The soap opera known as “Melo-drama” has finally come to an end in the most obvious way. Carmelo Anthony made himself clear about wanting to go to the New York Knicks and in the night an agreement has been reached.
For months Carmelo Anthony (photo ©Keith Allison) had refused to sign an extension to his contract because he wanted to be the one who decided his destiny. For months Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, the New Jersey Nets owner, had tried to reach an agreement with the player and the Nuggets to bring Melo to his team, trying to convince him that he’d still go to live practically in New York and that according to his plans in a few years the team would move to the Big Apple.
Carmelo Anthony hasn’t shown particular interest in the Nets offer: he wanted to go to New York Knicks but it wasn’t easy an easy deal to close. If he hadn’t reached an agreement bye the end of season Melo would’ve become a free agent and could’ve freely signed for the Knicks, this way they wouldn’t have needed to trade important players. Eventually it was James Dolan, the Knicks owner, who decided that he wanted Carmelo Anthony now at any cost.
Trading a star such as Carmelo Anthony during a season is never easy: in fact with him guards Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter, center Shelden Williams and forward Renaldo Balkman will go to the New York Knicks. In return the New York Knicks will give the Denver Nuggets guard Raymond Felton, forward Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, center Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks’ first-round pick in 2014 and second-round picks in 2012 and 2013, along with $3 million in cash.
This trade is a major sacrifice for the Knicks, so much that general manager Donnie Walsh and coach Mike D’Antoni would have avoided it, waiting for the end of the season with more time to assess which players to waive or trade to make room for Carmelo Anthony instead of trading important players such as Gallinari.
Mike D’Antoni is now left with the responsibility of running a team that’s changed a lot finding a way to have Amar’e Stoudemire, the other Knicks star, playing along with Carmelo Anthony. Should the results being unsatisfactory he could pay for someone else’s choices but D’Antoni likes gambling so he’s certainly not stepping back.
The Denver Nuggets have made a really complicated deal in the best way. As Carmelo Anthony had the power to decide his future the Nuggets could end up with nothing instead they’ve practically renewed their team getting young and very good players and also some picks for the coming years.
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According to many rumors the Nuggets may have just begun their market movements so we can expect more news from Colorado. Rumor even was that Gallinari and Mozgov would actually travel a little and would be traded to the New Jersey Nets but the Nuggets’ general manager said that they were acquired to play in Denver.
It’s difficult to predict the future results of two teams that changed as much as the Knicks and the Nuggets but the key difference is that Denver is now being rebuilt without worrying much about this season while the Knicks will have to show an improvement.
Carmelo Anthony got what he wanted, now it’s up to him to show that the price paid by the Knicks for him was not too high.
