Ujiri Hoping to Convince Melo to Stay

by Tommy Dee on September 1st, 2010 at 10:34 am

Via ESPN

“I think I’m going to convince him to be a Nugget,” Ujiri said, smiling. “No, I don’t know, I can’t make a judgment on that. Like I said, it’s a process and until he tells me that … we want him back, the city wants him back, ownership wants him back.”

There have been hints that Anthony might be thinking about moving on: his mansion in the Denver area is on the market and at his New York wedding to TV personality LaLa Vazquez this summer, there was that now famous toast by New Orleans point guard Chris Paul about reuniting with Melo in Gotham to form a super-team along with Amare Stoudemire to counter the Miami Heat‘s terrific trio.

To me, there is no more obvious reason that the Nuggets and Melo will eventually part ways than the candidates for the formerly vacant GM position. We mentioned David Griffin’s experience with dealing with an unhappy superstar, however he took his name out of the running. Ujiri is fresh off a similar situation with Chris Bosh in Toronto. Again, there will be no rush to deal Melo and the longer this drags, the better off for the Knicks.
  • knicks-yankees axis18

    tommy, what the knicks have to focus this year is WINNING and COMPETING…i think the best move the knicks management could do right now whether it be walsh or anybody is to somehow assure the players on our roster that that they are inportant to this team and they wont be trading them…i dont know how that conversation would go but they have to find out…trust me tommy, if the knicks dont win 40 plus this season and compete in the playoffs(unless injuries take a toll)..forget about melo, paul anybody else because itll be obvious that this team cant win games no matter who is here…the knicks have to be the milwaukee bucks or thunder of 2009…low expectations, surprise everyone…they have the talent they can do it!!!!!!!

  • knicks-yankees axis18

    i say 5-8th seed take the first round to AT LEAST 5-6 games…

  • traps9

    “trust me tommy, if the knicks dont win 40 plus this season and compete in the playoffs(unless injuries take a toll)..forget about melo, paul anybody else because itll be obvious that this team cant win games no matter who is here…”

    That makes absolutely no sense.

  • knicks-yankees axis18

    really it makes no sense? how many teams in the past have had stars probably 2 and cant be a winning team? you see its not about talent only its about the chemistry and fire within the team to WANT it more the other team not just worrying about personal stats like the knicks teams of the last 10 years…its not like we didnt have talent so before you judge about what makes sense understand what my point is

  • cms9675

    Listen the man said it himself. Melo didn’t say anything about not wanting to be in denver and until he does they are not shopping him. People just need to focus on what we have and not what we hope we can get. You guys are so focused on getting a player who may never suit up for us that you completely overlook the team we have. We will be good this year with or without melo or paul or any other player you think is just itching to play in ny. We finally have a young, athletic and talented team who actually want to play with each other and the first thing most people think about about is who we don’t have. Last year Lebron, this year Carmelo, Next year Paul or Williams. This has to stop!

  • HaS

    The Knicks have a better chance of trading for Durant than they have of getting he 5th seed as presently constructed.

  • knicks-yankees axis18

    thank you cms..finally someone here gets my point…we need to WIN now THIS YEAR we need to compete…i like to compare the milwaukee bucks of last year because if you look at their roster last year compared to ours this year they match pretty well talent wise even though ours has the slight edge because of amare…if they can do it why cant we?

  • knicks-yankees axis18

    and just to continue on cms point..if we do win…trust me evry free agent available will be here… we have it all, biggest market, biggest city, great fanbase, off the court opportunities, all we need to do is show these younger players that we can win…

  • traps9

    You’re still making no sense.

    You just said forget about Paul and Melo because no one will be able to win here. And, now, you’re talking about team chemistry when you have no idea the chemistry between the other potential ‘Big 3.’ You seriously believe that a team with Amar’e, Melo, and Paul wouldn’t win games if they all actually want New York? Seriously?

    We’re not just talking about talent. We’re talking about All-Stars and superstars. Come on, now.

  • knicks-yankees axis18

    yeah you seriously think that if we win 34 games and miss the playoffs carmelo and chris paul would want to come here???listen man we saw what happened with lebron..he went to miami cuz he wanted to win-thats my point, there was also a better chance of him going to chicago why??beacuse they made the playoffs, free agents want to go to a WINNING organization, at least show that they can compete so that the star free agent comes in to “Put the over the hump” so can carmelo anthony and chris paul with amare win games???of course i never said they cant but why would they want to come here if there are better teams that could have more success…damn my man its hard to get through to u wow

  • KnickFan4Life

    With my thickest NYC accent possible, “Good luck wit dat Uri.”

  • Brad Lohaus 54

    how do u know this?

  • cms9675

    To tell the truth we really don’t know how good this team will be until we see them play.

  • JeffM729

    Ujiri didn’t that the job to trade Melo. He took it to build a team around him. Given that Denver will not get equal value for Melo, there is little point in dealing him now.

    The only way waiting longer helps the Knicks is if their “assets” improve via on the court performance. If Gallo and Randolph flash star potential, it’s better. If they struggle or are plagued with injuries, it’s not. Their play will primarily determine whether Denver will consider a trade to the Knicks. There’s really no one else on the roster to consider as a centerpiece.

    Another factor will be the competitive standing towards the trade deadline. If a team is battling for 8th spot or looking at Melo as the key to a ring, his value will go up.

    Waiting might be good for the Knicks, but that’s not the only scenario. Having a blind optimism towards everything and anything favoring the Knicks is unfounded.

  • gianthinker

    What else was Ujiri to say? “We’re going to get rid of our franchise player as soon as possible. There is no way we want him around anymore.” Of course he’s going to try to keep Melo in Denver. Thats his job.

  • bmathews77

    Unless Ujiri pulls off some blockbuster trades to get someone like Chris Paul or someone like that, Melo is not going to stay in Denver. He’ll be walking as a free agent next summer.

  • KV

    It’s amazing how ppl judge this game…..melo is leaving…3 big men are out for a nice portion of the season…..nene, kenyon and birdman….let the knicks play, ball hard and make a trade for cp3 ( which will happen ) and melo will be more content….we don’t have the best team but we do have better team……defensively and offensive on paper….
    I believe in STAT’s ability to help train prospects like Rudolph and Mozgov…..as well as help Gallo and Willie on their post moves….it will be an interesting season.

  • PickNY

    Thanks KV for your optimistic views, unlike a lot of these bone-head poster spreading their negativity! No matter what we have a new team than what we had:>)

    Enough with the BS trade scenario’s! You ain’t running sh*t, so keep your dream to yourselves!

  • http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/09/02/melo-will-be-a-nugget-for-the-foreseeable-future/ Melo Will Be a Nugget for the “Foreseeable Future” | TheKnicksBlog.com

    [...] As we said yesterday, Denver isn’t in a rush to trade Melo. What is clear is that at this point the Nuggets don’t feel the need to get 10 cents on a dollar for a world-class player seeing that he;s not itching to extend anywhere else. If he were traded to NY, it would be different. Bottom line is this. If Melo decides that he wants to extend elsewhere than NY or Denver then he will be traded to another city. If he doesn’t, the Knicks may end up getting Melo at some point during the season without having to give away too much. [...]