The Nuggets and new vice president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, just introduced Tuesday to the local media, are not close to announcing a Carmelo Anthony trade.
Sorry to disappoint again: Anthony isn’t even on the market.
Not yet, anyway…The Nuggets can do nothing to prevent the future of Anthony – along with Chris Paul and Deron Williams (“I have a feeling he’s next for all these trade stories,” one Western Conference team official said of D-Will) – from becoming the new season’s sidebar obsession to the actual basketball. But they can tell teams that call about Anthony that they’re not ready to discuss potential Melo trade scenarios.
If your head is spinning, think of it this way. If an NFL team has a free agent whom they don’t feel confident they can re-sign to a long-term deal, they hold the card of applying the franchise tag and either retaining the player’s services for another year — albeit at a high price — or receiving two first rounders, depending on how the scenario develops.
Given the power exerted by NBA players during this summer’s free agency period, and the power plays Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have attempted on their current teams, the franchise tag would seem to be an appealing option for owners if they want to keep a star player from leaving via free agency. One former general manager agrees.
“The franchise tag would be a huge hit for the owners,” said Steve Kerr, who returned to TNT’s broadcast booth as its lead game analyst after three years as general manager of the Phoenix Suns. “One of the biggest issues they’re trying to accomplish with this next CBA is cutting down the length of guaranteed contracts and getting rid of dead money — when a guy signs a $100 million deal and he gets injured.”
Or basically the Eddy Curry situation…Look, it’s a good idea and we know football is a different animal but most players, particularly stars, hate the franchise tag. It causes great friction. But that’s because NFL players need guaranteed money in lump sums. I believe it could be good for the league, but I don’t know if the players would ever sign for it.
This happens. This is sports. Everyone declines, even the greats, unless they leave before their feet touches the ground. Just like taxes and a Mark Cuban rant toward a referee, it’s inevitable. And it usually doesn’t happen suddenly; most of us can see it coming, for a variety of reasons: age, competition or a change in team dynamics.
That said, here are 10 players who appear most vulnerable to a slide in 2010-11, and why:
Amar’e Stoudemire (Knicks): He lost Steve Nash and he gained a potentially hostile crowd. Those are the hazards facing Stoudemire in his new digs. The Nash factor is very real; Stoudemire owes a bunch of his highlights to a point guard who excelled in the pick-and-roll and knew how to deliver the ball. As for the New York atmosphere, it might get gruesome should the Knicks falter and/or their new big man fail to meet the steep expectations. If you recall, Stoudemire was a bit touchy last spring when he was called out in the postseason. Therefore, is he too sensitive to deal with media that’s triple the size of what he saw in Phoenix, and twice as skeptical?
I guess we’ll see. He looked pretty good in the playoffs just a few months back…
As I covered in my chat yesterday, and as ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting today, NBA teams that have called about Carmelo are not finding a very receptive Nuggets team, and most of the conversations have ended before they have started.
The Nuggets are hoping to meet with Carmelo personally in the coming days. Teams that have gotten the Nuggets to talk about it say until Denver gets a sense of where things really are they are proceeding as though Carmelo will be in camp and that he will be a Nugget for the foreseeable future.
It’s funny how the message changes when there is actually someone to talk with.
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.
The coaching staff will tell you nobody has worked harder than Douglas this offseason. The second-year Florida State product has done two-a-days at their Westchester compound since the beginning of May — save for a two-week break in July.
Douglas, the Knicks’ most tenacious defender, said one of the reasons he has worked so hard is he wants to be a leader this season. There were none during last season’s 29-53 campaign.
“I had an OK rookie year, but this year I want to be more vocal and be one of the leaders on the court,” Douglas said. “At the same time, you can’t be a leader if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. If people are slacking, I’ll tell them. If I’m slacking, I want them to tell me.”
We’ve talked about at length how leadership was an issue in the locker room last year. No one is a bigger fan of what Douglas brings to the table than I am. I know the coach wants him to see the floor more and learn how to be a traditional point, but as far as I’m concerned the guy possesses all the great qualities in a young rotation guard. Defensively, he’s a pest on the ball and is tremendous in the passing lanes. How many steal/layups did he have when he started getting regular minutes last year? He fights over screens and can rebound. Offensively, he can knock down shots in catch and shoot opportunities, he can get past his man and hit mid range and he can move the ball when not looking to score. And he’s very adept at the pick and roll. Aside from defense, I wouldn’t say he’s great at anything yet, but he’s a complete player who I’m looking for to have a really strong sophomore campaign.
And it looks like he’s putting the work in to make that happen. Add that to the list of great qualities.
“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.
Again, I maintain based on strong information that Melo will not sign an extension with any other team than the Knicks…He’s confident that he’ll get paid CBA or not. Right or wrong that seems to be his stance at this point in time.
the second game, however, the New York Knicks second round pick was limping noticably in the first half and never really got rolling.Head coach Leo Rautins admitted after the game, he probably should not have played him in the second half.
When the Canadian team took the floor for warmups prior to the France game, Rautins was in jeans and looking extremely dejected at the thought of not playing.
Without Rautins, the load on point guard Jermaine Anderson becomes even bigger. Anderson, who has played almost his entire National team career without a true backup, will have to log big minutes and be an offensive force against France if Canada is to have a chance in the game.
It’s been a tough first summer for the Knicks first pick in the 2nd round.
To take the sting off of it a little bit, consider the report coming out about a possible starting five of Felton-Gallinari-Randolph-Stoudemire-Turiaf. That’s a lot of size right there. Even with the waif-like wings, you’re still looking at considerable height to provide a rebounding asset, if not advantage. But if we move past defense and accept that this team is only marginally likely to make the playoffs and if they do, they are likely fodder, we have to see how bloody fun this team is apt to be. Forget the whole Warriors-Raptors concepts of the last few years, those teams were built on a system which then went out and got whatever players were affordably priced for what they were attempting (or in the Raptors case, reasonably priced with a few plastic explosive exceptions). And forget even the Suns, who were dependent on one player’s brilliance, and the other players’ ability to siphon off that player (yes, one of them is the same player who is now the lynch pin in our Madison Square Petrie Dish). This is just tall, athletic guys who can throw the round thing in the circular thing repeatedly.
Gallo is hardly a “waif” and it sounds like Randolph has gained 20-something pounds. And with Felton and Toney Douglas on the ball, that’s a great start defensively. So they have to be better on defense. Again, the team has to be in the top half in total defense. Yes, I can see a situation where the team struggles mightily. defensively. If that’s the case and it’s obvious that the team can’t play at anywhere near a championship level in this system, the coach should be shown the door. He’s been given the talent to win many more games this year.
No more excuses. But I’m not about to assume guilt by association. The team is improved, and it’s up to the coach to manage the roster and prove that his system can overachieve like it did for stretches during December and January.
We’ve heard “This is the year!” in regards to Randolph’s imminent breakout almost more times than we’ve heard Cubs fans say it about winning the World Series. But it’s very, very possible that this is the year for him, finally, because he’s about to play for an offensive-minded coach who won’t bury him at the end of the bench like in Golden State. Depending on how Mike D’Antoni fleshes out his lineup, Randolph could even end up a starter, which means his tremendous length and athleticism could finally come out to shine in the league’s most historic basketball city.
Tommy Dee has watched every Knick game since 1988, it's a record that he holds close to his heart, and with apologies to Cal Ripken, believes this is one heck of a streak.
He feels the team needs: perimeter defense, an attitude adjustment, to remove all position-confused guards, someone to protect the rim, and players who respect the jersey.
He also feels basketball is the greatest gift the city has given to its people and can't wait for the day a playoff win actually takes place in the Garden.
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Source close to the situation: "#melo still has every intention of battling Miami as a Knick" 2 days ago
Neither do I but he def could RT @DinoNYK: @TommyDeeTKB any chance knicks keep gallo and get melo? I dont see him surviving till free agency 2 days ago
No, I wouldn't. Again, i think Melo isn't bluffing about becoming a free agent. could be wrong tho. RT @HankKnight Would you do that trade? 2 days ago
I would say yes absolutely. RT @Dnussbaum: @TommyDeeTKB Do the Knicks get Melo if the give up Gallo, AR, Curry and a first? 2 days ago
not this one. RT @HPbasketball I write a Knicks piece on how awesome they are. Knicks fans think I'm hating. sigh. 2 days ago
