What Melo should really do…

Now that the NBA season has concluded, the biggest free agent to test the market this year will be Knicks Carmelo Anthony and all eyes are on him.  As much as he has a bad reputation of stopping the ball and playing zero defense teams are still interested.  Why? Because the game is about buckets and this guy can fill it up on any given night.  I hate that analysts or just fans for that matter want to throw negative energy his way, nobody and I mean nobody has Tony Allen as their favorite player.  So just kill me with this defense shit that you claim, its overrated in a league where if you touch a guy its a foul. And god forbid a hard foul, those which were good basketball plays some years ago are now technicals and flagrants on a regular basis.  So far the two teams leading these free agent discussions are Chicago and Houston.  And as of late he has mentioned that he would like to play with long life friend Lebron James who just lost in the Nba Finals.  So first things first, Melo is going to opt out of his contract.  Opting in is ridiculously stupid and for people to even suggest it is fucking stupid.  Granted it would give the team more wiggle room as far as cap space goes but lets not forget it is a business.  The Clippers sold for billions of dollars, if that man wants to get paid shit let him get paid.  I will never hate on somebody who wants to make money and neither should you.  And while we are speaking numbers if he leaves New York he would be leaving 79 million on the table and that is a lot of cash. Man I’ll lose my nutshell if I ever touched one million . But thats neither here or there. As a Knick and Carmelo fan I would love to see him stay here in New York and work under the Zenmaster.   Phil took this position with the hope that Carmelo would be here, and he has stated this numerous times. Now will have to show some type of promise to keep the superstar, absolutely.  It has started with the hiring of Nba Champion Derek Fisher and making it public that he will be trading Raymond Felton. Both decisions in which I am happy about even though I think Mark Jackson could have been a great fit as well.

But if he decides to leave I think his best fit will be in Chicago.  This team competes hard every year and have been doing without former MVP Derrick Rose. Now for arguments sake, lets just say Rose is healthy that lineup would be stupid.  And if Tom could get Melo to embrace the defensive mindset that is established in Chicago I can see how it could workout. If I am Carmelo I am staying away from Houston for several reasons.  First off because they don’t have an established point guard, do we really want to see the Lin and Melo combo again?  Granted they do have D12 and James Harden but they are also playing in the West which by far is the more superior conference.  And with Harden already establishing himself as the guy in Houston, how do you think he will react when Melo lands there and the 4th quarter end of games play are now drawn out for him.  Plus as great as D12 can be his mindset and mentality is still not where it needs to be. Now if he happens to pair with LBJ in Miami or in New York that duo will be deadly.  As much as I don’t want to see it happen I am completely aware of the force those two could be on the court together.  But all this is just talk and hearsay for now. Teams will make moves and then get better in the draft as well.  Whatever his decision maybe I just want the guy to win and get a chance at least to hold up one of them things at the end of the season.

@This_is_Dane

Spurs win NBA Title

Is the Miami reign over? It certainly looks that way as they weren’t able to defend their title losing 4-1 in a rematch with the San Antonio Spurs.  It has been a minute since I posted and I do apologize but I am back now more then ever.  After watching these finals it was obvious the Spurs were the better team having won all their games with leads of more then 15.  Where do I even began, I have to give a lot of credit to RC Buford the Spurs general manager and Coach Pop for their resilience to make back to back Final trips. Given the fact that Miami clearly has more talent and athleticism mostly Lebron, the Spurs played a collective team game in which they executed beautifully on both sides of the ball.  It has been a long time since I’ve seen the ball get moved around the way the Spurs did this Nba Finals.  It was like they always got a good shot and they were knocking them down.  After putting up a 41 in the 1st quarter and ending the half with 70 points in game 3 I had to think to myself, no way they can do this an entire series.  Well I was wrong, because that is exactly what they did.  And then on defense their help defense with rotations were solid, clogging the paint and making Miami take contested jumpers.  Leonard the 22 year old MVP of the Spurs blossomed in front of all her eyes.  To be so efficient on the offensive side, and take responsibility of guarding the best player in basketball takes extreme confidence and the young fella had it.  Him along with others role players really played key parts in this series and I think ultimately made them unbeatable.  Great efforts from players like Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills  solidified how much depth the Spurs had and how much they have bought in to the culture there in San Antonio.  For future Hall of Famers like Timmy D, Parker, and Ginobli it was a truly amazing season for these quote on quote “old guys” who you can tell wanted revenge from last year.  I am not sure what will happen with Tim but you would have to think he would give it another go at it.  If he is managed the way he was this year with minutes he can still be very effective in this league. Yes we know his game isn’t flashy at all but Mr. Fundamental has five rings and is arguably the best Power Forward ever.

As for Miami you can expect major moves for this roster and possibly the ending of the big 3.  Excluding Lebron James I think everybody is expendable on this team.  Wade who has been bothered with injured knees for the last couple of years just lacked all the explosiveness he needed during this playoff run.  By the time the Heat got to the finals it appeared as if he had no more left in the tank. While the role players didn’t contribute as much as they usually do a lot of this blame will go on Lebron James.  This guy is 100% the best player in the league and with that comes major responsibility.  While he did his part it looked like it was only him and Jesus Shuttlesworth who really wanted to play ball this series.  I do believe the Big 3 would like to stay together but I highly doubt this will happen.  For starters the team needs more younger and athletic players, a decent point guard because Tony Parker and Patty Mills destroyed Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole.    I mean it is 2014 and Rashard Lewis is in your starting lineup, I was tweeting jokingly about it but it is kind of absurd.  On top of that rumors have surfaced that Wade wants a max deal while his play warrants otherwise.  In my opinion I think it will be Bosh that departs, he never really got the credit he deserved during these past several years.

Lastly I have to address these comparisons of Lebron to Jordan or even Kobe for that matter.  Listen, everyone who knows me knows that I’m not the biggest Lebron fan like most people.  I just don’t like his game or style of play for that matter.  However I do realize he is the best player in the league and a freak of nature on that court.  But when he loses there is always this since of urgency to dog him for not winning.  At this point I kind of feel bad for the guy. No matter what he does he will never be able to win. And to some degree the shade that gets thrown his way is kind of his fault.  Nonetheless we have to stop the comparisons, especially to Jordan.  Jordan is the GOAT and to most people the best player to ever do it.  That is a legacy that is hard to measure up to, we are talking about a guy who never lost in the finals and 3 peated twice.  I don’t care how great these players are these days I think it will be a while if ever before we see a player dominate the way he did.  I know that pursuit of six is constantly a theme or milestone that players want to reach. But man lets just be honest its hard just to get one.  Some of the greatest players to ever play never touched down , while guys who were just average were fortunate to be on decent teams and get some jewelry. Kobe who is probably the closest to in comparison didn’t even get there yet. And if your a Laker fan I know you probably don’t want to hear this but he probably won’t.  Father time has caught up with the man and the Lakers organization isn’t really suited to compete for a title with a 55 year old point guard in Steve Nash.  So can we please stop mentioning the greatest EVER when making comparisons. These same guys idolized Jordan and mocked his game, but in doing so are trying to create their own legacy.  Don’t let that your not MIKE trash talk be the reason to just throw shade. Its just not cool if you really consider yourself a study of the game.

You can follow me on Twitter : @This_is_Dane