the sword for the organization, knowing they're going to be pretty bad next yr., kind of like what Ml Carr did for us. 

I think both NY and Minn. have to face reality and not let personal feelings get in the way and ultimately do what's best for the organization.

[celticsfan8591]

I don't know if it'll be easier; I think there's a chance Melo stays with Knicks and there's no way Love stays in Minnesota.  That said, I'd rather go after Melo.  I think he's a better player than Love and gives you more flexibility since he can play either forward spot (I think he's better at the 4).  If we get Melo and Asik I think they and Rondo could be the foundation of a very good team. 

[GreenWarrior]

my biggest reason for not wanting Melo is his reasons for leaving Denver. he just wanted to go to NY because it's "New York!!!". it makes me question his mentality when the team he was on wasn't that bad. and the team he was going to, just traded everything they had to acquire him. obviously things could have worked out a little differently had Amare been healthy, but he wasn't. so that Nick team still wasn't likely going to be much better than the Denver team he left.

[nickagneta]

Let's talk some reality here. First off the front offices of the Celtics and the Knicks do not like each other and aren't going to do each other any favors to help the other team out. So in any sign and trade expect to give up a ton of draft picks for Melo. Also remember any sign and trade can not happen until after July first so none of this year's pick would be going to NY.

Next, Carmelo is desperate to add a ring or two after seeing the Miami Three get theirs. He will not be willing to jump into a situation like he did in NY where an incomplete team out of the playoffs was still trying to add pieces just to compete. He's going to want to go to a team already competing for a chip. That rules out Boston.

Melo also has a wife that is rooted in NY and would only move to another huge city and one where their players didn't supposedly insult here. Again rule out Boston.

Lastly, for the Celtics to clear enough cap space just to sign here, if NY wouldn't do a sign and trade, they would have to gut their team giving away players for trade exceptions and maybe even send out some picks just to get a team to do the deal where Boston wouldn't take salary back. That would make rebuilding around Rondo and Melo tougher.

Just the more you realistically think about the whole situation the more its apparent that unless we have Love and maybe someone else that has some star like potential along with Rondo and Boston has already proven they can win, the less likely it is for Anthony to try to force a trade to Boston, force a trade and sign to Boston or would want to sign outright in Boston.