Carmelo Anthony Traded to Houston Rockets?!
It's Happening!!
We all knew Carmelo would not be a Knick to start the next NBA season. There was some speculation on where he will be traded or if he'll get bought out by the Knicks. New York has consulted Carmelo and there was a report stating that he is only willing to waive his no-trade clause if he ends up in either a Rockets or Cavaliers jersey.
A few minutes ago, Adrian Wojnarowski just dropped a bombshell that the Knicks are in heavy trade talks with the Rockets and are nearing a deal. It is expected to be a 4 team deal and by the looks of it we all knew this was coming. Houston will most likely need to ship out one or two of the following players in order to make space for Carmelo's contract:
Ryan Anderson
Eric Gordon
Trevor Ariza
I've also read from other sources over the last couple of days that a deal is expected to be finalized shortly. Carmelo is going to Houston to team up with Harden and CP3!
It's interesting how Carmelo shortlisted to the two teams that have his "banana boat" pals (excluding Wade). It makes sense for him to team up with them and chase rings. He's at that point in his career as well where he's earned his money but has no championships to show for it. I mean this is what the NBA has come to... Creating super teams to compete with the Warriors. Star players need to make sacrifices and take pay cuts in order to retain talent and compete for championships. Kevin Durant is the greatest example of this. He left millions of dollars on the table so they could resign the key pieces that led them to a championship this year... Just so they can compete again next year.
Is Carmelo Anthony a Hall of Famer?
In my mind, you need to win a championship at least once to be considered a Hall of Famer. There are obvious exceptions to this rule but I don't think Melo is deserving of the Hall of Famer title without a ring. He hasn't even made it to the NBA finals. I say the same thing about Chris Paul. As good of a point guard as he is, he is not a Hall of Famer because he's never accomplished anything in the playoffs... When it truly counts. That's why it's interesting to see Carmelo and CP3 teaming up in Houston with Harden and try to get a ring. Essentially their legacy is on the line and they know if they don't come out successful with these three superstars they will be heavily scrutinized. I do like the fact that they're willing to put themselves in a position to win a championship. A lot of players would be content with being the best player on a bad team and earn a lot of money without ever competing for a championship. Dwight Howard is the perfect example of this.
I'm happy for Carmelo and I hope he finds what he's looking for. I just miss the old Carmelo who battled Kobe in a physical playoff series back when he was on Denver. I'm looking forward to him returning and wish him all the best.
We can't forget that Dwight Howard actually made the NBA finals though...
Haha very true! He has no rings though and his competitiveness always gets questioned by the media. Seems like he's content with what he's accomplished.
Yea I think he is a little soft overall.
Anyway, my thoughts on the actual trade at hand. My only issue with the deal is now, who is going to slow down Kevin Durant? Melo can maybe body KD up enough, but Melo has no shot against KD off the dribble. Ariza was their only chance at even potentially slowing down KD and he's on the way out. Sure, you can try to outscore the Warriors, but that's been proven to be a losing proposition.
To be honest the problem of guarding Kevin Durant is something every team in the NBA faces. I think maybe Kawhi is the only player in the league that could give him some sort of trouble. Even LeBron couldn't do much in the NBA finals this year and he was matched up with him 1 on 1 several times during the course of the series.
Maybe if they give up Gordon and Anderson instead of Ariza? I liked Anderson though because he could space the floor. It's tough to guard any one of CP3, Harden, or Melo 1 on 1. When you surround those type of players with lights out shooters, it makes the other team have to pick their poison. Either guard a superstar one on one or give up a wide open look to an elite shooter.
Yea it's true that everyone not named Kawhi has a tough time against Durant, but there's a difference between stopping him and slowing him down. It'll have to wait to be seen if that remains an issue for the Rockets.
I agree about Anderson, I thought he was a great floor spacer and solid in smaller lineups, but I think Melo fills the void there as you can't really have Anderson as a center even in small ball lineups. Anderson's salary was just too big to keep him there with Paul, Harden, and Melo. You can't guard this team 1 on 1 anyway so I don't think taking Ryan Anderson out of the fold will change that. I'm a little worried about the Rockets' depth, but something had to give.
We are about to post a full article on Dwight Howard and the Charlotte Hornets winning the East this coming year, stay tuned!
"Melo" will need to change his game drastically to make Houston better than they are now. Call us highly skeptical, and MUCH more bullish on Howard in Charlotte.
btw, this isn't a done deal. COULD just be posturing by Houston's GM so he can tell Chris Paul-- a friend of Melo-- he tried. Or maybe Chris Paul doesn't want Melo either, same thing.
In other words, there's still a chance Houston leaked this to Woj just to make Melo THINK they are trying. Just putting it out there in case it doesn't happen.
I know this is about to happen but I am still in disbelief. The only thing that makes sense is the Chris Paul connection.
It is crazy how a few short years of planning and orchestration by the Warriors has disrupted so much of the NBA landscape.
This is the new era of the NBA where everyone NEEDS a super team with 3+ stars and a solid supporting cast to make it all the way. It's crazy to think that even with these 3 all stars on one team they may not even be able to beat the GSW. The Western conference will be fun to watch this season!
It's crazy how we used to think 3 stars was enough to be qualified as a "super" team. But in order to compete with the Warriors you need 4 stars and some talent coming off the bench.
Wow that will be a super team! They do lose some very key players though that were a huge help for the Rockets last season in their playoff push! The firepower of those 3 players are unreal but they will need some good support 2-way players! I wonder if they can compete with the GSW still though that's their main objective. As of now, I agree that you should have 1 ring to be considered a HOF but the only debate that I could say is Allen Iverson. He never won a ring but he single handily brought an average 76ers team to the finals and won 1 game with them too!
AI is definitely an exception to my rule! He single handedly changed the requirements of what it took to make it in the NBA. Giving small guards with a quick handle hope that they could one day dominate the NBA even if they're undersized. Some could argue he's paved the way for players like IT, Steph, Kyrie, and all of our other dominant guards who are undersized.
Liking Houston's boldness in getting these big names in the offseason! James Harden, Chris Paul and Carmelo seem formidable against anyone in the league. I find Carmelo still potent on offense, and pretty slow defensively. I wouldn't mind sliding him to the 4 spot with Trevor Ariza roaming as well.
This trade also would make sense if they weren't giving up significant assets, especially shooters! The speculations are still early, but it's good to see that he won't be a Knick next season. It's good for both sides to part ways.
Offensively speaking, I'm not sure who's going to play 3rd fiddle amongst the three. Spots 2/3 can interchange between Paul and Anthony, since James is both the youngest and most explosive player out of the three. I'm also curious to see how late game situations work - who takes the last shot? I'd like James Harden to take it, but Chris and Carmelo are just as capable of being the hero.
Chris Paul, James Harden, Eric Gordon/Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, and Ryan Anderson would by preferred ending lineup. Spacing and shooting is there. Against the Golden State Warriors? I wouldn't put them up there yet. I still believe their bench died down significantly after the departures of Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, and Lou Will.
I think they'll have to part ways with two of the three players I mentioned. Your preferred ending lineup just seems too good to be true. If that were the case they could really win the whole thing!
I'm interested to see late game situations too. Curry had to step aside a little bit for Durant to take over. We saw this with the big three Durant hit in the last minute against the Cavs in game 3. I'm sure Harden will do the same as both CP3 and Melo are very clutch in late game situations.
2 amazing scorers and a great playmaker. I like this move for Houston. It's crazy how much talent a team needs in order to win in the NBA now.
'4 team deal' means its not that close yet ..nice post though :)
Both Harden and Melo need the ball in their hands and CP3 is the one who brings the ball up so this dynamic would be interesting. May just turn out to be another allstar bust like the Lakers when they got Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.
Yeah it could be. I'm interested to see how it will work. Under D'Antoni's system though CP3 and Harden can both average close to double digit dimes.