As time passes, our options regarding the Melo situation seem to be dwindling.  While nobody can be 100% certain, it doesn't appear Carmelo is eager or willing to sign an extension with anyone but the Bulls or the Knicks.  The Knicks have some tradeable assets, but would likely prefer to just wait out the year and acquire Melo in a sign and trade or as an outright free agent.  Chicago could put together an interesting package involving Luol Deng and Taj Gibson, however many Stiffs balk taking on large long term contracts.  Neither team has any attractive draft picks for us to rebuild with.

The question then becomes, what teams are willing to chance it and trade for an extensionless Melo?  There are 3 candidates I've heard mentioned.  Orlando, Dallas and Atlanta.  Atlanta seems unlikely given they just threw an insane amount of money at Joe Johnson, a scorer similar to Melo.  Dallas is an old team that lacks the young talent and draft picks the Nuggets are interested in.  The best candidate I see is the Orlando Magic.  Orlando is a small market, but the Magic have a superstar center in Dwight Howard and a willingness to spend money like a big market team (Magic have the 2nd largest payroll in the NBA).  They have some interesting trade assets and a reported willingness to take a chance on Carmelo signing an extension there.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2010/11/magics-ears-perked-to-make-trades.html

The one thing the Magic lack is an attractive draft pick.  This is where a potential 3rd team could get involved.  Given their ineptitude, we know the Clippers have a variety of good draft picks.  Chris Kaman hasn't found his game when playing with Blake Griffin and has been a huge disappointment this year.  He is also now injured again and scheduled to miss 3 weeks.  They may want to move him for a more reliable defensive minded center like Marcin Gortat (who some people are very high on).  Something like this could work:

Denver receives: Chris Kaman, Jameer Nelson, Al-Farouq Aminu, JJ Reddick,  and the Clippers 2011 1st rounder 

Orlando receives: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups

LA Clippers receive: Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass, JR Smith

The Nuggets receive a Clippers 1st round draft pick that could be potentially excellent depending on its protection, a young promising SF in Aminu (50% 3pt shooter) and a well rounded and relatively inexpensive point guard in Jameer Nelson.  Jameer is known as a scoring point guard, but is underrated as a passer.  He would be an excellent starting PG and would allow Lawson to come off the bench where he is more effective  Kaman would likely be around only in short-term unless he regains his allstar form.  JJ Reddick, while not having the most attractive contract, is a capable bench shooter that can replace some of JR's production. While Nuggets fans may not agree on whether Chauncey is in a slump or in a career decline, there is no question that Chauncey wants to close out his career playing for a contender.  Not many people think  Melo-less Nuggets would be a true contender, but a Melo+Dwight Magic team certainly would be.

The Magic would definitely be taking a risk that acquiring Carmelo and Chauncey would earn them a ring or at the very least put them in the Finals.  As currently constructed, many doubt the Magic can advance past the Celtics.  Since Hedo left, they haven't had a clutch scorer (Vince tends to disappear when needed).  But if the Magic can make a deep playoff run with Carmelo, the idea of playing with friend and teammate Chauncey Billups and a possible NBA MVP center would force Melo to strongly consider signing an Orlando extension.  Carmelo and Dwight would be a force in the Eastern Conference for years.  Since Vince Carter and Chauncey both have team options next year, it gives the Magic the ability to free up space to sign an additional piece.  This would definitely be a high risk high reward type trade for them.

For the Clippers, the pairing of Gortat and Bass with Griffin and DeAndre Jordan suddenly gives them an excellent defensive and rebounding front court with significant depth. They also add an explosive scorer off the bench in JR Smith.   The draft pick would likely be protected (Top7 or Top 10 maybe) and they still keep the unprotected 2012 Minny pick which will likely be very valuable.

So now that everybody is calling for Chauncey and Nene's heads, I thought I'd try and come up with a trade since we all know how much everybody loves discussing them, right?  And I'll be honest, I've had it with Chauncey.  That terrible 3pt shot from 40ft out with 12 seconds still on the clock sealed it for me.  His leadership is totally overrated and he constantly makes decisions that a 13 year veteran should never make.  I'll take almost any decent PG in return for him at this point.  Don't give me this nonsense that Chauncey is the heart and soul of this team.  I think it's pretty clear this team has little heart, no brain and no soul.  People still refer to him as Mr. Big Shot so let's cash in on that brand name.

On to the trade!

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=39o2nyv 

Denver Trades: Chauncey, Nene, JR, Kmart

Denver Receives: Jameer Nelson, Varejao, Vince Carter, Jamison

Orlando Trades: Jameer Nelson, Vince, Gortat, Bass

Orlando Receives: Chauncey, Nene, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams

Cleveland Trades: Varejao, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams, Jamison

Cleveland Receives: Gortat, JR, Kmart, Bass

We unload our underachievers and get a younger PG with playoff experience who would likely fit well, interior defense and rebounding help and a reliable wing scorer.

Orlando gets 2 young talented PFs to pair with Dwight and 2 scoring pgs who provide heady, veteran leadership *cough*

Cleveland unloads Jamison and Williams' contracts.  Gets a young affordable center, frontcourt help to replace Varejao and some expirings.

Now, who needs to be buttered up with draft picks?

Well, while it’s still early in the season, there’s been a lot of talk recently about our struggles at point guard.  Ty Lawson, who many see as the future of the Nuggets franchise (I don’t personally), seems to have lost his confidence and his shooting stroke.  Chauncey Billups’ low shooting percentage is no longer masking his poor shot selection and lack of assists.  Both have made costly turnovers in the closing minutes of games that could have been won with better execution.

Chauncey does tend to escape a lot of criticism since he is our native son and his arrival brought us within an inbound play or two of the NBA finals.  Chauncey’s leadership, while important for that playoff run, was certainly overstated.  Chauncey may be the vocal and emotional leader of the Nuggets, but we’ve seen him get costly techs, force penetrations and take ill-timed 3’s during some of our notorious mental breakdowns.  George Karl has given him free reign to play his game while keeping JR on a leash so short he gets yanked after forcing one shot.

To be fair to Chauncey, I don’t think his game has changed that drastically, but his poor shooting is now accentuating his other faults.  He’s normally a great shooter and is still one of the better point guards in the NBA, but he is not a floor general in the sense that he feeds guys that are hot or need to get offensively involved.  I’m not writing this simply due to his current shooting slump, but because I think a pass first point guard is exactly what this team needs.

ESPN has reported that Steve Nash would be a potential trade option sometime this season.  While it’s pretty clear at this point this is just more ESPN rumor mongering, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched if the Suns continue to struggle this season.  Nash is incredibly loyal and unlikely to request a trade, but I cannot imagine he would enjoy playing the last years of his career on a team that has no chance of competing for a title.  The Suns are at an interesting point where it appears they should rebuild, but they refuse to do so.  If the Suns continue to struggle this year, they may ultimately decide to unload expensive, long term contracts such as Hedo Turkoglu and move Steve Nash to a contender.  Hedo is 2 years removed from being a critical component of the Magic’s finals run.  The Suns have him playing minutes at PF for some reason, which seems destined to fail.  We can trade them JR’s expiring contract and Chauncey who has a team option next year that they can decline.  This would unload all of their sizable long term deals (other than Childress) and allow them to fully rebuild with a shiny new draft pick.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2edxptq

Denver Trades: Chauncey Billups, JR Smith, 1st rounder

Denver Receives: Steve Nash, Hedo Turkoglu

Steve Nash is the ideal PG for the Nuggets and George Karl.  George’s philosophy is clearly to let the players play.  He is not interested in set plays or calling timeouts to make in-game adjustments or substitutions.  He expects the players themselves to understand and execute adjustments on the fly.  Steve Nash is incredibly efficient and smart and has to be the best floor general in the NBA.  He knows how and when to get guys involved and when to take over and score.  The “random offense” we employ, would be a lot more effective with Steve Nash directing it.  A Steve Nash/Carmelo Anthony duo, with our depth this year, would be strong contenders to represent the West.  This year’s Nuggets are arguably more talented than last year’s Suns and are certainly better defensively, when fully healthy.  Knocking off the Lakers is likely our only shot at convincing Melo to stay.  If Melo leaves anyway, we could flip Nash to a contender.  In this scenario, the Suns would decline Chauncey's team option leaving him free next year to go where he pleased.

Turkoglu’s contract certainly is unpleasant, but in the event Melo does depart he can step in at SF.  To me, he seems like an older version of Danilo Gallinari.  He is still shooting 44% from 3 pt range and we’ve seen on the Magic, he is capable of being the go-to guy to take the last shot.  I think playing him at SF next to our bigs would be much more effective than trying to stick him at PF like the Suns.  He’s certainly not ideal if we end up getting burned by Melo, but with no Melo or Chauncey we still would have some financial freedom for the future.

I’ve been looking for high salaried teams sitting in the luxury tax that are most likely to underachieve and dump salary at the deadline and it appears the Charlotte Bobcats are a prime candidate.  Depending on how the Melo situation plays out, I’d have to say we are the next most likely candidate.  However, despite Charlotte’s recent cut of Erick Dampier, they still remain approximately $8 million above the luxury tax line of $70.3 million.  They have already made it clear they intend to get under the luxury tax this year and their probable underachievement will only expedite the process.

                It was reported that Michael Jordan’s stubbornness in dealing his 2008 #9 pick, DJ Augustine, contributed to the demise of the 4-team Melo trade, but it’s also likely he balked because it didn’t get the Bobcats under the luxury tax.  I suspect he’ll be a more willing trading partner closer to the deadline when the Bobcats are looking up at an 8th seed.

Their roster certainly doesn’t provide a whole lot to get excited about aside from Gerald Wallace who we can assume is untouchable.  I do think, however, they can be a valuable 3rd party in a potential Melo trade if the circumstances come down to that.  I’ve come up with two Melo trade scenarios, one for the Knicks and one for the Nets, which involve Charlotte getting under the luxury tax and trading us Stephen Jackson and Nazr Mohammad. 

While both would increase our salary for this year, our long term flexibility remains and our current lack of size is alleviated.  Stephen Jackson, while a bit erratic in shot selection, provides solid defense and a consistent scoring punch.  Most importantly, he’s clutch and can relied upon to close out games.  Various picks can be swapped to even out the deals.

Nets Trade:     http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2ej2at5

Denver Trades: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Anderson, JR Smith

Denver Receives: Derrick Favors, Troy Murphy, Terrence Williams, Stephen Jackson, Nazr Mohammad

Charlotte Trades: Stephen Jackson, Nazr Mohammad, Eddie Najara

Charlotte Receives: Chris Anderson, JR Smith

New Jersey Trades: Derrick Favors, Troy Murphy, Terrence Williams

New Jersey Receives: Carmelo Anthony, Eddie Najara

Knicks Trade:  http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=27adq3k

Denver Trades: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Anderson, JR Smith

Denver Receives: Anthony Randolph, Danilo Gallinari, Eddy Curry, Stephen Jackson, Nazr Mohoammad

Charlotte Trades: Stephen Jackson, Nazr Mohammad, Eddie Najara

Charlotte Receives: Chris Anderson, JR Smith

New York Trades: Anthony Randolph, Danilo Gallinari, Eddy Curry

New York Receives: Carmelo Anthony, Eddie Najara

What do you guys think?

I know we’re all sick of hearing trade proposals, but this one dumps all our problem children in one trade and even received a stamp of approval from a Nets fan!  Crazy right?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2bxh52p

Denver receives: Favors, Iggy, Brand, Damion James, Kapono (expiring), Willie Green (expiring), Philly 1st rounder and Warriors 1st rounder (maybe an extra 1st or 2nd rounder to sweeten it)

NJ receives: Melo, Balkman

Philly receives: K-mart (expiring), JR (expiring), Troy Murphy (expiring)

Resulting Lineup:

Billups/Lawson

Iggy/Afflalo/Green

Harrington/James/Kapono

Favors/Brand

Nene/Bird

Pretty sweet right?  Good return for Melo, $10 mil in expirings and no more JR, Kmart or Balkman.  Let’s hear your thoughts

I figured I'd get in on the trade speculation fun.  I posted this scenario in a couple threads, but I think it's worthy of a few more views so I decided to make a Fanpost.   I think these are reasonable trades that make us an even stronger team despite the loss of Melo.  We’ll see if you all agree.

Trade 1: JR/K-mart + 2011 1st rounder for Iguodala/Brand

Trade 2: Carmelo for  Kaman/Aminu + Minnesota's unprotected 2012 pick

Resulting lineup:

PG: Billups/Lawson

SG: Iguodala/AAA

SF: Harrington/Aminu

PF: Nene/Brand

C:   Kaman/Bird

The payroll would certainly be high and we would be potentially mortgaging any future financial flexibility.  But given Minny’s 2012 unprotected pick will likely be top 5 and potentially top 3, we have hope for the future if we can land another superstar player on a rookie contract.  Given the contract situations ,we do have trade options if the Kroenkes decide they want to cut payroll.  Kaman’s contract becomes an expiring next year and Brand’s contract will also become a big Kmart- like expiring in 2 years. 

Iguodala has been underappreciated in Phily and can fill the star role on our team.  He replaces the majority of the offense we lose by Melo’s departure while providing greatly improved defense and passing with comparable rebounding despite being a SG.  With Iggy, Chauncey, and Harrington to pair with Nene, Brand and Kaman we should have an elite combination of perimeter and post scoring.

Our biggest weaknesses have always been defense and rebounding.  This lineup is certainly an improvement in this area over what we currently field.  While Billups and Lawson are both limited defensively, this lineup will improve our perimeter defense significantly given Iguodala and AAA can both be considered lock down defenders.  Aminu is an interesting prospect and despite being limited offensively is an athletic defender and a good rebounder.  A 4 big man rotation of Nene, Brand, Kaman and Bird would have to be one of the best rotations in the league both offensively and defensively.  Not to mention both Harrington and Aminu can be rotated into the 4 spot. 

The versatility on offense and defense is why I like this lineup so much.  We would have so much size and so many different strengths I think we could be unstoppable.  Not to mention we rid ourselves completely of all the headcases on our team (except Balkman).  To me this is an absolute dream scenario, although I don’t think it’s too far–fetched as long as Stan Jr. ponies up the cash.  I think JR and K-mart need to go and Melo has not given any indication he wants to stay.  If we fielded this lineup we would certainly be top 3 seed in the West and with a potential top 3 pick in 2012 our future would be very bright despite losing Melo.

Feel free to leave your thoughts.