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Carmelo Anthony

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Would you like Melo on this team if you didn't have to trade Love?

  • Yes

  • No

  • Depends on who we have to trade (really?)

Results are only viewable after voting.
Rich said:
Same thing I brought up in the Korver thread, but "Does this give us better odds at beating Golden State" can't be the only qualifier when looking at a trade. What if it improves the odds, but only barely? What if, odds are, we still lose? Then you've traded 27 year old Kevin Love for 33 year old Carmelo Anthony with a no-trade clause........to still lose.

And boy won't that look terrible. Far more severe than trading a top-10 protected 1st in 2019.

I'd also like to say that Kevin struggles against Golden State because it's hard to find someone for him to defend. I very much want to know who people think Carmelo is going to adequately defend. Not Durant. Not Green. Not Klay Thompson. He's gonna struggle on that end just as much, but that's really a side point.

EDIT: And to prove my point, that it can't be the only qualifier, and people ultimately have a limit as to what they're willing to give up just to increase our odds at beating Golden State. Kyrie Irving could be traded right now for a player that probably gives us a slightly better chance at beating Golden State. If Chris Paul were healthy, let's say. Or for Jimmy Butler. Those guys might give us a slightly better shot at beating them this year.

Now who here does the trade? Probably almost no one.
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Just as a note, Kevin Love is 28 and Carmelo Anthony is 32, their age difference is four years and a few months, not six years.

I agree with much of this but not all of it. I agree that Carmelo for KLove straight up threatens the future of the team for a marginal increase in our chance of winning now, so is not a wise long term move. That's why I made a point of saying we could get more than just Carmelo for KLove...adding something like Hernangomez plus a first in this year's deep draft actually would address significant long-term issues we have with the roster by allowing us to add young talent at positions of need.

Regarding the Kyrie comparison, respectfully -- no way, and that's a really bad comparison. Kyrie is not perfect, but he brings that magic superstar quality which is indispensable to our team. Specifically, he is a great clutch scorer who can do crunch-time iso stuff that absolutely no one else in the NBA can do. You never let go of someone like that. KLove just does not have that quality for our team. The things he brings to our team are replaceable. The things Kyrie brings are not. You can make all the abstract message-board arguments you want about why Jimmy Butler is a "better matchup" against GS than Kyrie, but does anyone really think that if you replace Kyrie with Butler that we would still have won last year's Finals? I don't.
 
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Rich said:
Same thing I brought up in the Korver thread, but "Does this give us better odds at beating Golden State" can't be the only qualifier when looking at a trade. What if it improves the odds, but only barely? What if, odds are, we still lose? Then you've traded 27 year old Kevin Love for 33 year old Carmelo Anthony with a no-trade clause........to still lose.

And boy won't that look terrible. Far more severe than trading a top-10 protected 1st in 2019.

I'd also like to say that Kevin struggles against Golden State because it's hard to find someone for him to defend. I very much want to know who people think Carmelo is going to adequately defend. Not Durant. Not Green. Not Klay Thompson. He's gonna struggle on that end just as much, but that's really a side point.

EDIT: And to prove my point, that it can't be the only qualifier, and people ultimately have a limit as to what they're willing to give up just to increase our odds at beating Golden State. Kyrie Irving could be traded right now for a player that probably gives us a slightly better chance at beating Golden State. If Chris Paul were healthy, let's say. Or for Jimmy Butler. Those guys might give us a slightly better shot at beating them this year.

Now who here does the trade? Probably almost no one.
Click to expand...


I agree with your post completely, minus maybe the part about trading Irving giving us a better chance to win. Irving performed at such a high level in the Finals last year and seems to give GS serious problems. I would not trade him for Paul or Butler even if it was just for one series against GS and then the trade is reversed. Kyries performance in the finals last year was a legitimate, bonafide Superstar performance. I think Paul and Butler are ahead of Kyrie as overall players as it stands today, but when narrowed down to 7 games against GS, I think Kyrie proved that hes the right PG for the job.
Other than that minor thing, agree 100% on the Love for Melo thing.

Melo is getting really close to falling off the proverbial "cliff". You cannot trade 28 year old Kevin Love for this dude, Hernangomez and a pick isn't even enough. Need an established player than can contribute at a high level in the finals. There would have to be a third team.
 
I don't think replacing Love with Anthony improves our chances of winning a championship this year, or any year moving forward. If you think you can add Melo for other parts, I'm listening. Otherwise, it's all foolish talk.
 
Melo isn't even in good enough shape to trade for Love. How much better is he on D? It seems so marginal. Seems counter productive
 
Cavatt said:
Melo isn't even in good enough shape to trade for Love. How much better is he on D? It seems so marginal. Seems counter productive
Click to expand...
I’m not sure he’s even better at all, and if you’re right if he is it is marginal. Melo has really declined as a defender the last few years and Love has improved his defense every year with us.
 
Rich said:
Same thing I brought up in the Korver thread, but "Does this give us better odds at beating Golden State" can't be the only qualifier when looking at a trade. What if it improves the odds, but only barely? What if, odds are, we still lose? Then you've traded 27 year old Kevin Love for 33 year old Carmelo Anthony with a no-trade clause........to still lose.

And boy won't that look terrible. Far more severe than trading a top-10 protected 1st in 2019.

I'd also like to say that Kevin struggles against Golden State because it's hard to find someone for him to defend. I very much want to know who people think Carmelo is going to adequately defend. Not Durant. Not Green. Not Klay Thompson. He's gonna struggle on that end just as much, but that's really a side point.

EDIT: And to prove my point, that it can't be the only qualifier, and people ultimately have a limit as to what they're willing to give up just to increase our odds at beating Golden State. Kyrie Irving could be traded right now for a player that probably gives us a slightly better chance at beating Golden State. If Chris Paul were healthy, let's say. Or for Jimmy Butler. Those guys might give us a slightly better shot at beating them this year.

Now who here does the trade? Probably almost no one.
Click to expand...


I think your first point is well made...sacrificing youth and a good contract (not to mention a better overall player) for an improvement on the margins is a massive risk. And that's why I see no way that it happens before this offseason. In fact the only way I could fathom it happening at all is if Love plays badly in the Finals or gets injured again, and the Cavs can't find another player who could contribute as much in the short term as Melo.

But I don't agree at all with your Kyrie comparison. Kyrie is an elite one on one scorer, which is the exact skill set you need to beat Golden State's switching schemes. In some ways he is the reverse of Kevin Love - he is actually more valuable against that particular team. As an aside, that same ability to score one on one to punish mismatches that arise through switching is also why Melo would be deadly against GSW (not to mention that it would give the Cavs a third playmaker to spell LeBron). In my opinion, Kevin Love brings a lot of value - in skillset, in his relative youth, and in his willingness to be the third option - but he does not play like a max contract player against Golden State. Accordingly, Love is not only your best trade asset, but also the one that it makes the most sense to move to try and defeat Golden State going forward (if the Cavs lose this year, of course).

As to your side point about who Melo would guard, I think that's less of a concern than how he would guard Steph or Klay after a switch. Is he going to lock down Durant or Green? No way. But he's guarded those types of players his whole career and has shown he can be a dogged one on one defender late in games when he actually tries. Plus in Cleveland he wouldn't be expending the same energy on offense. I don't see Durant or Green just blowing by him the way they will almost certainly blow by Love. So you could put Melo on Durant or Green and live with the results, which would lessen the burden on LeBron too. On the other hand, Melo has no chance of guarding Steph or Klay after a switch. He has a bad tendency to give guards WAY too much space after a switch, which is a huge problem against GSW. I still think overall that he helps the Cavs more against the Warriors than Love does, though as you point out, I don't know how much he really moves the needle against them.
 
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I wonder if Austin likes this from his son
 
ACisKING said:
I think your first point is well made...sacrificing youth and a good contract (not to mention a better overall player) for an improvement on the margins is a massive risk. And that's why I see no way that it happens before this offseason. In fact the only way I could fathom it happening at all is if Love plays badly in the Finals or gets injured again, and the Cavs can't find another player who could contribute as much in the short term as Melo.

But I don't agree at all with your Kyrie comparison. Kyrie is an elite one on one scorer, which is the exact skill set you need to beat Golden State's switching schemes. In some ways he is the reverse of Kevin Love - he is actually more valuable against that particular team. As an aside, that same ability to score one on one to punish mismatches that arise through switching is also why Melo would be deadly against GSW (not to mention that it would give the Cavs a third playmaker to spell LeBron). In my opinion, Kevin Love brings a lot of value - in skillset, in his relative youth, and in his willingness to be the third option - but he does not play like a max contract player against Golden State. Accordingly, Love is not only your best trade asset, but also the one that it makes the most sense to move to try and defeat Golden State going forward (if the Cavs lose this year, of course).

As to your side point about who Melo would guard, I think that's less of a concern than how he would guard Steph or Klay after a switch. Is he going to lock down Durant or Green? No way. But he's guarded those types of players his whole career and has shown he can be a dogged one on one defender late in games when he actually tries. Plus in Cleveland he wouldn't be expending the same energy on offense. I don't see Durant or Green just blowing by him the way they will almost certainly blow by Love. So you could put Melo on Durant or Green and live with the results, which would lessen the burden on LeBron too. On the other hand, Melo has no chance of guarding Steph or Klay after a switch. He has a bad tendency to give guards WAY too much space after a switch, which is a huge problem against GSW. I still think overall that he helps the Cavs more against the Warriors than Love does, though as you point out, I don't know how much he really moves the needle against them.
Click to expand...

You obviously think differently, but I don't think Carmelo can do anything for us defensively that Kevin Love can't. Either way, you're throwing them on Iggy/Green in the small ball lineups, and daring the Warriors to beat you with somebody outside of Durant/Curry/Thompson.
 
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