and melo has no blame that we have dog **** around him? it's not all his fault obviously but he easily could have signed here on a lesser max deal after the lock out. dude forced his way to come to a 7/8 seed in the east, not a top 5 team in the league. he pushed his way out of a situation where he made the playoffs every damn year. think about that for a minute. you honestly believe he did that because he "loves" new york that much? please.
So now we are going to hate on Melo for getting paid? Ok now
I shouldnt even have to go into this point further. The NBA is a ******* business. Any team with cap space was more than willing to hand out a max deal to Melo. So Melo is wrong for getting the $ he deserves?
Look at the free agency landscape this summer. Players are getting paid wayyyy beyond what they deserve, and this is Ok. It is what they are supposed to do because the NBA is a business and the current market allows for these players to get paid.
Melo made it very clear he wanted to play for the Knicks from Day 1 and he has rode it out with us through thick and thin. When he could have left and had other better teams willing to hand him big bucks. Shouldnt that be all the proof you need that he loves NY? Now you are gonna blame him for taking a max deal he literally could have signed anywhere else? FOH.
And just FTR Melo took a pay cut last summer. Albeit it wasnt by much, but taking a 5 year deal was a pay cut in itself. Melo could have easily pulled a Lebron and taken a short term deal with the Knicks or a contender like the Rockets or Bulls and looked to cash in with the new salary cap increase next summer.
One year later and the pay cut Melo took from us last summer is already showing its true colors with the way some of these dudes who arent half of what Melo is are being paid. I mean Tristan ******* Thompson is about to get an $80 million deal. This trend will only continue to transcend as the market prices increase and Melo is still locked into the 5 year contract he willingly took in 2014.
And Melo didnt "force his way to a 7/8 seed" like you say. Melo forced his way to a Knicks team that was on the upturn until Dolan stepped in and botched the deal and played right into Uriji's hands.
But even after the trade (which was Dolan's ******* fault not Melo's) the Knicks still had a lot more potential than the 7/8 seed you say they were in complete hindsight. They just failed miserably to live up to that potential. Everyone besides Melo that is.
Melo didnt expect STAT to fall off like he did. He was willingly joining "STAT's team" with the hope of forming one of the best 1/2 punches in the NBA with him with the hope of competing with the Heat. That would have been far from a 7/8 seed like you said.
And even beyond STAT there were other players who failed to live up to expectations, particularly Landry Fields. When Melo got here Landry was the surprise of the NBA. He led all guards in rebounding, was a good passer, and he had a jump shot. He was well on his way to an All-Rookie season and obviously the Knicks expected he would continue to develop beyond even that. We figured that because he was a 2 guard who would compliment Melo's game well with his unselfish play/passing, in addition to him being a rookie, he was the more preferable player to leave out of the Melo deal (which again, Dolan made) as opposed to Gallo or Mozgov.
If Landry continued to develop in the way the Knicks and most others thought he would and STAT didnt completely fall off the map, the Knicks could have very well been a contender. However, of the 3, Melo is the only one who has completely lived up to expectations. But Melo should shoulder the balme of STAT and Landry falling off the basketball stratosphere?
No he isnt perfect. No he shouldnt be blameless. But Melo has done all that we asked of him. We just ask him to do so much more now that everyone around him has fallen off the map and the team basically collapsed around him.
Melo is not Lebron. We knew that coming in. He is a far more flawed basketball player. He cant carry a **** team to the playoffs on his back. But he is still great. He is still elite and has proven that time and time again. He is lethal at what he does, and he has lived up to his billing. He shouldnt consistently be held responsible for the incompotence of others. Yet, he always is.
When the Knicks lost to the Celtics in 2012 playoffs, Melo played surrounded by Anthony Carter, Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, and Jared Jeffries. Thats no ******* joke. That was an actual lineup we put around Melo in a ******* playoff series. Then the Knicks got Tyson and JR and we improved. Adding Felton and the vets along with Shump's development allowed the Knicks, around Melo, to reach its apex at 54 wins in 2013.
But then everything ******* collapsed around Melo. Literally ******* everything and everyone besides Melo. Including Tyson. But because Tyson was vocal in the locker room, despite being absolute **** on the court and looking like he quit night in and night out, he gets a pass while Melo des not? Even though Melo was consistently great during the 2014 season? Again, FOH. There is a reason Tyson lobbied publicly for Melo to follow him to Dallas. He wanted out of the Knicks, but he as well as any other respected player who has played with Melo, knows how great he truly is.
The past 2 seasons, he has barely played with any single player worthy of an NBA roster spot. This is the hand he is dealt and yet we continue to place all the fault on Melo. Melo was supposed to be the missing piece to a championship contending roster already built around an MVP-like STAT, not that one good guy on a **** roster. He has lived up to expectations. Others have not.
I'm not trying to say he should be blameless, just that all the fault shouldnt fall on him. Take him for what he is and if you want to pick on him, pick on his actual faults. However he shouldnt be blamed for things he can not control, being a player he is not, taking too much $ like every other NBA player ******* does, or some dumb *** media spun assassinations of his character you willingly buy into.
Melo came here, he has rode it out with all of us even through the tough times. Even when he had a way out. He has left everything on the court at all times, and has lived up to the billing of who he is as a player. Again, he isnt perfect, but I really cant ask for much more than that as a Knicks fan. Melo has done his part, we just need to find him some ******* help.
I'm done with this argument. I ******* hate repeating myself despite how often I do so. If you want more from me read the article I wrote on JRS blog. If you want to rebuff anything I said then I will respond.
http://g42sports.com/new-york-state-mind/
EDIT:
Sidenote: Using your argument, which is only true in hindsight, but whatever. Idk how else you CAN rationalize Melo leaving a perennial playoff team in Denver for a 7/8 seed in NY besides his "love" for NY.
