Can we all agree on one thing though? Melo freakin sucked, and made almost no difference to this team all season, as predicted? He didn’t turn the Thunder into a contender, he’s not some underrated star, he’s washed up, plays on only one side of the floor, is an inefficient scorer, and remains delusional and stubborn in regards to starting vs a bench role. He’s turning into old Paul Pierce, yet somehow less gracefully.
Adams was 1st in offensive rebounding while Kanter was 2nd in the league in offensive rebounding. Seems like the perfect dudes to put next to Russ and his FG flinging ways. Presti f***ed up that deal...but it seems that the George/Melo deals were to get Russ to re-up and it worked...so mission accomplished. Now reap what you sow MFers...hahahaa.
I always laughed at non laker forums poster suggesting we'd trade for melo for name recognition n as a way to lure James. I wouldnt even trade deng for melo at this pt lol
Going back through this thread for trade day reactions. This was a tweet from that day, and then my reaction to it These were thoughts before the Melo trade, but the addition of him didn’t move the needle at all for me, and in the end what most people said came true. So, that being said, I think our chances of signing PG now are the same as they were the last day he was a Pacer, the first day he was a Thunder, and as his last playoff game in a Thunder jersey. If he was going to come here, he probably still is. I’m not putting a ton of stock into homer Royce Young tweets spinning everything PG says as sunshine and rainbows. I think Melo’s comments are a better indication of the actual status of that team’s chemistry and how they ran things this season, not good.
^ Agreed, I had him as a lock to come here ever since he demanded a trade. Nothing has really changed since that day. PG in P&G.
I've said it a few times, I'll say it again. Paul George will be an LA Laker July 1. Book it. Save it, take a picture.
I’ll be the first to admit it, I thought Melo would perform much, much better - I was wrong. When they had Roberson covering for him, it was looking good. But overall he was terrible. He says he still has a lot left in the tank, and although I give gets the benefit of the doubt, I’m not optimistic on Melo.
Stars don’t make excuses, they find a way. Overall it was a disappointing year for him, and i’m Sure he hopes others believe him, because then he’d have more options besides just “opt in” to the final 28 mil on his contract. If he opts out, he may not make that much the rest of his career. The end is near unless he gets with Bron’s Dr. SOON!
Carmelo's quotes are certainly interesting and I don't put a ton of stock into George's. George came out and said something about being a Pacer long-term to the media and the next day asked for a trade to the Lakers. Carmelo on the other hand doesn't have a filter and let leak some very interesting details. First of all, there was no "behind the scenes" plan to get Carmelo in OKC with George. Presti just did it himself. Usually these guys like to meet up behind the scenes and pull strings (Miami situation, Houston situation, GS situation). That tells me this was a square peg in a round hole from day one. Second of all, he wasn't really included in the conversations. He wasn't made a priority and he doesn't feel the need to pretend to be part of the group. That's very, very interesting. Carmelo could throw a kink in the machine if he opts out just so he can go be with his friends. If he's really miserable there, money might not be enough to keep him around. Of course, he's always chosen money in the past so small chance he changes now, but he could save OKC a lot of money by leaving and clearly the other guys don't view him as part of the gang either. Maybe Melo opting out makes staying more palatable for George and paying for that team gets easier for the Thunder.
^^^I personally think Melo is going to go the Wade-Bulls route and opt into that 28M. Then he's going to force OKC into a buyout and give them back pennies on the dollar. Without PG and Melo on the payroll, OKC is committed to 89M in salary. If Melo opts out and PG gets his max that puts the books at 119M. With the tax threshold at 123M, OKC will only be armed with the tax-payer MLE of 5.4M. Hey PG, how the f*** are you and Sam planning to round out that roster? You can keep Felton, Grant, Heustis and Brew but whatever their salary is will be more than double it's worth when considering the more punitive taxes. Plus those dudes (except for maybe Brew) ain't taking the vet min. again. Anyways they're f***ed... There's no other way around it. Even with Roberson next year and Melo either gone or benched, their roughly $300 payroll isn't worth how far that team can get you in the playoffs. They'll still be far from favs to win it all next year in "year 2" of Thunderstuck! And boy will you be stuck there PG if you decide to come back. Anyways here's the video of their exit interviews and I didn't see them (cause it would induce even more vomit once I heard the dumb s*** coming out of PGs mouth), so I can't give you a breakdown. Sorry.
He's young BUT not every great or aspiring to be great player has that killer instinct even if you hoist up three air-balls in an elimination game. Those "gifted" players don't have that sort of mentality maybe because it comes easy for them.
I would haves loved to see Bledsoe’s effort in Giannis body yesterday just to see what it looked like.
Yeah, that's plausible, and you articulate it very well, as you always do! It's as simple as this to me, though: you get PG in a room with Magic, Kobe, Pelinka, Rob, and Luke; you pull out Magic and Kobe's rings and put them on a desk in front of Paul George; and ask him if he wants those rings? That's what Pat Riley did to LeBron, and that's what we need to do with PG. If he serious about winning championships, he'll trust us. He'll have his idol (Kobe), his dad's idol (Magic), Kobe's best friend in Rob, and his mentor in Brian Shaw. It's really a no-brainer, and once we put the pieces together for Paul in how this works; our process of excellence, our cap figures, our flexbility, our platform, and Kobe raves about Rob being the smartest dude he has ever known; it should be an easy decision. But, hey, if Paul chooses to stay with Russ, I'll still respect him. We're going to be fine irrespective of his decision. I'd love him, but the future is bright here, and it will be his loss.
Hey Pops. I generally liked this post. Except when I get home from being in a store with my phone I am going to go look up sirron's brand new WTF? stare from Shaq to use it on you for the first time here I think for this below: "But, hey, if Paul chooses to stay with Russ, I'll still respect him." ^^^ Boy I sure won't. I will realize he's really a dumb a** plus has no balls.
Well you've to to put things into perspective. 1. Melo's career earning through 2018 is at $227M excluding endorsements. 2. That $28M is more like $14M after taxes. 3. He lives away from his family in a role that he is not comfortable in. 4. Dude looks miserable. If I were him I would opt-in and negotiate a buy-out. Maybe consider retiring.
there's no way taxes eat that much and 2ndly he aint retiring. Melo has proven money is his highest priority, he proved it by forcing a trade to nyk rather than wait 1 season to sign there since he could get get more $ with his birds rights n thus helped den gut NYK and he proved it again when he had multiple chances to sign elsewhere in winning situation but took the $ with nyk knowing the future looked bleak. He could take a buyout but itll be at least 25mill imo, so still effectively screwing over okc.
39.6% Federal income tax 5% OK State income tax Just shy of 45% vs 50% It will go down slightly with new tax rates this next year about 2% That state tax rate is quite a bit higher in other states. If you were to say multiple millionaires get taxed about 50% across the board on average, it’s actually close to an accurate statement. Pretty crazy huh?!
