Carmelo to Cleveland calling it now.

[guava_wrench]

Some of the reactions here sound are similar to a hypothetical situation where after the Lakers lost to the Celtics in the finals, Lakers fans decide they need a center so they should trade Bynum for someone who can protect the middle. Wrong move -- they already have that guy. He was just injured.

The better move is what they did -- keep the team together and win the next two finals.

[D.o.s.]

I do like how your entire body of evidence is "LeBron knows Anthony is not as good a fit as Love." Compelling stuff.

No one in this thread thinks that Cleveland is going to get Anthony -- there are luxury tax reasons, trade restrictions, personal reasons -- pretty much everything that you can find strongly suggests that Anthony and James will not be on the same NBA team ever. What is being discussed is whether or not the Cavaliers would be better served by simply replacing Love with Anthony if you could swap one for the other like it was a video game.

[guava_wrench]

It's fairly clear at this point that you're misunderstanding/misreading my posts. The point was in reference to LeBron's game, not in the relative merits of a healthy cavaliers squad.

Ok. So long as we are in agreement that he already has the guys on his team who will help carry the offensive load. You gut any team like that and the left behind star will need help. Have Thompson and Green unavailable for the finals and see how different the narrative is for Curry.

As for Melo, we know that in international competitions with a shortened three point line, he is willing to be a catch and shoot guy for a few weeks. I'm skeptical that play in international tournaments can be reliably generalized.

[Moranis]

It's fairly clear at this point that you're misunderstanding/misreading my posts. The point was in reference to LeBron's game, not in the relative merits of a healthy cavaliers squad.

I'm fairly certain he was reacting to this statement

Anyway, I think that James desperately needs someone to carry a bit of the offensive load on their team, which we saw in the Finals. Dude's a natural distributor, so I don't buy the idea that he'd be opposed to having another elite scorer on his team.

Pretty clearly seems like you are talking about a Cavs team without Irving and Love as to why Anthony would work and what James would want.  I know you weren't necessarily meaning it to come off the way it did, but the language used doesn't really carry your intent.

[Moranis]

I do like how your entire body of evidence is "LeBron knows Anthony is not as good a fit as Love." Compelling stuff.

No one in this thread thinks that Cleveland is going to get Anthony -- there are luxury tax reasons, trade restrictions, personal reasons -- pretty much everything that you can find strongly suggests that Anthony and James will not be on the same NBA team ever. What is being discussed is whether or not the Cavaliers would be better served by simply replacing Love with Anthony if you could swap one for the other like it was a video game.

Yeah for a year or two, but not long term and the increase for a year or two probably doesn't affect the Cavs title hopes that much.

[guava_wrench]

I do like how your entire body of evidence is "LeBron knows Anthony is not as good a fit as Love." Compelling stuff.

No one in this thread thinks that Cleveland is going to get Anthony -- there are luxury tax reasons, trade restrictions, personal reasons -- pretty much everything that you can find strongly suggests that Anthony and James will not be on the same NBA team ever. What is being discussed is whether or not the Cavaliers would be better served by simply replacing Love with Anthony if you could swap one for the other like it was a video game.

Based on how well Cleveland played the months preceding Love's injury, I would say that swapping players carries a significant risk of being suboptimal.

[D.o.s.]

Fair enough Moranis -- that statement re: Anthony and James (elite scoring distributor etc) was responding to this:

I doubt there would be enough balls to go around.  I see Carmelo as a guy with an ego, ditto for LeBron, in HEATLAND, Bosh and Wade gave up touches to get LeBron involved.   I do not see LeBron giving up touches to Melo or vice versa.

Also: I remain convinced that Love was never as good as his numbers in Minnesota suggested, and that his play suffers when he is forced to play with more talented teammates. Just to put my biases out in the open.

[D.o.s.]

As for Melo, we know that in international competitions with a shortened three point line, he is willing to be a catch and shoot guy for a few weeks. I'm skeptical that play in international tournaments can be reliably generalized.

This is totally reasonable.

[guava_wrench]

Fair enough Moranis -- that statement re: Anthony and James (elite scoring distributor etc) was responding to this:

I doubt there would be enough balls to go around.  I see Carmelo as a guy with an ego, ditto for LeBron, in HEATLAND, Bosh and Wade gave up touches to get LeBron involved.   I do not see LeBron giving up touches to Melo or vice versa.

Also: I remain convinced that Love was never as good as his numbers in Minnesota suggested, and that his play suffers when he is forced to play with more talented teammates. Just to put my biases out in the open.

I tend to agree with this, but Cleveland looked really good at the end of the season.

[D.o.s.]

Agreed. So does Kelly Olynyk, 2015 NBA Finals MVP.

[guava_wrench]

I do like how your entire body of evidence is "LeBron knows Anthony is not as good a fit as Love." Compelling stuff.

That was a not-so-serious comment in response to the idea that LeBron will want to do moves just because guys are his buddies.

I don't see LeBron being interested in trading an elite PF in his prime who does so much to space the floor for a guy who is in decline, hurts ball movement, and doesn't even bring a reassuring playoff history.

It is very possible that LeBron is sufficiently annoyed by Love to be onboard with flipping him. There seemed to be a lot of tension at points during the season. But then the team figured it out and looked great coming into the playoffs.

[Celtics4ever]

This doesn't really square with the way Lebron plays or the struggles Cleveland face in the finals though, does it?

In MIA, those guys submitted to his will.   There is no evidence that Carmelo would do such a thing.   Unless he is desperate to win a title, I do not see that happening.  Lebron played very well and was productive.  I think he sometimes needs someone to take over games when he feels over whelmed.   I just think Melo and his egos would not co-exisit.  Even with Bosh and Wade, James knew he was the man.  Those two took paycuts too.   Do you think Melo would?   I don't.   What has he ever done to facilitate rosters for a team?

Melo is often well liked here.   But he is not a good team mate.

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/12/10/7370893/carmelo-anthony-tim-hardaway-fight-triangle-knicks-2014

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/11/carmelo-anthony-has-history-of-not-getting-along-with-younger-teammates/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6GtmUwM0HM

I think it would be great for him and LeBron to get together.   I would love to see Melo beat him up.  I just do not see it happening.

[D.o.s.]

Because when I want a grounded, knowledgeable take on something, I turn to Skip Bayless.

https://instagram.com/p/6TdT8-HNmW/?taken-by=hoopmixtape

[Celtics4ever]

Still you fail to answer the articles? 

[D.o.s.]

The first article is little more than speculation based on a report from Chris "Multiple Sauces" Broussard.

The meat of the second article is derived from a WSJ article that's lurking behind a pay wall.