He chose New York. He put himself in this position. He then chose New York again. He has to own the situation he has chosen. I probably would have returned to New York also. I just wouldn't expect people to apologize for me when my supporting cast is bad when I've literally picked them to be my supporting cast twice.
I'm not criticizing his choice of contract. Take the money. Just don't take the money and then expect people to make excuses to why you are are almost always absent by the second round of the playoffs.

We can trace this all the way back to Denver, and him forcing a trade which cost New York a lot, and then we were supposed to accept his poor playoff results because of his lack of help, but when he has a chance to remedy that he instead returns to New York. Obviously, Melo either thinks he'll be provided a good supporting cast soon, or he doesn't care. Either way, the excuses need to end.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

you are absolutely sure about that? I truly don't believe that he would let that be a deal killer. Taj Gibson is a second string player. I don't know why this is hard to understand. He was going to get his money regardless. Earlier you said that the Knicks would do a sign and trade. I believe you called it posturing now you're saying that they wouldn't. Who are you crapping?

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Taj is a starter on most NBA teams. They're both fellow New Yorkers and all reports said Melo wanted Taj to stay. If Taj stayed the Bulls couldn't give him a $96M deal. ONLY the Knicks could give him $129M. Even with a sign and trade no team could give him the 5th year and extra $30M.

Nowhere in any of my posts do you see me say the Knicks wouldn't sign and trade him.

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The Bulls wanted to give him a max contract (via sign and trade) so they could stay over the cap. It would allow them to keep all their exceptions so they could sign other players.

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Tom Penn just said that to sign with Chicago he would have to leave half on the table. I know they are part of the boo yah network. We don't listen to them probably they make too much sense. He is not just choosing more money he is choosing substantially more money. As far as winning goes there is a good possibility that the Knicks will be better than the Bulls next yr. They may have enough for two max contracts. As far as forcing a trade from Denver he informed them that he would probably leave and they traded him. I prefer what he did more than what Lebron James did. At least he didn't string them along when he knew all along that he was going to leave. Denver was thus allowed to make a very good trade. Has anyone ever thought about? Probably makes too much sense

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That's pretty much it. When you're on record saying you want to win championships and that you already have all the money you need then go ahead and sign for the biggest contract you could get I wouldnt be looking for a lot of sympathetic ears when your team continues to suck primarily because of the deal you signed.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

You keep on mentioning contracts. I don't care. Good for Carmelo in making the most money he can.

He just doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt because his supporting cast sucks. He has chosen them twice. That is all.

No more excuses. If Carmelo doesn't have some deep playoff runs then we shouldn't excuse it because his team is bad. He wanted to be in New York.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

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I would argue the LeBron way was better. Why? The Knicks had to gut their team to land Melo. The Nuggets actually ended up being better without him. IF he would have just left at the end of the season and signed with the Knicks he would have had better players to play with. That is why he DIDN'T want the Bulls to trade Taj. He saw what playing with a gutted roster could do to a team.

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I'm not sure why you quoted that post without add any comments to it.

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If the money is close he would sacrifice Taj Gibson no doubt about that. New York didn't have to gut there roster they could have simply refused the trade. I have 17 power forwards that would start before Taj Gibson if he is a starter why hadn't he ever started? Please don't say Boozers contract Boozer was considered a better player at the time. I listed the power forwards previously post wouldn't go through

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What? The money could never be close because no other team could offer the extra year and $30M. Taj was a rookie when Boozer signed with the Bulls and since Year 2 just about everyone saw that Taj was better. That's why he was on the floor in the 4th quarters.

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Taj Gibson until this year has never averaged double figures and was considered to be a disappointment the yr. After he signed his contract. I forgot he hustles so we love him. If the Bulls are so on him why are they pursuing Gasol?

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He was injured the year he signed his contract and tried to play because the Bulls were shorthanded.

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I was speaking hypothetically as a way of demonstrating that the Taj love by Melo does not run that deep

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We'll never know because Melo chose $30M over winning. That's fine. I imagine that the majority of us would probably do the same.

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Essentially he is supposed to take a contract that no other player in the league would accept. What the Bulls could offer was clearly not enough. I asked about other players that would take that type of hit and it's interesting that there was not a name given. Let's just criticize a guy for doing what no one else would do. The people that are criticizing him would do exactly what he is doing.

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Last year Dwight Howard took a contract that was less than he could have gotten with the Lakers. Once again IF Melo wanted to come here he could have gotten his $96M. IF he wanted the other $33M he had to stay with the Knicks. He wanted the other $33M.

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Dwight Howard is young enough to get another big money contract Melo is not. That is why that fifth yr is important he will be 34 at that point. Also no state tax in Houston. When you crunch the numbers it wasn't 30 million dollar difference and the money that Houston gave Howard is about 25-30 million more than what the Bulls could offer. That fifth yr. That Howard gave up will be recouped because he will be about 30- or 31. Also he was terribly unhappy to play with Kobe and for DAntoni? I don't get the feeling that Melo is that unhappy in New York and they do have the great Phil Jackson running the show never discount that.

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I'm not arguing why Howard didn't take the 5th year. I also understand why Melo took the 5th year. Winning just wasn't the reason why.

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I don't think anyone would have a problem with it if Anthony himself had not said it wasn't about money but about winning. Those are his words. He chose the most he could get, fine. All the talk about him wanting to win was all bullshit. Just own it.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I believe that he wants to win but he wanted the 5th year and extra $33M more.

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He wanted both. He figures he can win and get the cash. Anyone would have done the same...

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It's possible he can eventually win in New York. If he was smart he would have waited another year before opting out. His max deal could have been bigger and he would know what players would be around him. His shoulder must scare him.

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I believe that he wants to win but he wanted the 5th year and extra $33M more.[/quote. All athletes are full of shit when it comes to that. They want to win but they also want their money. Robert Horry was once asked if he would rather have had his career or Barkley 's and he said he would rather have Barkleys. Winning is important but people are asking the guy to accept a contract that no other player would accept. Why isn't anyone questioning the Bulls willingness to win. The Bulls have legit chance to get a top five player and are refusing to trade a few role players to do it.

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The Bulls were willing to give Melo the max contract they were allowed ($96M). Why? Because they knew that is what it would take and they wanted to stay over the salary cap. Carmelo wanted something that only the Knicks could give him.

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I haven't heard anything about the max. The most I have read is 70-75 never 96

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I did. It's why Boozer was still on the team. The Bulls need to stay over the salary cap or they'll lose about $7.5M in exceptions they can use to sign players.

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This is the last point. He is being asked to accept a drastically reduced contract to play for a team whose star player has missed the last three yrs. The talk about choosing money over winning is not factual because there is no guarantee that the Bulls would win with Melo. Would you put base your future as a winner on the health of Derrick Rose? I would not

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