The drama is now over, the smoke has settled, and Carmelo Anthony, one of the most prized pieces of trade bait the NBA has seen in recent memory, is now in midtown Manhattan, playing for the New York Knicks. The trade sent him and Chauncey Billups, who has been the guy distributing the ball to Melo since he was traded to Denver in 2008 to New York, and sent Wilson Chandler, Danilo Galinari, and Ray Felton to Denver. It was a trade that has changed the landscape of the NBA, sending yet another star from the western conference to the eastern conference, and in the minds of many, feels has given the Knicks that piece they needed to become relevant once again. However, the team that may have made out better in this deal, may have possibly been the Nuggets.
Call me crazy, but this is how I really feel about this situation. Of course the Knicks got the best player in the deal, I'm not that naive. But lets look at what they had to give up. The biggest piece of the puzzle was Ray Felton, who has had an outstanding season and is probably the front runner for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award, averaging 17 pts and 9 assists per game. When talking about MVPs the Knicks had, I don't see anyone more valuable than this guy, since he was the one getting the ball to guys like Ama're, Nilo, and Chandler, all of whom had averaged over 15 PPG. Then there was Danilo Gallinari who was having a breakout season of his own as well, averaging about 16 PPG, and Wilson Chandler, who was also averaging about 16 PPG to go with about 6 rebounds per night. Looking at this, I feel like Denver got the better end of this deal, and are setting themselves up for a pretty solid future, in acquiring three players that I see as rising stars in this league.
With their current roster, the Knicks are nowhere near a playoff team. Chauncey Billups is no longer the point guard he was when he was with the Detroit Pistons at 34 years old, and I see him being one of the worst starting point guards in the playoffs before I see him as one of the better ones. This being in a league where point guards win championships. So sure, the Knicks have Ama're and Melo, but how are they supposed to do anything when nobody can consitently get the ball to them? To add to that, they are weak defensively, and sorely lack a good center that can defend the low-post like someone like Kendrick Perkins on the Celtics. Even if the Knicks get Chris Paul this summer, I'm still very skeptickal about their defensive game. In my mind, this is a typical Mike D'Antoni team; they score alot while giving up alot of points. How many playoff series has Mike D'Antoni won as a coach? Last I checked not many.
On the other hand, I see the Nuggets as a very good, very well balanced basketball team that I feel will be playing longer than New York will this season. They are very good defensively, a good rotation of centers that goes two deep in Nene and Birdman, and they have what I feel is one of the best guard units in the NBA in Aaron Afflalo, JR Smith, Ty Lawson, and Ray Felton. Even in a situation where they don't have a big time scorer like Melo, they have many weapons on offense, and their defensive game, which I feel is one of the best in the Western Conference, could be what it takes to propel this team on a deep run in the playoffs.
All in all, I see the Nuggets as one of the dark horse contenders for June basketball, and I see the Knicks as a front line contender for June tee-times at the country club.
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