Latest On Melo

Throughout the Carmelo Anthony saga the biggest misconception has been this: that there is some mystery that needs solving.

We know that Carmelo wants to be a Knick. The Nuggets and Nets want Carmelo to be a Net. NBA fans of 27 other teams could care less*. But there’s been this constant back and forth about where Melo wants to be.
*= Laker fans don’t care either, except they have that .05% hope that Mitch Kupchak blows this team up and reloads for a run at Dwight Howard after 2012 so they can give Kobe maybe an extra 2-3 years of life on his legs.

Carmelo has been open about where he wants to end up as he could be without completely looking like an ass. He hasn’t led on his current fanbase about a future there that both sides knew was not going to be. He has been as honest as he possibly could be when pressed by media members who repeatedly just want him to admit something that they themselves know he is trained by professionals not to.

If Lebron’s “decision” taught us anything, its this: there are right and wrong ways to go about doing this. We may hate it as a “need-to-know-everything” public but the way this is playing out on the outside is exactly how it should be. Melo and all parties involved need to keep some space between them and the information hounds until something happens.

I am tired of sports tickers calling deals “imminent” and “very close” according to “sources” that will never be made public. I’m tired of seeing Chris Broussard and Marc Stein and reputable reporters like Ken Berger and Adrian Wojnarowski make informed opinions. I want fact and not some imaginative fiction made to increase page views on sites.

I would at this point rather hear nothing until a trade is made, or read about the other offers after the fact and an informed opinion about why these deals didn’t go through and what made the teams come to terms on what they did.

Sadly I’m in the minority. In some respect, I love this new age of rapid fire information but many times its a whole lot of smoke I have to sift through until I see fire and for people who are as lazy as I am, we don’t like being duped into reading an article that has no basis in truth. Its neither rewarding or fun.

Don’t confuse this with opinion pieces. I love columnists who can offer fresh perspective on any sports story. I just hate reading about the possibility of something happening that hasn’t. Don’t bore me with that. Excite me with (f)actual news.

The Knicks and Nuggets will continue to try and broker the deal that would get Carmelo’s approval while the Nets hope that once the Nuggets and Knicks don’t reach a deal that Melo, desperate enough to get that extension, will approve a deal to the Nets. A deal that has been on the table since last summer.

The amount of players and draft picks it would take from the Knicks and Nets would be huge and I am not going into who has been rumored in either package but you can be certain that this would be a “farm cleaning” kind of a deal that sends both franchises into uncertain futures.

After all, this is about the future as much as it is about the present. This weekend is supposed to be Blake Griffin and the depth of talent that the NBA hasn’t had in a really long time. But the weekend has been filled with rumors of trades and deals and meetings and executives and rap moguls that take it far from what fans want to see- basketball.

Is Melo worth all of this? We won’t be able to tell that until Melo helps deliver a title to whichever team he eventually ends up on. When a player of Melo’s caliber gets traded its a win-now move for the franchise that lands him and anything short of a title makes this deal pointless.

I’ve been of the opinion from day one that the Knicks should wait till free agency to scoop up Melo. If Melo wants to be a Knick so bad and wants to win a title in New York then the Knicks shouldn’t trade away half the team. This is Melo wanting his cake and eating it too. He doesn’t want to leave $20-$25 million on the table especially considering that there will be a new collective bargaining agreement in place.

Which of course brings up the dark horse scenario that could play out. Let’s say that the February 24 trade deadline comes and goes and Melo isn’t dealt. The Nuggets and Melo would be stuck together till a new labor deal is struck- one which could have a franchise tag built in. A tag that the Nuggets could use on their superstar to keep him from going to the Knicks in free agency. Its the only bit of leverage the Nuggets have and its a leap of faith to assume that it would happen.

So the need for Melo to have some resolution to his situation prior to February 24 is necessary.

One thing is clear: the Nuggets and Melo are not leaving each other on good terms. Neither wants to give what the other wants. Is it fair for the Nuggets to take a less than fair offer to help a player who wants to leave? Is it right for the Nuggets to be this stubborn to not deal with the Knicks and risk Melo leaving them without getting a single thing in return?

Here’s the only thing to know. It doesn’t matter talking about it until it happens. Did that make the last couple of hundred words I wrote useless? Maybe. What I do know is that when it happens then there will be something worth talking about. Until then we’re all driving ourselves crazy over something that hasn’t happened.

Atleast I’m trying to convince myself that this is the right course of action. To be honest I’m having a hard time doing it.