Yes, he had an off shooting night but still hit the biggest shot of the game with 13 seconds left, up 2, and shot clock running down--preventing yet another last second crushing buzzer beating loss this month. So even his "off-nites" are productive--18 pts, 11 rebs, and the game-clincher, and he had just come off a spectacular stretch of 4 straight games where he had averaged 30ppg, so can't expect that every single night.
Knicks would be stupid to trade Melo, as it would set them back years again. ESPECIALLY, after reading the crap mentioned that they might get back in return. The Clippers proposal wanted to make me vomit---only the 2 backup guards Rivers and Crawford? What the hell is the point of doing that? I could understand trading him if you were going to get a lot in return (for example, a starter and a first-rounder that has a chance to be a lotto pick). But not for pennies on the dollar.
The Knicks have obviously had a bad month with all these last second losses. But as recently as 4 weeks ago (Christmas Day), they were tied with Boston with about a minute to go and a win would have moved them (alone) into the 3-seed. Everything fell apart after that loss. My point is that they were not that far away. As another poster mentioned, they have a bunch of other good young players (besides the obvious KP) in Hernangomez, Kuzmingas, and Baker, and Kyle O'Quinn's contract is a steal ($4M/year for 4 yrs--and he is only 26 himself) for the production he gives you (and will be even more of a steal as the cap goes up next year). Courtney Lee is finally being utilized properly in the offense the past few games, and will be an important piece for the next 3 and half years. So I think they should keep Melo, and take the $25M next summer that will be available under the cap and sign a top point guard (like a Chris Paul) and take a run at it.
I understand all of you non-Knicks fans wanting him to get traded, so that he can win a title. That is totally fair. I would love him to win one before his career is over. He'll be 35 when his Knick contract expires, so will still have a few years left if it doesn't happen in NY (Vince Carter is still playing at age 40).
