Might the Knicks trade Stoudamire AND Anthony?
For me one the things that people does not give Lin credit for(and he gets a lot of credit) is his ability to make the others play better. Shumpert and Fields are playing their best basketball of the season since Lin arrived and chandler is playing pretty well, i believe that this will happen with amare too since Lin is a great facilitator. And with melo I dont know how they will mesh since Melo demands the ball but since the knicks have another scoring weapon i believe melo will get higher percentage shots although he will get less shots.
D'antoni will need to control this group moreso than anything. Being that Lin is young and Melo has a huge on court presence D'antoni will hafta step up and control Melo's ego which should be extremely difficult.
D'antoni gave Melo the reigns b4, so will he take them back? we'll see if he has the balls next week becuase Melo will not willingly take a backseat on the offensive end to anyone.
I will trade you Andre Iguadola and this years 1st round pick or Spencer Hawes for Melo. Iggy would glue that team together and make it run even faster plus would team up with Shumpert and Chandler to give the Knicks a team that could actually stop the other team from scoring and create turnovers. Lin, Fields, Iggy, Amare, Chandler, with Shumpert, Hawes, Jeffries, Walker, and Douglass off the bench suddenly becomes a dangerous unpredictable basketball team like D'Antoni likes. If you thought Diaw looked good running point forward in D'Antoni's offense wait till you get a load of what Iggy would do.
But I forget Melo only wants to play in New York who found just found an Asian guy on their bench who in one week made everybody forget Melo was even on the team.
Melo has top value. Knicks could get a good deal for him. Keep Amre. Knicks could always try to get a package with Granger and with the Pacers, or even think in Gerald Wallace in portland. Not saying they will or even should but could. They are in a good position. Lin has proved by now that he is here to stay as Knicks starting Point Guard. If they move melo for a couple of soild consistant players and a team will do it it then Knicks will be that even more dangerous come Playoffs.
If it came to trading one of Melo or STAT, whilst unlikely either would be moved, I think it could be Melo as he is slightly younger, has less injury concerns and also Coach D'Antoni worked with STAT in Phoenix so may consider him more vital to his team plans.
It would be ironic if Melo was shifted and I would love to see his face, I suppose a fun deal could be send him to NJ for a package to include NJ's first round pick this year. The Knicks get a good lottery pick and D-Will gets a top level running mate but I could not see the Knicks wanting to make NJ relevant again.
I like the Philly deal suggested above as it would put Melo on a current winning team and the Knicks get someoe like Iggy who would be a great complimentary player for them.
I don't think Amare has much trade value because of the size of his contract and the fear that he is already declinging significantly athletically. I'm sure that Melo's value in the league has taken a deep hit in the last year. Everyone who has been saying for years that he is overrated can point to how the Knicks have become a worse than .500 team with him and Nuggets turned into a .600 or better team after the trade. Even this run, which is basically saying, get Melo off the court and a halfway decent pointguard can get you wins, is hurting Melo's stock. But Iggy or Granger, yeah those guys who have overpaid contracts you could probably still get those guys for Melo.
Remember, team owners (and idiot) James Dolan did this trade. He was the guy who kept adding pieces to get Melo. Melo is his guy and there is not a chance that Dolan is allowing a Melo trade.
Personally, I'd offer Melo and Chandler for a resigned D. Howard and maybe Turkolo to match up the salary. I know I just said Melo wasn't valuable, but lots of fans would consider that a huge win for the Magic. But for the Knicks, even D'Antonio couldn't end up with a bad defensive team with D. Howard patroling the paint. Howard would also make up for defensive limitations of Novak and frankly having a guy who apparently shoots over 50% from three is really a weapon the Knicks need to keep using. And once D'Antonio's system is being correctly run, I think the Knicks would still score enough. Chandler is playing off the hook, but Howard could catch and finish all those lobs as well.
I understand this is all speculation but Melo really gets no respect, they cant trade STAT so thats why I wont say anything about him as for Melo why trade him, he hasn't been a complete bust, injuries have really hurt this team starting last year, STAT and Billps dont get injured in the Playoffs who knows what happen, Melo doesnt get hurt game after game this year who knows what happens. If they sign Lin early on and give him the keys to the ship like he has lately who knows, point is trading him is stupid, every team needs a guy like Melo, come playoff time when 1 shot is needed who do teams go to, Miami has Wade but will go to LeBron, Chicago has Rose, Lakers have Kobe, Clippers have Paul, Oklahoma City has Durant, Dallas has Dirk and the Knicks have Carmelo, by trading him they're left with STAT who cant create his own shot and a bunch of role players who cant be counted on in the clutch.
Melo will be fine and can get back to focusing on scoring and rebounding like I said before 26/8/4 the rest of the way is how think it plays out, STAT going 20/10, Chandler going 12/10 and Lin slowing down and going about 12/8.
Jeremy Lin has played himself into having a career. He knows how to play the point guard spot (which not everyone can). He isn't a superstar. He has had a nice run with fresh legs against tired opposition who with the exception on the Lakers (a team with no point guards and were playing their fifth road game in eight nights) are bad teams. It doesn't make him a superstar. It doesn't make him Steve Nash. It doesn't mean the Knicks are going to value him more than Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire. It means that Mike D'Antoni now has no reason to trot out Iman Shumpert at the point when he has never shown an ability to run the point. It means Baron Davis doesn't get carried into MSG like a Roman emperor when he gets under 250 lbs. Those are good things for the Knicks. Just don't overdo it.
See, the Knicks are in a very tough position, and I believe that Anthony will come back and be able to thrive off wahtever the Knicks are doing right now, but what worries me is that in the Lakers game, the ball was moving so well. Guys would be making cuts and and screens, and then Lin would drive and dribble around and look to create for others. With Anthony the offense will become very stagmented, and there will be little ball movement, but if Anthony can feed off the offense and what Lin creates for him instead of trying to play aPoint Foward and run the offense while looking for his own at the same the time.
I believe Amare comes back tommorow, and Melo is a gametime decision for tommorow. If Amare plays, and Melo doesn't I'll be really interested to see how the Knicks offense does, compared to when Melo gets back, but If Lin can continue to run the offense the way he has, they'll be fine.
Another thing I noticed Friday night was how hard the Knicks played on Defense, they were hustling on every play, and brought the double on Kobe and Bynum imeadiatly. They knew their prioraties, and were more concered about Kobe and the bigs than a bunch of scrubs jacking threes, although Matt Barnes was toying with them to an extent, lol.
So they acquire these guys last year to make a championship run and now that they have a third scorer and PG (as well as Chandler and Fields) to complement those guys, they roll over and go into rebuilding mode?
WHYWHYWHY?
Lin, Chandler, and Fields does not = NBA Championship contender
The one trade idea i did come up with that would save face and not upset Melo as much would be Melo to the Lakers. I doubt they will do but if it come to it, they may be their only option. They can either do a 3 team deal or get Gasol and turn him into more players that they like. I see a possibly 3 team deal with Lakers, Rockets, and Knicks if Melo does not Mesh. Also JR Smith will be in the states next week.
Knicks could go undefeated the rest of this month.
It was good to see the Knicks finally getting down and playing defence in recent games, as a neutral I wonder if this last week or so could be a defining moment in the Knicks history. When they were 8-15, imagine if that was now say 9-19 or 10-18, how long would D'Antoni have been able to hold on?
They are now in a position to look to consolidate a play off spot and push back above .500 in due course, they need some consistency and not start trying to add further stars. They have the big 3 plus Lin and Fields to give a good starting 5, if Baron Davis ever gets back it gives them extra bench depth and surely they can add a decent veteran FA or two and with their resourses maybe look to buy into the draft if they see a late first rounder they like the look of.
I'm fairly neutral as far as the Knicks go but feel that a successful or at least competitive Knicks team is good for the NBA. I'm not saying they have any divine right to win titles but to see them comfortably in the play offs each year and winning a few series would generate a lot of revenue for the NBA.
On a lighter note, the last time there was a shortened season the Knicks reached the final, is that a lucky omen?
Melo is a "scorer" who is shooting 39% from the field and 29% from three. And he's taking almost 19 shots a game about 4 of which are threes. That's incredibly inefficient scoring. A large part is that he relying on taking people one on one which is not his biggest weapon. He is a shooter in the purest sense and the lack of open looks (most of the time this year he's spent fading away) is really not helping. With Lin playing the point and Melo moving off the ball we could really see him come into his own. I feel like relatively Melo's stock is low right now (for a perenial all star), they couldn't get what they should for a player of his caliber right now..
why is everyone bashing Melo? he is an established super-star, gold medalist, NCAA champion and top 3 scorer in the NBA...
might it be the coach's fault??? if you have Amare and Melo and you cant have a winning record, you should be FIRED...
i guarantee if they had Phil Jackson or Larry Brown theyd be a top team in the NBA
^To be honest, the talk isn't that crazy on the forum. Even though there are tons of theads, almost every post has a somewhat realistic assessment of his current and future potential, although this thread is the one exception. And ESPN has been sucking his balls all week.
Is there a chance the Knicks will buy nto the whole Linsanity and trade their two superstars?
Both still have great trade value and both aren't working out
Right now the Knicks have Lin, Shumpert and Fields as their backcourt - all three players very young and full of potential
If they get a good young SF, a good young PF and some good role players, maybe some picks, they will have a good starting lineup that should get better over the next 2 years and a good bench
Do you think this is a possibility? If so, who could they try and acquire?