TRADE: Melo/Billups to NYK in 3-teamer w/Nuggets & Minny

[Timone]

I dislike KG so much I root for Kenyon Martin against him.

[Glenn]

@mhaubs: Denver's point differential since the trade is +12.3. That is all.

[Timone]

Nuggets will be my #3 team come playoff time.

[WTFchris]

Denver is 11-4 since the deal, NY is 7-10.

HAHAHAHAHA

Right now Denver is slated to play OKC in the first round (will be slight underdogs, but could surely win that series). NYN is slated to play Boston or Chicago and they will not win that series.

I've also heard NBA experts say Melo doesn't fit Dantoni's system. That offense is predicated on ball movement and Melo is an isolation type player. He holds the ball, faces up, fakes a bunch of times, then puts the ball on the floor and dribbles. He is a great one on one player, but the big knock on him here is he made nobody else better in Denver. Guys like JR Smith and Nene have all this potential but never lived up to it and Melo never made them any better.

[Fool]

Asking anyone to make JR Smith smarter or Nene not a walking-injury-waiting-to-happen is a tall order.

[WTFchris]

Asking anyone to make JR Smith smarter or Nene not a walking-injury-waiting-to-happen is a tall order.

The problem with JR is that he's a lights out shooter that makes bad decisions when he tries to create his own shot. If Melo actually passed out of double teams instead of simply being an isolation player then JR would have wide open looks and would probably be a 20+ PPG scorer instead of the inconsistent scorer he is now. I'm ignoring the issue of Nene staying healthy and just focusing on production while on the court. His problem is that he's a good post player and never gets any shot attempts because Melo won't feed him the ball, rather just run his iso crap. The point is that Melo did nothing to get either legitimate looks at the basket because he is not a willing passer. Every player is either going to dissapear on offense or decide to be a ball hog.

You've all played with these people in pick up bball. If you give the ball up, you're not getting it back. So it makes you take shots you wouldn't normally take. The fact that JR doesn't play defense and Nene has injuries has nothing to do with the fact that when they are on the court they are made worse by Melo being there also. Melo actually yelled at players to give him the ball when they were in better shooting situations than Melo was. He's a great 1 on 1 player but he does not make anyone else better. Great players do. Kobe does, Lebron does. Melo does not.

[WTFchris]

BTW, in March JR is shooting %2 better on 2's, %8 better on threes and scoring 3 more PPG than his season average. That is because he's taking his shots off ball movement and not isolation looks. Nene has upped his PPG by 1.2 and his rebounds by 1.2 as well since Melo was traded.

Felton is averaging 7 APG and Lawson 8 APG (was 3 prior to trade). Boston (leading assist team and man) only gets 13.5 combined from their PGs.

The ball movement is much better now. Denver is 14th in assists right now, I wonder what the split would be for before/after the trade (they are up 1 APG from last year though).

This says they assist on %64 of their baskets now and it was %56 when Melo was here:
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.c...s-are-winning/
It also mentions the defense went from one of the worst in the league to 2nd best (while their scoring per possession has actually gone up).

[Vinny]

FYI Chris:

www.wtfDenver.com

[Uncle Mxy]

NEW YORK—Several members of New York Knicks management expressed bewilderment Thursday as to why Chauncey Billups would openly express a desire to return for a second season with the organization. "He knows this is the New York Knicks, right?” said team president Donnie Walsh, explaining he was skeptical of Billups’ request and outlining a list of reasons why, which included outdated facilities, an unreliable fan base, and his recent managerial track record. "He must have meant the Nets. They have a new arena, they have Jay-Z… Yeah, he probably meant the Nets." After several phone calls to ask Billups if he "was positive" and "wasn’t just messing around," Knicks management immediately picked up the 34-year-old point guard's option for next year and began negotiating a 10-year, $140 million extension.

[Fool]

Forgot how crazy Chris got in here.