FanPost

Blazers Guide to Getting Carmelo Anthony

Let's bear this in mind. Portland is not New York. Portland is not Houston. It may have its unique beings, and voodoo donuts, and it's certainly a wonderful place to be, but it ain't New York.

Carmelo Anthony wants to stay relevant in the NBA, he wants to be a highly marketed player, and he wants to win. If Carmelo were to move to the Rose City and come play for the Trailblazers, all of those things would happen. The one challenge is getting him to take that chance in the first place. Right now, reports still say that Melo is only willing to waive his no-trade clause for Houston, to play with Mike D'Antoni's Rockets. The Rockets have everything he wants. They're in a big market, they're winning, which is something they'll have even without Carmelo, and they have players that are highly marketed, and world famous. James Harden has that beard, he has his own candy. Chris Paul just moved from LA. He stars in State Farm commercials. He and James Harden make for a pretty attractive duo. However, so do Dame Lillard and CJ McCollum. Neither is as marketable as the beard or CP3, but there's no question that they could become that someday. They're both about to enter their prime, and it would be a shame for them to spend that time chasing the 8th seed, as talented as they are.

So let's focus on the team the Blazers would be with Carmelo included. Lillard is a 2 time all-star and a superstar on the rise. McCollum is a sharp shooting sniper from mid range and 3 point range. Jusuf Nurkic seems to be the ideal center for Dame and CJ as his numbers were highly increased with the Blazers as opposed to the Nuggets, who he started last season with, and the Blazers finished the season 18-8 after they acquired Turkic. Melo is the missing piece. A veteran, 10 time all-star forward who would be that 3rd big name along Dame and CJ. The only thing that has to happen is convincing Melo to downsize from New York to Portland.

After that, there's only one thing the Blazers can do. They wait. No need to jump right in front of Houston, just let Houston fall behind. Houston isn't getting him. They can't. They aren't going to find a team that takes on the contract of Ryan Anderson. Anderson is due $61M over the next 3 years. He can shoot 3s, and score 10-15 points per game. That's it. Good player. Not a $20M per year player. The Blazers certainly won't take that contract, specifically because they want Carmelo for themselves, and every NBA team knows they'll be fools to take on Anderson's contract. So you can assume that the Rockets won't come through with a deal for Melo. Eventually Melo will snap. His patience will run out and he will care more about leaving New York than leaving New York FOR Houston. He hasn't said he's willing to waive his no trade clause for the Blazers, but that doesn't mean he couldn't change his mind soon. The Blazers have pieces like Harkless, Meyers Leonard, and Noah Vonleh that they could send over. Dame and CJ have recruited him well, even though its hard to sugarcoat a move from the big city to Oregon. But the Blazers can only wait now, until Carmelo gives up on the Rockets, and moves on, hopefully to Blazers. After all, it would be a fun team to watch