Carmelo Anthony and the NBA Trade Deadline

Deadline Deals: The Good And The Bad

The NBA is in a good place right now. The league is very young, very athletic, and about as star-studded as it's ever been. Plus the big name players are pretty much running the show both on the court and off and frankly I'm fine with that. At Carmelo Anthony's wedding rumors flew about how Melo, Chris Paul and Amare were plotting to join forces in Manhattan and create their own NBA Jam team to contend with the explosive Miami Heat trio and Boston's balanced attack. Well, they are 2/3rds of the way there, Melo is a Knick.

Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman to NEW YORK for Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari,Wilson Chandler, Timothy Mozgov, and 3 future draft picks (one first rounder, two second rounders)

WHY THIS IS GOOD FOR DENVER:

Deep down everybody knew Melo wasn't going to resign in Denver. There was no chance of this and everybody knew it, everybody except James Dolan and Isiah Thomas, that is. More on that later.

Considering that Denver's options were to let him play out the year and lose him for nothing or close on a deal that gives them some great young players who are ready to contribute now and not in a year or two made this kind of a no-brainer. It's kind of a bummer to lose a hometown hero like Chauncey (again....) but I have a feeling that the combo of Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton is going to dry those tears real quick. Actually right now the Nuggets probably have as much depth at the guard position as any team in the league. Lawson, Felton, Smith and Afflalo is a really stellar collection of guards and adding Gallinari to the frontcourt with Chandler, Martin, Anderson, and Nene is on paper a great new dimension to the offense. (Although rumor is that he'll be traded to the Clips)

Time will tell if the Nuggets gel with their new look but there is no reason to think that they won't. Opposing backcourts are NEVER going to get a break when they play Denver now, and that's something that few teams can boast. Also, I have a hunch Denver's not done dealing yet. I know it can be rough losing you superstar and local hero in one fell swoop like this but I have a feeling the Nuggets just got a whole lot better.

WHY THIS IS GOOD FOR NEW YORK

Well, they got Carmelo Anthony, and he's pretty good. So is Chauncey Billups. The Knicks sacrificed some of their youth and all of their depth to land Melo and since there is no guarantee (wink wink) that he would have signed in the offseason they did what they had to do. Let me put it this way, the Knicks weren't going to win anything this year with Felton and Gallinari, and they're not going to win anything with Melo and Stoudemire, but when the postseason comes around it's not like 'Melo and 'Mare are going to be taking extended breaks anyway, especially not now.

One thing I worry about is Melo's post game. His mid-range game is about as good as there is in the NBA right now. Maybe even the best. However his post game is a big part of his offensive identity and I just don't see him getting many touches down low when Stoudemire is on the court with him.

That being said, that's a great problem to have, and if last night's debut game was any indicator this Knicks team is going to be a lot of fun to watch and #1 and #7 are going to score a LOT of points.

Deron Williams to NEW JERSEY for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and 2 First Round Picks

Whoa.

Avery Johnson may insist that this is not "plan b" but, well, it's plan b. It's totally plan b.

And it's not a terrible plan b either, but good god, Harris, Favors, AND 2 first rounders? NBA draft picks just aren't that valuable anymore I guess. Great haul for Utah.

Baron Davis + 1st round pick to CLEVELAND for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon

Poor Baron Davis. He has a terrible contract but that's not his fault. He gets hurt a lot and that's kind of his fault but it's gotta really suck to go from tossing alley-oops to Blake Griffin to going through the motions on a dead end squad like the Cavs.

Mo Williams must be pysched though. Running the break with Griffin, Moon, and DeAndre Jordan is gonna be all sorts of fun. Good move for the Clips. Hard not to like what's going on over there.

And finally......

Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to OKLAHOMA CITY for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic and a 2012 1st Round Pick

WHY THIS IS GOOD FOR BOSTON

Jeff Green is a stud. He's a tall, athletic, developing wing who can shoot, drive, and post up. He's also 24 years old. It's a touch ironic that the Celtics traded him for Ray Allen (he was the 5th pick in the 2007 Oden/Durant draft) a few years ago but this is a quality player here. He can rotate with Pierce and Garnett and assuming the Celtics ink him to a deal after this season (he's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year) I am pretty happy knowing that both he and Rondo will be there when the Big 3 finally hang it up.

That being said....

WHY THIS IS BAD FOR BOSTON

The Celtics went from having a deep rotation of big men to a shallow, horrendous rotation which will probably include several NBDL-level players whose sole purpose will be to foul Dwight Howard 6 times a night.

Perkins was never an offensive option. The man played in the league this long and never developed one single post move. Not one. Ever. However, what he lacked in scoring he made up for in offensive rebounding, court awareness without the ball, and setting off-ball screens.

His presence on defense is going to leave a pretty gaping void, unfortunately, and with Shaq Diesel and Jermaine as our two principle options at the 5 it doesn't seem like there's any big light at the end of the tunnel. Of course contracts can still be bought out but the names floating around now such as Troy Murphy and .... well...... Troy Murphy don't really set my toes a-tapping.

Overall I'd say this trade is not the end of the world, but it is confusing. Very confusing. Even with the assumption that we weren't going to re-sign Perk. Maybe this recent injury is worse than we thought. Maybe Shaq is ready to roll. I'll give Ainge the benefit of the doubt here because he has more than earned it but losing Perk means losing a presence in the middle that confounds Dwight Howard and puts up a fight underneath against Bynum and Gasol. That is pretty hard to replace. If not impossible.

Farewell, brother. You are already missed by teammates and fans alike. I hope that something is done to replace some of the things that you brought to the team, though to say I'm optimistic would be a fib.

Let's just hope it doesn't come to this:

-Judge