Unless Mikhail Prokhorov plans include the Russian Mafia in his back pocket use them to "convince" Melo to join New Jersey (why do I keep seeing that image though I’m sure Prokhorov is completely an honest and upright Russian businessman…); if Melo says nyet to the NJ Nyets then Stan and the dreamers are back to Plan B options

· Trade Melo to the Knicks (where Melo wants to go)

· Trade Melo via Rent-a-Player (where you likely will get less)

The problem with the Rent-a-Player scenario is just who are the realistic options for such a trade? The Mavs, Rockets and maybe the Magic have been mentioned. But getting down to brass tacks, what would the deals be?

In a Rent-a-Player scenario we know

· Trading teams aren’t going to offer as much as teams thinking they’ll get Melo to sign the extension

· The Nuggets likely will want back cap savings and future 1st round picks. Trying to get young talent back in a rental deal doesn’t look very realistic

Glancing at the league (who’s competing, who’d realistically want Melo short term, who realistically could make such a trade, etc.) here are some options

Chicago

If the Bulls thought Melo could help in a title run I could see their interest. The problem is they do not have the resources to make a rental deal

Dallas

The Mavs have expiring contracts and future late 1st round picks but not much else unless they got real creative (meaning 3rd team inclusion)

Deal: Melo for Butler, Buckner, Mahinmi & Novak’s expiring contracts (worth $12.7m), Beaubois (worth $1.1m) & 2011 1st Rd Pick... maybe more draft picks (likely not a lot more for a rental)

Why would Melo want it: Title run

Why would Mavs do it: 2yr rental if they convince Melo to not opt out, title run, try to get Melo to extend

Why would Nugs do it: Cap savings, future 1st (not good one though) and Beaubois (injured, not as valuable as last year). Not a lot of real good reasons for Denver to make this deal

Houston

The Rockets can offer better 1st round picks than Dallas along with cap savings without having to get as creative

Deal: Melo for Battier & Jeffries expiring contracts (worth $14.2mm), Budinger (worth $780K) and 2011 1st Rd Pick... maybe more draft picks (likely not a lot more for a rental)

Why would Melo want it: Can’t think of a reason outside of marketing to the Chinese market

Why would Rockets do it: Rockets are tanking this year, can’t think of a reason other than immediate ticket sales and thinking they have a sluggers chance of signing Melo

Why would Nugs do it: Cap savings, future 1st, and Budinger who they could also opt out if they didn’t like him

Orlando

A deal would have to include Richardson and I frankly don’t remember if Orlando could turn around and trade him after just acquiring him. A juicier deal could be made where the Nugs get Richardson and Bass for Melo and Balkman. The Nugs likely would have to throw in more actual value like a future 1st to entice Orlando; and I don’t see that happening

Deal: Melo for Richardson and Allen’s (yeah Tacos pt 2) expiring contract (worth $15.4m), 2012 1st Rd Pick... maybe more draft picks (likely not a lot more for a rental)

Why would Melo want it: Orlando title run, possibly sign extension

Why would Magic want it: Same… title run, try to talk Melo into either not opting out or sign extension

Why would Nugs want it: Not a real good deal, cap savings but future 1st not expected to be good

New Orleans Expos

The Expos actually have a better record than Denver. Similar to 2008, New Orleans could actually make a realistic title run this year with Melo

The problem is New Orleans are NBA-owned, just trimmed off their luxury tax money. To get Melo would require using trade exceptions in a 3team deal to build up enough pieces to get Melo. Otherwise the Expos would have to include David West; and similar to the Clippers, it is not realistic to think they’d give up a valuable player solely in a rental deal

Deal: Some combination of Banks, Green, Thornton and/or Smith’s expiring contracts (worth up to $11.6m), trade Mo Peterson’s Trade Exception to a 3rd team for another expiring contract or player (worth up to $6m), 2012 1st Rd Pick... maybe more draft picks (likely not a lot more for a rental)

Why would Melo want it: Play 1 or 2 years with CP3 in the Big Easy

Why would New Orleans want it: Doubt they’d go for it unless they actually wanted to make a real effort to try to keep CP3

Why would Nugs want it: Not a real good deal unless the Peterson exception was used to bring back a young player the Nugs actually wanted rather than just expiring contracts

Would any of those deals actually be better than what the Knicks have to offer?

Frankly I would love to watch Melo, West and CP3 in the Big Easy for this season and maybe next. Then in 2012 CP3 could opt out and him & Melo could ride off together in the sunset, onto New York, Brooklyn, Los Angeles or some other exotic destination