Wargames
One Of The Last Real Ones To Do It
Contract year or not I'd still want Mirotic and Butler over Melo, especially since Mirotic looks like the very rare faceup big that can play defense & rebound. Mirotic was a known commodity, as in he was the best European prospect in the world for the last couple years, two players 23 and 25 that will provide more for less than Melo for a much longer time.
Melo is not a decent defender this year, he's not going to be a decent defender in 2 years and he won't be a decent defender 4 years from now when he's making nearly $30 million a season. Your last point about the Bulls letting Butler walk is exactly why I would have pressed them for a S&T with the hopes of getting Butler & Mirotic in the package for Melo.
The Knicks are in the same exact position they would have been without Melo, they would have more caproom this summer, except with a more balanced squad and a much brighter future moving forward. Now, you're back to relying on the FA market and praying on the unlikely event that Marc Gasol leaves a much better team to come play in NY.
1) Mirotec is not a known commodity. He is the fifth option averaging 8 points. He is a good prospect at best from a weak european league.
2) Melo is doing a decent job at defending
3) your thinking short team. This season the tank is the tank. The knicks need both Bigs who can pass, and a superior scorer (who can pass and post) like Melo to make the triangle work. By next season they should have what they need to make moves
4) the knicks have a lottery pick, are likely going to make a few trades before this season is up, and a shyt load 30 -40 million in cap. Losing Melo means the 2010 Amare situation happens again where the knicks overpay somebody to build around. With Melo the knicks have somebody to build around already.
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Long term thinking would have been dropping Melo, getting some quality assets for him in return, making sure to build via the draft and only use free agency to strengthen your squad.
Good luck trying to rebuild through free agency, that really worked out well last time.

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the whole summer was about Melo, Lebron, and Bosh deciding where they were going.