2669212, They would have done that with Amare insurance the following year
Posted by Nodima, Tue Jul-24-18 08:21 PM
I guess I don't mean that the trade itself was bad, immediately. But look at that 2012 roster, that lost in the semis to the Pacers in 6, and tell me it wouldn't look mean as hell if Chandler and Gallo weren't there. If somebody wants to do the salary math and debunk all of the following because if they'd waited to sign Melo they couldn't have brought in Tyson or Kidd, I'm willing to accept the argument is moot. But my memory of that time is that wasn't the case, and it was pretty clear the Knicks could have just waited to sign Melo because he wasn't going anywhere. Both Melo and the Knicks just got impatient.
I also don't remember if he already had the NTC on his Denver contract or that came with the Knicks re-up.
But remember I'm a Melo fan, and at this time was rooting for him as hard as I've rooted for any player in my life including Pippen in his year without Jordan and Iverson in his series against the Lakers. I always loved the underdog, so part of the trade spoke to me in that it was still in some ways Melo against the world.
I just don't recall it being a thing where if the Knicks didn't trade for him in the winter, they wouldn't have got him in the summer. I guess an easy counter to that is this Paul George thing, where he was hellbent on going to Los Angeles until he wasn't, but Melo didn't have that year to think about nor was his relationship with George Karl good at all.
Their Top 8 by total minutes was J.R., Melo, Felton, Tyson Chandler, (an admittedly pretty dope remix of) J-Kidd, Steve Novak (this dude, in THIS NBA? shit. a half-decade too soon), already 35 years old Prigioni and a young Shumpert.
I'd love to have relied less heavily on Novak to spark the offense with spot up shots and have someone like Gallo creating for himself, and love to not play Prigioni and Chris Copeland 100+ games combined 'cause I can get at least 60 out of Wilson Chandler.
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