After over half a season of speculation and postulation, the NBA's most compelling, well-scripted and overanalyzed piece of theater this season has finally come to its conclusion. 'MeloDrama is over.
The New York Knicks have completed their blockbuster deal with the Denver Nuggets, acquiring Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams and former fan-favorite Renaldo Balkman. Oh, yeah — the Nuggets also threw in Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups.
The trade has re-energized a Knicks fan base that has seen its team struggle over the last month, but the excitement did not come cheap. To acquire New York's newest socialites — Anthony and his wife, LaLa Vasquez — the Knicks sent Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov and three draft picks to the Nuggets. While experts are still debating whether this may have been too high a price to pay for 'Melo, there is no doubt that one part of the trade is giving Knicks fans a warm, fuzzy feeling.
For almost three seasons, Eddy Curry has been one of Madison Square Garden's greatest attractions — but not on the court. Curry, in spite of a hefty contract, seemed to have been embalmed in wax two summers ago. The Knicks were happy to get his expiring contract off their hands and he was shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who also acquired Anthony Randolph and $3 million, while sending Corey Brewer to the Knicks.
The gutting of the Knicks roster, along with the departure of the multimillion-dollar cheeseburger albatross, has left both the Nuggets and the Knicks franchises at particularly interesting crossroads. From a basketball standpoint, both teams win.
Previously held hostage by Carmelo, the Nuggets are now flush with young assets, draft picks and plenty of room under the luxury tax. While Carmelo's departure most likely drops them from playoff contention in the lottery, they have the right building blocks to compete in a few years.
The Knicks, on the other hand, now have limited depth, only one true center — Ronny Turiaf — and zero cap space, making their pursuit of Chris Paul in summer 2012 improbable. They also lost out on a shot at Deron Williams, who yesterday signed with the Nets.
They now, however, have two starters from this past weekend's All-Star Game who are both in their prime and whose respective styles of play don't interfere with each other in the way Wade's and LeBron's do.
In today's NBA, a team cannot expect to seriously compete without two superstars. The Knicks now have that, regardless of the price, and can work to build around a core of Carmelo and Amar'e Stoudemire with smart decisions in free agency and drafting role players to complement them. This leads, however, to the next point.
From an organizational standpoint, the Knicks are serious losers in the aftermath of 'MeloDrama. It was abundantly clear from day one that Carmelo had his mind set on being in New York, and only New York. Had he had any interest in going to the New Jersey Nets, he would have agreed to one of their many proposed trade offers.
The song and dance that the Nuggets and the Nets played was a strategic maneuver to do two things: Allow the Nuggets to say to the Knicks, ‘Hey, we have a better offer than you,' and let the Nets force their crosstown rivals to deplete their current team as much as possible to obtain Carmelo.
Nets owner Mihkail Prokhorov aptly summed up his line of thinking earlier this week. "I think we made a good tactical decision to force the Knicks to up their offer," he said in an interview on Sunday with CNBC. While the Nets clearly coveted Carmelo just as much as the Knicks did, the Nets covered themselves in the event that he decided to bolt for New York.
The Knicks were bidding against themselves the entire time and, had their upper management been in complete unison, the organization could have relinquished less in the trade. President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Donnie Walsh stood resolute in his opposition to giving up four starters as part of the deal.
At the 25th hour, however, Executive Chairman of MSG James Dolan — and, as is currently being uncovered, former Knicks Coach and President Isiah Thomas — took over the reigns from Walsh and bent to the Nuggets' will. Yes, Dolan succeeded in acquiring his desired superstar; however, his lack of patience, as seen in last year's detrimental trade for Tracy McGrady to clear cap space, has once again led him to compromise.
The result is an organization with extreme inner turmoil. Walsh's contract expires after this season with no extension in sight, and rumors are surfacing that Dolan is attempting to bring back Thomas, the man who single-handedly ran the franchise into the ground the past decade, to once again run the show.
If events were to continue to unfold the way they are right now, the Knicks may end up with management that puts them in a position to compete for two years, instead of ten. The resurrection of Isaiah Thomas could spell troubled times ahead for a fan base that has suffered so much for the past decade. But hey — maybe he'd bring back Eddy Curry.
