His skills, though still significant, have palpably diminished, plain and simple.
But he doesn't rule out a reunion with the Knicks.
[Cough]
But his mindset is still of the player he WAS, Iso-Melo, maneuvering in the box, and that is no longer the modern game.
Even at a late stage in his career, he could hit the long three, though not with the consistency of some younger puppies.
Also, there is a perception, and I do not believe it is inaccurate, which holds that he is still a bell cow, and teams are understandably uneasy about giving a roster spot to someone who is more committed to his game than the team game. Which is not to say that Melo is as terminally selfish as many assert, or a congenital ball hog, but that his sense of PROPORTION as to his game and how he might fit in a system, as opposed to how a system might be divined to fit him, is the sticking point. In other words, Melo still has game, sure, but it is Melo's game--and does it have a place in the MODERN TEAM GAME?
I hated the fucking trade that he forced the Knicks at gunpoint to make, in lieu of signing him as a free agent that coming summer, as it gutted their roster, and basically denied him the talent support system he needed to advance in the playoffs. Still, I came to appreciate his passion and skill set and sheer talent.
But as time marched on, everyone in the building, including my grandmother, who'd already been dead for many years, knew that in the final five minutes, the Knicks were playing Hero Ball, the rock was coming into the paint, and Melo was going to see triple teams as his team mates stood around holding their dicks.
Not winning hoops.
And while he did have that one 54 win season, it was with that douche nozzle Mike Woodson, who basically tossed everyone else under the bus, and gave Melo carte blanche. The team won, not because of Woodson or Melo, but because of Jason Kidd, who was the real coach/catalyst on the floor.
When Kidd departed, and there was no rudder, the ship ran aground, making way for the debacle that was the Phil Jackson Error, and the huge contract and no trade Melo demanded and got, which once again, hamstrung the team's financial ability to build a winning culture around him (that and Jackson's quixotic insistence on the Triangle). Yet another example of Melo first.
Somehow, after Jackson publicly trashed him, Scott Perry managed to get some real assets for him from OKC, and while Kanter and McDermott/Mudiay are gone, in lieu of Melo,
their cap space was useful, and the second rounder turned into Mitchell Robinson. Mazel Tov.
And why didn't things work out in OKC with such talented players as Paul George and Russell Westbrook? Because Melo over-estimated his own game, and felt he
WASN'T BEING UTILIZED CORRECTLY.
And that is why the following season, Houston pulled the plug after what, ten games, and furthermore, that is why he is not presently on any NBA roster, nor likely to be on one again.
He is NOT BEING BLACKBALLED. That is bullshit. He is past his prime, looking for a big stage and unwilling to envision himself as a ROLE PLAYER.
Hey, after they suffered career crushing injuries, the likes of Ron Harper and Antonio McDyess sustained viable, positive NBA careers as role players, finding things they could do well, even though the sexiest aspects of their games were now a memory. Red Auerbach used to regularly rehabilitate fading talents, and find a winning role for them in spot minutes in the team game.
Melo's MEMORY is that of the dominant player he was in 2012-2013, and 2013-2014.
In Dog Years and the NBA, five years is a long damn time, and Melo has sustained a belief that he is still a 30-35 minute a night, top tier rotation player. HE IS NOT. He is 35 years old, and an old dog unwilling to learn any new tricks. He has not been blackballed. Rather, Serial Blowhard Stephen A. notwithstanding, he has BLACKBALLED HIMSELF. He will not play in the NBA this season. "I'm Charles Foster Kane, Boss Geddes..."
Pity, because he can still play, but he has been sidelined by his own hubris.
Poll
