The long-rumored deal to make Carmelo Anthony a Knick is finally done, and the reaction is coming fast and furious.
The trade, pending final league approval and physicals for the players involved, has the Knicks acquiring Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman from the Denver Nuggets. In return, the Knicks will send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov, as well as a first-round draft pick to Denver. In a secondary move, the Knicks will send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota for Corey Brewer, ESPN.com reported.
While some Knicks fans flooded talk radio overnight for dealing three fan favorites — Gallinari, Mozgov and Felton — the overriding sense is that the NBA is a league where stars win, and the Knicks have now paired two Top 10 players, Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.
What do the pundits say?
Long-time NBA reporter Chris Sheridan says “The bottom line: I wouldn’t pick the Knicks against any of the top four teams in the East. Not yet, anyway. But I wouldn’t want to play them, either, if I was one of the top four teams in the East.”
Yahoo columnist and a New York media veteran Adrian Wojnarowski shines a scary light on the situation: The thin veil of secrecy has torn away now, the pretenses gone and Isiah Thomas has left the shadows and moved into the light again. Once more, he is the New York Knicks’ top basketball executive. “Isiah is calling the shots for New York,” said one front-office
executive with knowledge of the Anthony trade talks. “It’s a disgrace.
Donnie should walk.”
Where does this blockbuster rank among the 20 biggest in-season NBA trades? SI.com compiles its list.
As for the Nets, who once again contended for a big name but fell short, SI.com’s Chris Mannix says all is not lost for the Nets, as they focus on 2012 and their new Brooklyn home: Even though New Jersey didn’t get a franchise cornerstone to carry them into the Brooklyn in 2012, they have the kind of flexibility teams drool over.
