Carmelo Anthony still hopes to persuade the Denver Nuggets to trade him, preferably to either the Chicago Bulls or New York Knicks, an NBA source with knowledge of Anthony's wishes told Yahoo! Sports.
The Knicks have limited assets to offer the Nuggets, which makes the
Bulls a more appealing potential trade partner. The Bulls can offer a
replacement small forward in Luol Deng, as well as two young forwards in James Johnson and Taj Gibson.
New York officials would like to make a run at signing Anthony next
summer if he were to opt to become a free agent. The Knicks will have
salary-cap room with Eddy Curry's contract expiring after the season.
Similar to the last story, but this one is from a legitimate NBA Insider. This situation is getting annoying because it's more or less all talked out. There's nothing for the Bulls to do but wait and hope Denver is willing to make a deal.
Obviously, if we get Anthony for anything like the deal on the table it's the typical 10 cents on the dollar type trade for a star where the Bulls would come out way ahead. It will be interesting to see the timing on Carmelo's exodus from Denver. It seems fairly clear that he's going to leave, which gives Denver three choices:
1: Trade him before the season.
2: Trade him at the deadline.
3: Hope to S&T him in the off-season.
If you go with option #1, you'll get the most value back, because the field of teams you can trade him to is probably largest.. There are more teams that will be willing to trade for him now than at the deadline because Carmelo's veto of an extension will carry more weight at the deadline than it does right now.
If you go with option #2, you'll get a bit less most likely because fewer teams will be in the running. However, if you're trading him to the Bulls, as an example, then the offer is likely the same now as it is in February, and since Carmelo can still likely fill seats and give the team some wins in the mean time, there isn't exactly tons of incentive for them to trade him to the Bulls prior to the season starting.
If you go with option #3, you'll likely get the least back. Especially since Denver will be well under the cap if Melo is gone, a S&T won't even give them a huge trade exception which means they'll get maybe 1-2 late 1st round picks from some other team, and if they facilitate a trade to a team not under the cap they'll likely have to take back filler salary to make the trade work. The only pro is that you'll likely get the most additional revenue in terms of ticket sales, concession sales, and extra playoff revenue.
What will Denver do? If Carmelo is playing hard ball and limiting the field, then I'd probably wait until the trade deadline. Might as well cash in on some of the extra sales in the meantime, and it's hard to imagine the Bulls deal getting worse, plus if Luol Deng is hurt in that time period then you might not want that deal anyway and be better off letting him leave for nothing.
All in all, will this go away? Likely not anytime soon, because Denver is probably not making a move anytime soon.
Filed under: Trade rumors
the 'decision' has made me into a cynical fan. Until i see melo in a bull jersey, i'll be skeptical. On a related tangent, if melo did become a bull, would he be the best or second best sf in bulls history? It'd be nice to have another guard/forward combo in chicago again.
EXACTLY!!! Get back to me when Melo actually signs on the dotted line.
Scottie Pippen is offended that you even asked that question. I am a little bit, too.
lead guard/sf combo*
Well if someone wants to derail us, it is going to be the Miami Thrice... they're scared lol!
Advantage Bulls.
I have said all along that I wanted Melo over LBJ. He fits better with Rose.
I'm glad Doug is finally starting to cover Carmelo Anthony stories on here. Denver doesn't want to lose Melo for nothing, so if it is down to the Bulls and Knicks, then ADVANTAGE BULLS, in terms of a trade.
Unlike Doug, I happen to think that Deng, Gibson, Johnson and picks is a decent deal for Denver. They give the Nuggets 25ppg and 15rpg, plus a savings of $3 to $5 million dollars a year in salary over the next 4 years.
This deal needs to get done...ASAP.
^^^^
I love how this dope continues to aggregate statistics of multiple players to prove their sum is worth that of a single great player.
If Minnesota seem to show some promise but lags behind in the SF position, they might help facilitate a 3 way deal so that Denver can get some younger pieces. They can use a Deng to speed up their rebuilding.
LATEST TWEET:
http://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/23976546537
I like it.
Marc Spears was one of the guys who thought that LBJ was not coming to the Bulls from the beginning. But that said, Joakim Noah might be the issue here which will derail the process. Denver will play hardball for Noah but that said Deng's contract doesn't look so bad now but his value will be a lot higher if he remains healthy for half a season,does well during that time.
Schaumburg brings up a good question...what if the Nuggets want Noah instead of Deng? Is he untouchable or do you pull the trigger?
Most would disagree w/me but I say Noah is UNTOUCHABLE. No interior D means our upper hand on Miami is gone and our competing w/Lakers becomes that much tougher. Thibs can't turn ev1 into defensive gurus.
As one of Noah's few day one supporters I am stunned by how far the thinking has swung on him now.
My gut is that I would not include Noah in a Melo package deal.
If it was Noah and nothing else, straight up for Melo, I would have to think hard about it, but would be emotionally torn, because I think that Melo is a bad attitude(ala Ben Gordon, i.e. selfish)player, whereas Noah is about the best teammate that you can have in the NBA.
Denver needs to be realisitc here. I will start by saying I would trade Noah in a heartbeat to get Melo.
That being said, Denver needs to really consider what thier alternative here is, and the Bulls need to pull out all their negotiatiting tactics here. I believe, ultimately, Denver will cave and take Deng, Gibson, and Johnson, which is a very decent trade. Their alternative is garbage heap players from New York, or nothing, as clearly Melo isnt going to resign with Denver.
Its gotta be hard to not show your hand if your the Bulls, but if its a dealbreaker, you have to part with Noah. No question about it.
I don't think we'll have to include Noah if Denver is going to trade Carmelo to a team on his list. Chicago will have to outbid NY which we already are without Noah included.
NOAH-MELO REPORT:
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=5550421
I say give Denver extra picks and cash, but not Noah.
Deng/Gibson/Johnson/Picks/Cash is the best deal Denver is going to get, because Melo won't sign extention with teams like the Kings, Clippers, etc.
As much as I love Noah, if it meant getting back Melo he's gonna need to contact a couple real estate agents: one in Chicago and one in Denver!
If the Bulls are smart, they will bring in a third team to take on Deng and Chauncey Billups for young talent, draft picks and a replacement at center. If Denver moves Melo they will want to move Chauncey too in order to go into total rebuilding mode. The Bulls will want to move Deng as well and replace Noah. A third or fourth team can help facilitate this.
Good point. If Denver trades Melo, they have to decide internally what they want to do. Do they want to go to 1) complete rebuild mode or 2)field a decent team and have one or two big salaries and hope for future improvements/signings. If they want to go for #1, they probably do not want Deng. Also, how many teams want to tinker now or wait to see how their current teams will perform before making changes? That's what will decide if Denver takes Deng or not.
TWEET REPORT:
Denver has no interest in Danillo Gallinari.
http://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/24019426330
Doug, it's not so much a comment on this article as on this column in particular. I was reading some other sports blogs on this site (I'll leave them nameless to protect the guilty), and it really made me appreciate how you're able to group clear thoughts and make objective points. Thanks for the effort.
Thank you for putting that nonsense to rest before it gets a head of steam.
Has anyone noticed that Melo(who is no body builder to begin with)looks bloated and out of shape this summer.
Yes - Noah instead of Deng for Carmelo is a Yes. I have to admit that i did not like the Bulls drafting Noah, but he has won me over and I really don't want to see him go. However, Melo is a top 5-7 player in the entire league. I think Rose-Melo-Boozer have a better shot at a title than Rose-Boozer-Noah do.
I am just taking my "homerism" out of play here and objectively looking at what helps us compete for a title.
The other thing to remember is if Denver wants Noah, the Bulls may tell them they have to take Deng as well.
If Noah does go does anyone know who we can get at center? I know we have KT and Asik, just wondering?
This of course implies that Reinsdorf prefers to pay Melo over $20 million per vs $12.5 million per for Deng.
Also, if Denver prefers cap space to Deng, then wouldn't some other team with cap space have better young "talent" than Gibson and Johnson to offer.
I think that Denver has to want Deng to make a deal with the Bulls.
what if the Bulls are on pace to win 60 games at the deadline, do they blow up the team to get Melo? Hmmm.
No, I am guessing Denver trades Melo during trade deadline. If Melo pushes Denver to trade before the training camp, then the Bulls might be at a disadvantage in a way because Denver might not take Deng before trade deadline.
"As one of Noah's few day one supporters I am stunned by how far the thinking has swung on him now.
My gut is that I would not include Noah in a Melo package deal.
If it was Noah and nothing else, straight up for Melo, I would have to think hard about it, but would be emotionally torn, because I think that Melo is a bad attitude(ala Ben Gordon, i.e. selfish)player, whereas Noah is about the best teammate that you can have in the NBA."
@Bigway
I love that you were a Noah supporter from Day 1. There were so few of us back then weren't there? But you lost some respect for calling BG selfish. That's like calling Lindsey Lohan sober, simply no basis in reality there. As for trading Noah for Melo, you do it. I'd be torn for the reason you listed, plus our interior D would take a HUGE hit, but when you have the chance to get a player of Melo's talents, you do it.