Joakim Noah Recruited Carmelo During All-Star Weekend
Love this. If you haven’t been paying attention to some of the recent stories it’s looking like the wheels are officially in motion for this to go down in the offseason. Yesterday Carmelo had his “people” say that he doesn’t want to rebuild, which looking at the Knicks cap is virtually impossible. If they resign Melo they can’t bring in a number 2 guy until the 2015 offseason. Also, whenever a player says he doesn’t want to rebuild, that’s usually a good indication that he’s got one foot out the door.
Now today we have the story about Joakim doing a little recruiting over All-Star weekend and you see all the pieces sort of coming together. Just last Sunday Carmelo watched what a Derrick Rose-less Bulls can do. Absolutely smoked the Knicks. And I guarantee you Melo has taken a look at what the Bulls have done this season. Playing fantastic basketball with no true number 1 scorer. Yes the roster will be different next year with Boozer gone and probably Taj but the fact remains, the best situation for Melo to win immediately is in Chicago. There is no other spot for him. The Lakers have Kobe and an awful roster, the Suns aren’t ready to win in the West and the Knicks, well they’re the Knicks. So If Carmelo actually wants to win, if he cares about his legacy and trying to play in a Finals, he’ll come here. Simple as that. New Big Three time.
Also as an aside, I can’t say enough about what Joakim Noah has done for this team this year. Not just talking on the court which has been incredible. He’s the best center in the league and should get MVP votes. Even more than that though, he has established himself as the alpha leader. Deng getting traded was the catalyst. Even with D-Rose coming back next year Noah will still be the head honcho, which if you ask me is absolutely perfect. Derrick doesn’t want to be that guy, the vocal leader, the heart and soul. Noah takes that off his plate, and if you’ve been watching him fully morph into that role and accept it this year, he is clearly more than capable to fill that role.