Durant has Ibaka and other players. OKC is a better team with Westbrook.
Chicago isn't a good team without Deng or Rose, they won't make the playoffs with just Noah.
Kyle Lowry has DeMar DeRozan who's like 7th in the league in scoring.
Joe Johnson wishes he could play like Melo.
Milsap is great, but so is Melo.
2013-14: 26.1 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 3.0 APG, 45% FG, 40% 3PT, 1.1 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 2.3 TOV
MVP caliber numbers, only 5 guys in the NBA come close to having that kind of production.
Blake Griffin has Crawford, Redick, Jordan, Dudley...guys who actually contribute in dynamic ways and are at least average to good.
This is where you fail 3G4G.
Melo has no body average to good on his team.
Chandler is too injury prone therefor his value is low tier.
Amare is too, but when he plays, he's horrible.
Bargs is probably worst. He can only play at center but gives up too many rebounds.
Felton and Smith are 40-45th in their positions. Not even average tier PG's, they've been so bad this year; they've hit below average tier.
So when you overrate those other players, you undermining the fact that Melo doesn't have anyone worthy to play with.
Hardaway Jr. is a rookie and Shumpert doesn't even have a role on this team because Woodson is loyal to JR Smith.
Melo gives us that star power, but we don't even have an average supporting cast and theres nothing you can prove that this roster is average. Its pure trash.
or he could play more like Durant without Westbrook
or he could play more like Noah with no Rose, no Deng
or he could play more like Kyle Lowry with no stars and who isn't a star
or he could play more like Paul Milsap with no Horford
or he could play more like Joe Johnson be clutch with no Deron, with no Lopez, and players who rest from game-to-game
or he could play like Paul George with a synergetic spirit and infuse his into every teammate so they feel like just as huge a factor
or he could play more like Blake Griffin with no Chris Paul and do everything consistently every game
or he could play like Kemba Walker with no Al Jefferson and no Kidd Gilchrist
That would be my advice because improving the team externally... may never be an option nor a possibility. Otherwise we could have traded for a different so-called star who doesn't need everything to win on top of a "RIDICULOUS CONTRACT". Which also begs to reflect…. the key in bringing any possible help may start with trying to find 1 real star first because we don't have one.