Knicks post Melo trade

[heitingas]

billups/rautins
fields
melo/williams
turiaf
amare

the remainder of their roster:
bill walker/roger mason/douglas
azubuike
balkman/shelden

if you look at their starting five,it's worse than now, I think at best they play .500 ball the remainder of the regular season,their bench is weak. but they would have two open roster spots, I think now Troy Murphy won't be traded, the nets were going to if they made a nuggets deal. so the knicks won't improve their frontcourt,unless one major big man got traded and bought out.

No other guards will even improve their weak backcourt. all in all in a playoff series they will be too weak,I think they will fall to 8th seed eventually.

[LilRip]

billups/rautins
fields
melo/williams
turiaf
amare

the remainder of their roster:
bill walker/roger mason/douglas
azubuike
balkman/shelden

if you look at their starting five,it's worse than now, I think at best they play .500 ball the remainder of the regular season,their bench is weak. but they would have two open roster spots, I think now Troy Murphy won't be traded, the nets were going to if they made a nuggets deal. so the knicks won't improve their frontcourt,unless one major big man got traded and bought out.

No other guards will even improve their weak backcourt. all in all in a playoff series they will be too weak,I think they will fall to 8th seed eventually.

you forgot Mosgov. And i'm pretty sure Billups will seek a buyout because he wants to play for the Nuggets, title-contender or not. so yeah, that's a gutted Knicks team right there.

And i think Troy Murphy will be bought out either way, but he's going to a legit contender, ie not the Knicks.

Is it just me, or am i the only one who thinks that any of the teams who end up with Melo (either NJN or NYK) and his big contract extension will end up as the loser?  they'll end up handicapping their team financially by locking up a player who's very very one-dimensional and doesn't improve the players around him, while at the same time, mortgaging any hope of improving through draft picks because they would've given up nearly all their draft picks in the near future.

[heitingas]

you forgot Mosgov. And i'm pretty sure Billups will seek a buyout because he wants to play for the Nuggets, title-contender or not. so yeah, that's a gutted Knicks team right there.

And i think Troy Murphy will be bought out either way, but he's going to a legit contender, ie not the Knicks.

nuggets also wants mozgov, I also think knicks will give him up. don't know about billups though, but why would knicks buy him out if they traded felton.

[pearljammer10]

Billups will play in New York for sure. It was the Nets he wanted to seek a buy out from. And the Knicks arent going to trade Mozgov too. They arent going to give up everything they have for Melo, even if they are giving up a boatload already.

And I mean, how can you not make this deal if you're the Knicks. Melo and Amare on the pick and roll in D'Antoni offense will be nearly unstoppable. They wouldnt have resigned Chandler, Felton's production has fallen off and Billups is better anyway, Gallo is way to inconsistent and Melo will play that position anyway, and Randolph is looking to be the next Gerald Green. Id much rather have Melo.

[nba is the worst]

If this happens it's great for the Nugs and 'Melo, not so hot for the Knicks' potential success...

[csfansince60s]

If this happens it's great for the Nugs and 'Melo, not so hot for the Knicks' potential success...

I agree with this.

 Everybody goofs on the Nets, saying they were just pawns used by the Nuggets to drive Melo's price up and make the Knicks move now to get him for sure rather than risk free agency, even though he has been saying he wants the Knicks all along  .

Prokhorov is a lot slicker than that. He was in a win-win in entering those recent AllStar weekend talks with the Nugs and Melo. If the Nugs bite, he gets Melo at a price he is willing to pay. If they don't, he helps eviscerate his division rivals and the team that is his product's most direct competitor in the huge NY market by making them cough up more than they were originally willing.

In this article http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/211167/Prokhorov_Believes_Involvement_In_Carmelo_Talks_A_Very_Good_Tactical_Decision he specifically addresses that. It's a good read and gives insight into franchise competitors minds.

While this could be characterized as "spin" because he lost the Melo Sweepstakes, I believe he felt he was in a win-win situation and liked being "used".

[LilRip]

Billups will play in New York for sure. It was the Nets he wanted to seek a buy out from.

yeah, i don't know about that. he's from Colorado. and he's stated that he wants to finish his career in Denver. i was under the impression that he was going to seek a buyout wherever he got traded to, contender or not.

[Roy H.]

Billups will play in New York for sure. It was the Nets he wanted to seek a buy out from.

yeah, i don't know about that. he's from Colorado. and he's stated that he wants to finish his career in Denver. i was under the impression that he was going to seek a buyout wherever he got traded to, contender or not.

He may, but what leverage does he have?  I suppose he can retire, but that's about it.

[mgent]

I think a trio of Billups, Melo, and Amare rivals the Miami 3.  They certainly fit together better even though they don't fit together that well.  But if they play like Miami and do 90% of their work through Melo and Amare they might be able to win some games too but the rest of their roster/style of play will not give them enough defense to have the same success.

[Roy H.]

I think a trio of Billups, Melo, and Amare rivals the Miami 3.  They certainly fit together better even though they don't fit together that well.  But if they play like Miami and do 90% of their work through Melo and Amare they might be able to win some games too but the rest of their roster/style of play will not give them enough defense to have the same success.

I agree they fit better together, but somebody needs to convince Amare and Melo to play defense.  They've each pretty much gone their entire careers without doing so, which is what separates them from Lebron and Wade.

[indeedproceed]

Regarding the Knicks holding on to Mozgov..

Basically at the end of the day, the Knicks are trading Gallinari and Mozgov and a 1st for Melo and Billups.

They will pull the trigger..they might fuss a little bit about Mozgov because allegedly the Nuggets keep coming back demanding more (which sounds familiar), but if that's the final asking price, they'll pull the trigger.

[Megatron]

Regarding the Knicks holding on to Mozgov..

Basically at the end of the day, the Knicks are trading Gallinari and Mozgov and a 1st for Melo and Billups.

They will pull the trigger..they might fuss a little bit about Mozgov because allegedly the Nuggets keep coming back demanding more (which sounds familiar), but if that's the final asking price, they'll pull the trigger.

Muzgov, Gallinari and a first for Melo/Billups is a huge steal.

[Roy H.]

Regarding the Knicks holding on to Mozgov..

Basically at the end of the day, the Knicks are trading Gallinari and Mozgov and a 1st for Melo and Billups.

They will pull the trigger..they might fuss a little bit about Mozgov because allegedly the Nuggets keep coming back demanding more (which sounds familiar), but if that's the final asking price, they'll pull the trigger.

Felton, too, right?

(I'm assuming you're adopting the position that Chandler doesn't "count", because they'd lose him if they wanted to sign Carmelo, right?)

[indeedproceed]

Regarding the Knicks holding on to Mozgov..

Basically at the end of the day, the Knicks are trading Gallinari and Mozgov and a 1st for Melo and Billups.

They will pull the trigger..they might fuss a little bit about Mozgov because allegedly the Nuggets keep coming back demanding more (which sounds familiar), but if that's the final asking price, they'll pull the trigger.

Felton, too, right?

(I'm assuming you're adopting the position that Chandler doesn't "count", because they'd lose him if they wanted to sign Carmelo, right?)

Right. Felton though has the same contract as Billups..and to that end, I imagine the same probable timeline in New York.

Its not like Denver is eyeing Felton as a long term prospect..they've got Lawson.

EDIT: And for those of you who don't know when Roy is about to make you look foolish with a detailed argument..look for key words like "'adopting the position'.

[barefacedmonk]

Spears is reporting it as a done deal.

Carmelo Anthony is now a member of the Knicks, source tells Y! Sports.

Y! Sports: NY: Melo, CB, Balkman, Williams, Carter; DEN: Gallo, Mosgov, Felton, Chandler, '14 NY 1st & 2 2nds; Minn: Randolph and Curry.

Marc Spears on twitter.