Carmelo Anthony will return to the Knicks

[Rayman]

If he was all about winning, he'd take the Dirk Nowitzki discount, but of course it really isn't all about winning. I have never been a Carmelo Anthony guy. Big time isolation player who could never win a championship because his personal stats are more important than winning. Again, I point to the Jeremy Lin. Instead of thinking "Geez ... maybe this guy could be a good second banana" he immediately threw him under the bus. And, now, with this deal, he doesn't take a Nowitzki discount, he just says he heart was always with the Knicks. Yeah, right.

Don't get me wrong, I get wanting your money. And, frankly, he's a top-5 player in the NBA - he deserves his money. But don't say you're all about winning when you're not. Dirk Nowitzki is all about winning, Carmelo Anthony is ok making max salary on a lousy team with no chance of winning. And say what you will about Miami's Big 3 ... all those guys took pay cuts to make that work. And Bosh went from a 24-10 guy to what he is now.

I hate lazy narratives.

Would you leave $30M on the table to do the same amount of work as you already do? Taking the discount really doesn't make a shred of difference on what the Knicks can and can't do these next two years.

And the Lin thing is complete and utter horseshit, by the way.

Isn't it possible that Carmelo also wanted the opportunity to play under Jackson (in whatever capacity), didn't want to move, and at the same time still felt that he was worth the money? There is a lot of presumption getting slung around here (what a shock too, it's mostly by Dave).

This guy, he gets it. Not that complicated.

[Argath]

It appears Dave doesn't understand that Phil's salary doesn't count against the cap

[x0xHumblex0x]

Melo wants win, as well as get paid.........

[ralaw]

What has the world come to when players are hated on for taking their worth. Taking less like what Duncan, Dirk, Tom Brady, etc sets a bad precedent and allows these greedy and extremely rich owners to get away with being cheap. I'm all for any player getting their worth and it is up to the owners and GMs to build a team and make it work.

New York with Melo is far more valuable then New York without him. I read the Cavs value has gone up and city people expect hundreds of millions of more dollars for the city just because of James. Players need to get their money.

[dave]

I have no problem with players wanting their money ... seriously.
But, in a salary cap league, you can't say you're 100% devoted to winning if you're unwilling to make some sacrifices where your salary is concerned.
I am also not saying this is right. I absolutely agree that the owners are really killing the players in the NBA. I can't even imagine what a player of Lebron James' stature would make in baseball.