It's official : Danny doesn't care about Melo

[csfansince60s]

What the heck can the Clippers offer if they aren't moving Griffin, DeAndre, or CP3?

Knicks apparently really like Rivers, so him, Crawford, maybe Redick, Brice Johnson, a way in the future 1st, etc.  Not a ton, but not a terrible trade either, especially if Boston or Cleveland aren't putting any real assets on the table.

I agree.

I also wonder if an offer of Rozier, Mickey, (ples Zeller/Amir) our '18 first, Memphis' pick and our early second this year would be more attractive for a blowing it up team.

I guess it depends on what Jackson values more Rivers and some old guys along with no immediate value draft picks or Rozier, some scrubs and better, more immediate picks.

Hard to judge.

[MBunge]

Ainge is caught between a rock and a hard place on this "stars" thing. He places a priority on saving cap space for the summer, but the pickings will be scant for his needs, and odds are he'll get shut out.

I wish the media would pin him down on what his strategy is to improve this team--other than moving to the next generation of players with those Nets picks.

It's disheartening to see him so cozy with McCarty, who I regarded as a zero when he played for the Rickster. I suspect many of you weren't around when Pitino was train wrecking the Celtics.

I'm not sure where this team is going from here. Oddly enough, signing a Sanders or a Noel would fix their current problems up front and make them better. I hope Ainge has sense enough to do that. I'm not sure he'll be successful at much of anything else--other than taking a stab with that Nets pick in the draft.

Pitino wasn't as bad as he was made out to be.  He drafted Pierce, re-signed Walker, acquired Tony Battie and left the team with the Nuggets 1st round pick in any year from 2001-2004 (with some protections) as well as the better of the Jazz/Suns 2001 1st.  Even some of his "bad" moves like signing Knight he overcame a bit of by trading Knight straight up for Battie.  And yeah he traded Billups, but Billups took years to develop and Kenny Anderson was an integral part of that fun little team in the early 2000's.  At the end of the day, when Pitino resigned he left Boston every single one of its own 1st's, as well as two additional first round picks, Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, Kenny Anderson, Tony Battie, etc.  His tenure wasn't quite as bad as it was made out to be.

No, it was pretty much just that terrible.  Pitino wasn't as spectacularly incompetent as, say, Isiah Thomas was when he ran the Knicks but a disaster doesn't have to be a bad as the Titanic to qualify as a disaster.  Boston was 36-46 his first year and that was the best winning percentage of his tenure.  He made plenty of bad moves and even worse, just infused the franchise with a thorough douchiness that was only exaggerated when he insisted on holding a public pity party for himself.

Mike

[Who]

How is Melo going to work on the Clippers?

CP3 is one of the biggest ball-hogs on the league. Griffin needs a lot of touches. Throw in Melo's selfishness on top of that ... where is the ball movement? How is that offense going to work? I can't see anything other than a "his turn, my turn" situation.   

Melo's ego is too big too come off the bench which is a shame because it would be the ideal role for him on that Clippers team.

[bogg]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

[slamtheking]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

that may very well be the case but the key to bringing Melo here even more than cost, is where does he fit in?  can he live with limited touches with IT running the starting unit?  will he still be allergic to playing D?  what stink will he make if he's coming off the bench (which is really what he should be doing if he's added to this roster --> not because he's not a better scorer than Crowder but that Crowder's D seems more integral to the starting unit).

[wdleehi]

How is Melo going to work on the Clippers?

CP3 is one of the biggest ball-hogs on the league. Griffin needs a lot of touches. Throw in Melo's selfishness on top of that ... where is the ball movement? How is that offense going to work? I can't see anything other than a "his turn, my turn" situation.   

Melo's ego is too big too come off the bench which is a shame because it would be the ideal role for him on that Clippers team.

That's my dream scenario.

Blake lets them know he is going to leave.   Clippers trade him to the Celtics before they lose him for nothing. 

[bogg]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

that may very well be the case but the key to bringing Melo here even more than cost, is where does he fit in?  can he live with limited touches with IT running the starting unit?  will he still be allergic to playing D?  what stink will he make if he's coming off the bench (which is really what he should be doing if he's added to this roster --> not because he's not a better scorer than Crowder but that Crowder's D seems more integral to the starting unit).

The fit isn't that hard - short term he takes over Amir's spot in the starting lineup (as Amir will now be gone) as a small ball four in an Isaiah-Avery-Crowder-Melo-Horford starting lineup that looks a lot like the small ball lineups Brad already closes out games with. He'll give them some more offensive pop during those periods when Isaiah's on the bench and a second scoring threat come playoff time when teams game plan for Isaiah. Given that his other two preferred locations were both star-heavy squads with at least three entrenched guys, I don't think he's planning on getting up 25 shots a night in any scenario.

Long term? Hopefully he settles in as the 3a option on offense behind Isaiah and Jimmy Butler and just ahead of Horford.

[RockinRyA]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

that may very well be the case but the key to bringing Melo here even more than cost, is where does he fit in?  can he live with limited touches with IT running the starting unit?  will he still be allergic to playing D?  what stink will he make if he's coming off the bench (which is really what he should be doing if he's added to this roster --> not because he's not a better scorer than Crowder but that Crowder's D seems more integral to the starting unit).

The fit isn't that hard - short term he takes over Amir's spot in the starting lineup (as Amir will now be gone) as a small ball four in an Isaiah-Avery-Crowder-Melo-Horford starting lineup that looks a lot like the small ball lineups Brad already closes out games with. He'll give them some more offensive pop during those periods when Isaiah's on the bench and a second scoring threat come playoff time when teams game plan for Isaiah. Given that his other two preferred locations were both star-heavy squads with at least three entrenched guys, I don't think he's planning on getting up 25 shots a night in any scenario.

Long term? Hopefully he settles in as the 3a option on offense behind Isaiah and Jimmy Butler and just ahead of Horford.

The team lacks rebounding and defense. Take away Amir for Melo and you compound that weakness. Add the fact that Melo hurts as flexibility and this is a no brainer.

[bogg]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

that may very well be the case but the key to bringing Melo here even more than cost, is where does he fit in?  can he live with limited touches with IT running the starting unit?  will he still be allergic to playing D?  what stink will he make if he's coming off the bench (which is really what he should be doing if he's added to this roster --> not because he's not a better scorer than Crowder but that Crowder's D seems more integral to the starting unit).

The fit isn't that hard - short term he takes over Amir's spot in the starting lineup (as Amir will now be gone) as a small ball four in an Isaiah-Avery-Crowder-Melo-Horford starting lineup that looks a lot like the small ball lineups Brad already closes out games with. He'll give them some more offensive pop during those periods when Isaiah's on the bench and a second scoring threat come playoff time when teams game plan for Isaiah. Given that his other two preferred locations were both star-heavy squads with at least three entrenched guys, I don't think he's planning on getting up 25 shots a night in any scenario.

Long term? Hopefully he settles in as the 3a option on offense behind Isaiah and Jimmy Butler and just ahead of Horford.

The team lacks rebounding and defense. Take away Amir for Melo and you compound that weakness. Add the fact that Melo hurts as flexibility and this is a no brainer.

Carmelo's defensive rebounding numbers are identical to Amir's over the last two seasons even though Carmelo's generally played a position or two "up" from Amir. It really doesn't look like rebounding would be affected. As it is they're already getting killed inside - you can match size with size, but Paul Millsap or Dwight Howard would cost a Nets pick and Boogie isn't getting traded. The other option is to run and shoot size off the court and force teams to match you with an extra swingman - the Warriors' approach. That isn't to say that the resultant version of Boston would be as good as Golden State (they wouldn't be), but they would make life a whole lot tougher for the types of bigs that are typically hidden on Amir right now and allowed to go nuts on the offensive glass.

[Bobshot]

I'm not totally buying it. This sounds more like Ainge shot down an offer of Carmelo for a Nets pick without making a counter offer than a "we wouldn't take him for free" scenario. If his value drops enough (and it seems like it's in the basement now) I wouldn't be shocked to see Boston revisit talks with the Knicks.

That was a year ago, the way I read the ESPN article. We have no idea what he thinks now, in the Celtics present situation.

The article was about the Clippers-Knicks, and that really should be the title of the thread.

[hpantazo]

The thread title is inherently innacurate. Nothing is ever official when it comes to Ainges interests and opinions on players and trades, not even when he actually makes a trade.

[Chris22]

Let Melo continue to mess up the Knicks.
Why should we bail them out?
Pass the Honey Nut Cheerios.

[BE-Celtic]

The thread title is inherently innacurate. Nothing is ever official when it comes to Ainges interests and opinions on players and trades, not even when he actually makes a trade.

Official and true are not the same thing

[Ogaju]

I still do not understand why Melo cares about whether he comes off the bench or not. All players start the game on the bench. If he does not want to come off the bench he should remain standing until his number is called.

[bogg]

Let Melo continue to mess up the Knicks.
Why should we bail them out?
Pass the Honey Nut Cheerios.

Nobody's suggesting bailing the Knicks out. The only posters who want him want to take advantage of their dysfunction to add him for next to nothing.