Melo's New York State of Mind

The deal is done and the drama is over. After months of speculation and rumors, Carmelo Anthony has been traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks. The trade, which also involved the Minnesota Timberwolves, was completed late Monday night and involved 12 players, draft picks and 3 million dollars in cash. New York is getting Melo, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams and Renaldo Balkman from Denver while the Nuggets are receiving Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov and draft picks from the Knicks. New York also sent Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota for Corey Brewer. Anthony is a bona fide superstar in the NBA and Billups is a steady point guard who is a proven winner. The Knicks did sacrifice young talent but no one can deny that superstars win championships in the NBA and the Big Apple now has Melo and Amare Stoudamire in blue and orange.

Since the offseason, trade talks have swirled around Anthony and he made it no secret that New York was his preferred destination. He tried hard to end up in his chosen city without tarnishing his image like his buddy down in South Beach did and, for the most part, he was successful. Carmelo Anthony is back where he wants to be, the East Coast. Melo was the superstar in Denver and led them to the Western Conference Finals in 2009 but despite the success of the Nuggets, it was clear they were never going to win a championship. It became imminent that Anthony was on the way out, whether it was via trade or free agency, and now he will be playing in Madison Square Garden, the greatest arena in sports. The Knicks signed Amare Stoudamire in the offseason and he has lifted MSG's spirits, leading the team to a 28-26 record which is second in the Atlantic Division. Already much improved from last season and second in the league in scoring with 106.2 points per game, New York added Melo who averages 25.2 points. Stoudamire puts up 26.1 per game and the two average over 16 rebounds combined.

What will be interesting to see is how Anthony and Stoudamire mesh. Amare left Phoenix because he was tired of playing in Steve Nash's shadow and he wanted a team to call his own. He has been the star of New York City for the first half of the season and carried the Knicks so far but now Carmelo enters the picture. Can the two coexist and will Melo respect that this is Amare's team? I think they can do it and I believe they will produce. However, to say the Knicks are favorites to win the East is ludicrous. At best they will be the 5th seed behind Boston, Miami, Chicago and Orlando but they could make some noise in the postseason. It will be hard to win playoff games with little supporting cast. Landry Fields and Billups are reliable but after that there is little talent. Ronny Turiaf and Renaldo Balkman can defend and rebound but the scoring will be hard to come by off the bench. A few years from now the Knicks could be an Eastern Conference powerhouse but not this year.

I say they could be in a few years because they will be able to assemble a supporting cast and another summer of superstars in free agency will have gone by. Chris Paul has mentioned before that he would like to go to New York and team up with Anthony and Stoudamire and the idea of that should be scary to other teams in the East. Deron Williams and Dwight Howard are also approaching free agency so there are options out there. It is my assumption that Paul will end up in NYC to run the point for the Knickerbockers which would make Spike Lee and the Gang go nuts at MSG.

The Knicks have not been a good team since the new millenium hit and they haven't had a superstar since Patrick Ewing. Stoudamire has filled that role and now Anthony is with him. Ewing never could win the Big Apple a championship but it looks like these two should. This year expect nothing better than perhaps a first round win in the playoffs but in the years following, beware of the Knicks. Those are words we haven't heard in awhile. But then again, basketball is back in New York City.

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