Does Carmelo Anthony Bring Melo-Drama to The Bulls?
By Ronald Agers
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Well Pippen Peoples it’s now time to turn the page on the 2013-14 season. With the Chicago Bulls being sent home last week losing 75-69 to the Washington Wizards, the Bulls now have a lot of business to deal with in the offseason. As always Pippen Ain’t Easy will be right there following everything to the drafts, free agency and Nikola Mirotic’s will he or won’t he be in a Bulls uniform next year questions. Will the Legion of Booz franchise leave Pippen Ain’t Easy with the departure of Carlos Boozer? Time will tell over the next few weeks. But for now, let’s start with the conversation that is all over the minds of Bulls and Knicks fans alike. Will Carmelo Anthony leave New York for Chicago or will he stay? Even if he does come…Does Carmelo Anthony bring Melo-Drama to the Bulls? Let’s take a look shall we?
This is one of the more intuitive articles that I can write for this website Pippen Peoples. I can cover this from both sides of the spectrum. I have been covering the Chicago Bulls over a variety of aspects from the team to the coaching staff to management. To do all of this one would have to be engrossed in Chicago Bulls basketball to pull this off. I have a ventured interest in what direction the Bulls are going in the short and long term. However, I am a New York Knicks fan and I would like to see the 41 year championship drought come to an end. With that being said let’s discuss the number one free agent this summer, Carmelo Anthony.
When this season started, all of my friends were teasing me stating that Carmelo Anthony was going to leave New York. Naturally as a dude that loves to talk trash about NBA hoops, I argued that there was no way that Carmelo would leave 130 million dollars on the table. Of course that was pre-Phil Jackson. That was pre-firing of Mike Woodson who just rolled the ball to Anthony and let him do whatever he wanted. Plus this was pre-lottery squad with no first round pick not making the playoffs. This was pre Phil Jackson asking Carmelo to take a pay cut. Now it has gone from me believing 100% that Carmelo is staying to 50/50. Now I’m in the boat with everyone else wondering will he stay or will he go? For the sake of conversation, let’s just say he goes. If he does come to Chicago, would it matter?
Pippen Peoples, I’ve seen this movie before. You have too.
Let’s go back to 2011. The Denver Nuggets wanted to sign Carmelo Anthony to a three-year 65 million dollar extension. Carmelo left the deal on the table. Then scenarios started floating out how Melo wanted to go “home” and play in New York. For months, there were reports that he was also willing to go to the Nets who at that time was in New Jersey. Then Carmelo started flip-flopping on if he would sign the extension which would have put the Nets in the same predicament as the Nuggets, so they backed off. Carmelo knew what he was doing. He was in no danger of signing that contract in Denver. You see after what happened in Cleveland after some dude named LeBron James left the Cavaliers high and dry and ready to cry when he said bye-bye, the Nuggets couldn’t take the chance of having the same fate of Melo leaving and not getting something in value in return. Carmelo had to hurry up and get a deal done because he knew that the new collective bargaining agreement coming down the pipe would have cost him a ton of money.
Fast forward to 2014. The New York Knicks want to sign Carmelo Anthony to an extension. Notice all of the scenarios that are floating around all of a sudden? Besides the Bulls, there have been reports that the Houston Rockets are trying to make a run at Melo and now recently the Dallas Mavericks. Again, Carmelo is playing the exit game trying to angle his way into a different situation. Carmelo is now looking at Dwight Howard’s situation and how he left the Lakers for Houston and how that turned out. Remember how badly he wanted to play in New York? How playing in Madison Square Garden was a dream come true? Does anyone remember the potential that the Knicks had when he was supposed to team up with Amare Stoudemire to make the Knicks title contenders? What happened in three years to make him want to leave “home”?
Well let me tell you. When things get tough. Carmelo is looking for the easy way out. He is looking for the “LeBron” plan. He is looking to team up with a superstar like LeBron James but does not want to make the adjustments to make the arrangement successful. In Denver, he knew that the team was never going to get past the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. In the seven years in Denver, his teams only got out of the first round only once. The whispers started coming out that he could not lead this team to a title so he bailed out.
Are things staring to sound familiar? The Knicks are not title contenders right now. No scratch that, the Knicks are not even playoff contenders at this point. They are stuck with no 2014 first round pick this year. Should Melo be mad? Nope, because the Knicks traded that pick to Denver to get him in a New York uniform in the first place. The Knicks are stuck at least next year in bad unmovable contracts given to underachieving players like J.R. Smith, Andrea Bargnani and Amare Stoudemire. Carmelo has now moved to the wrong side of thirty and is getting desperate.
Let me tell you something Pippen Peoples, the Chicago Bulls do NOT want to make the same mistake that the Knicks did bringing this guy into New York. The Knicks were in a similar position in 2011 like the Chicago Bulls are right now. Carmelo Anthony has already started scouring the NBA for a sweet deal to get out of a situation that he wanted to be in and a difficult situation that he created.
Pippen Ain’t Easy will be taking a in-depth look into the career of Carmelo Anthony leading up to this offseason. Why? Because Pippen Peoples you really need to take a long look at the player that can come in a break the momentum of a franchise that despite all odds this season, made positive strides in the right direction.
Next discussion: What is the price the Chicago Bulls willing to pay and the consequences.