Melo opting out of Knicks deal
I mentioned it earlier, Melo doesn't leave money on the table. It's his right, but all those discussions about him sacrificing money to join other teams was simply idle discussions. He's done practically the same thing with New York as he did with Denver, instead of biding his time he chose to free himself early. Again, it's his absolute right and I have nothing against that personally, but it does throw a slight spanner in Jackson's plan to build around Melo next season (and especially summer 2015). The Knicks can hold firm and refuse a sign and trade, which would limit his options, or give him more possibilities and allow for a sign and trade. Somehow, I don' t think they'll be happy with a sign and trade (non of the muted players from the Bulls that are supposedly part of this trade would benefit us short/long term).
I have no issues with Melo move elsewhere if it's a case of getting the full guarantee on his salary, or possibly to a city that his family might rather move to, but I don't buy the whole "move to a team where I can win championships". If that was his highest priority when he wanted to join NYC 3 years ago, he would have waited until summer and joined us on a free. Instead, we ofloaded numerous key players from our squad just to get him on a sign+trade transfer with Denver. It's not the sole reason why we're capped out (it does get tiring hearing Amare state his confidence of coming back to his All Star level summer after summer, whilst subsequently being available for 15% of our games, but alas, noone in their right minds would retire and give up all the remaining cash still on the table), but it did play a large role.
If Melo does leave, I hope it's on our terms. Either we get some useful assets and picks, or players in their final year of their contract. Phil's getting paid 10mill per year, now would be as good a time as any to start earning some of it back.
