Boy if Melo became available I'd bite.
He impressed me with his last full healthy year in NY. Kept his mouth shut, kept his head down, and had one of his most productive seasons EVER, and was rather efficient.
He can score just as well (if not better) than LeBron, he rebounds, he can dish. He showed defensive improvements, too.
If he can be had I'd love that.
A LaMarcus, Melo and WCS frontline would make me happy if Danny could pull that off.
Party like it's 2008 all over again.
I have to agree.
I really don't get the mentality of guys around here - anybody who can score but isn't a great defender immediately gets labelled as soft, as a cancer, as a chucker, as a bad team player, etc.
Melo had his diva moments when he left Denver for New York, but since then I actually feel like he's upheld himself very well. Since joining the Knicks I rarely hear of him ever making bad comments in the media. Last free agency, he handled himself well - didn't talk too much, didn't go requesting trades, nothing. Just quietly spoke to all of his suiters, and then signed back with the Knicks despite them not really having a lot of potential (no cap space / picks / talent at the time).
Unlike some prima-donna stars (ahem Lebron, Rose) I feel llike Melo has really improved his attitude a lot in the past 3 or 4 seasons.
Also no matter what others seem to believe, I don't see Melo as a soft guy at all. He's as clutch as they come, and he backs down from nobody - he seems to have no problem taking contact and putting his body on the line. Plus every time we play against Melo, the guys scares the hell out of me - I'm forever worried he's just going to take over and score 60. He's the type of offensive talent that opposing teams build their entire gameplan around trying to stop (or at least slow down) - that's how much attention he draws.
Melo is a Kobe/Jordan like offensive player in that he has that killer instinct - when he gets in the zone, he is absolutely undefendable. He's probably top four n the NBA (along with Lebron, Kobe and Harden) at making difficult shots - by that I mean fadeaways, shots with a hand in his face, shots with contact, etc). That makes him incredibly difficult to guard because for Melo taking a shot with a hand in his face is not that different to taking a wide open shot. All you can do is try to deny him the ball (easier said then done), foul him (he's a very good FT shooter) or try to throw 3 defenders at him (in which case he's a good enough passer to find the open man).
Yeah I know he's a bad defender (or more appropriately, a lazy defender - he's actually capable of defending when he tries) but he's a perimeter player and we have very good perimeter defenders. We can afford to have one guy whos a bad defender, as long as said guy is an ELITE offensive player, which Melo certainly is.
People say Melo isn't a winner, as he's never won a title. But to be fair look at the teams he's had - has he ever REALLY played on a championship caliber team? I mean he's played on some 'pretty good' teams, sure...but GREAT teams? I don't think so. The Knicks team a few seasons back (with healthy Amare and Chandler) was probably the best team he's ever played on, and that team actually did pretty well. He also got relatively deep in the playoffs on one or two of his nuggets teams, despite them never really being elite teams.
Melo is a pretty competitive guy - when I watch him play on the big stage, he always looks like he's putting in 110% effort, even if his team doesn't always win.
I don't know, I kinda feel like people don't give the guy the respect he deserves, yet guys like Harden and Durant (who are also volume shooters who don't defend) get put up on a pedestal and worshipped.
To me Melo impresses me more than either of those two guys because he's not an elite athlete by any stretch of the imagination. He's around 6'8" and 240 pounds so he is (like Pierce) very strong...but his length and height for his position are good (rather than great), and he doesn't have dominant quickness laterally or speed end-to-end. Much like Paul Pierce, he dominates opponents with basketball IQ, offensive skillset, footwork, body control and pure determination. I respect that.
The guy straight up knows how to play, which is why I think Melo (like Pierce) will still be a very effective player in to his mid-to-late 30s so long as he stays healthy.
Topic: Would Danny go after Melo if we land Gasol, Aldridge, or Love? (Read 5442 times)