Until new superstars enter the league on other teams, at least. You're starting to see that now, even with the super teams forming.
This is a sad day for NBA fans. I've never seen this before. Certainly we've seen unhappy superstars demand to be traded, but I've never seen them demand a trade to a SINGLE team. It doesn't appear he ever considered any other team for a second. Who knows how long he's been set on this. First the Miami three, now Melo to New York. I don't doubt that either Chris Paul or Deron Williams is next to follow. If the NBA doesn't do something to put a stop to this, they might as well reduce the league to three or four teams (is Los Angeles sexy enough to make the Clippers appealing?). We in less glamorous markets are screwed.
Brewer to Knicks? Shane B to Celtics? seems teams are trying to stock perimeter defenders for the playoffs to guard Lebron.
NY gave away a lot of young talent. Kind of crazy. Denver got some nice talent out of the deal in my opinion.
Look where we're NOT right NOW, AFTER the Tmac-Yao era. The players we traded for McGrady got us ONE playoff berth as an 8-seed in 5 years. I wonder what happened to that Cato fellow and The Franchise right after they left Houston....?
Tmac >> Melo and Yao >> Amare Melo and Amare are worse defenders and passers with low bball IQ in making helping their teams on BOTH offense and defense. Tmac was an incredibly smart passer and Yao protected the paint and was unselfish... NY would need CP3 so that Melo and Amare will just be finishers rather than creators
The new CBA is going to be lower and more restrictive than the current CBA. Everyone pretty much agrees on that. Even if it doesn't end up being a hard cap the total cap is going to go down and there will be fewer exceptions. Chauncey Billups contract has a $14.5M team option for next season. New York is going to have around $40M tied up in two players and they are going to need to fill out their roster. There's a very good chance that they won't pick up Billups option next year in order to free up money to put players around Anthony and Stoudamire. Let's say the Knicks do decide to suck it up and write off next season in order to try and acquire a third star. Let's also assume that Amare and Anthony are willing to throw away a year. Now let's also assume that the new CBA still allows teams to exceed the cap so NY can retain Anthony, Amare and Billups. Ok, so now the league is going to force the Hornets to trade Paul for Billups expiring deal and Fields? Sure that's going to happen. First for all the league isn't negotiating the personel moves for NO and they've simply signed off on everything that the Hornets management wanted to do. Secondly, the biggest problem in the league is that 17 of the teams are losing money, so the league is going to cripple one of those teams for the long term. Stern isn't stupid, if he forced a deal like you suggest then the league loses all credibility. The NBA isn't going to damage their brand like that. BTW, here's Stern's comments on the NBA owning the Hornets: You'd be surprised at how uninvolved we are [in New Orleans]. The only place we get involved is advice on ticket sales, groups, renewals, suggestions when they ask us if we have additional personnel they can hire. They set the budget, we approve it, and we've approved anything that they previously wanted to do on the player side http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6125242
Chad Ford has a very good explanation of the Knicks situation regarding their ability to acquire a 3rd star: But will the duo be enough to make the Knicks a contender in the East? One Eastern Conference GM is skeptical. "They have two very good scorers. Billups will help them as well. But after those three, the Knicks are very, very thin, especially up front," he said. "They won't match up well with the Celtics, Magic, Bulls or Hawks. The Heat don't have much of a frontcourt either, but their big three is better than the Knicks'. "I'm not sure this move puts [New York] much higher than a fifth or sixth seed in the East this season or the next. After next season, I don't think the Knicks have enough cap room or assets to add another major player. I think they're stuck." Given the Knicks' woes over the past few seasons, a playoff appearance -- any playoff appearance -- will be a cause for celebration. But after the excitement wears off, the bigger question is, can the Knicks add another piece to make them serious title contenders? The common theory has the Knicks making a play for Chris Paul, Deron Williams or even Dwight Howard in the summer of 2012. It's a nice dream. And if you believe the rumors, it sounds like Paul and Williams would both like to join Melo and Stoudemire in Gotham. But there's one problem: Under every scenario I could come up with, the Knicks are unlikely to have the money to make a competitive offer to a major free agent next summer or possess the assets to trade for him beforehand. First, we have to assume that, until we hear otherwise, Anthony will sign a max extension with New York. (If Knicks general manger Donnie Walsh can talk him into taking considerably less, then this picture begins to change.) The Knicks are expected to have four players -- Anthony (at a little more than $20 million), Stoudemire (at a little less than $20 million), Balkman ($1.7 million) and Toney Douglas ($2 million) -- under contract in the 2012 offseason, adding up to about $44 million in payroll. And that does not include Landry Fields, who will be a restricted free agent that summer, or the Knicks' 2011 first-round draft pick. If the Knicks keep and commit to both, the payroll will be several million higher. If not, the Knicks will also have to account for another eight minimum cap holds (assuming that the new salary cap rules require cap holds, which is likely) to reach the required 12-man roster. That would raise their projected cap another $2.5 million, putting them around $46.5 million. The Knicks need another star. But will it have the cash to land a prime-time PG next summer?Assuming the salary cap in 2012 is the same that it is this season ($58 million), the Knicks would be looking at $11.5 million in cap space in 2012. However, no one thinks the cap will stay the same. With the owners asking for major concessions from the players in the new collective bargaining session, the cap will most likely be considerably lower. Even if the NBA lowers the maximum salary that players like Paul, Williams or Howard can make in 2012 or if it rolls back salaries on existing contracts, it's highly unlikely the Knicks will have the cap space to pay them anything close to the max. Virtually any lowering of salaries is likely to be proportional to the drop in the cap. So, at best, the Knicks will have $11.5 million in cap space. At worst, it could be considerably less. That's a pretty big obstacle, but not an impossible one to overcome. There are other ways of acquiring elite talent. The Knicks could also try to do what they did with Anthony and make a trade at next season's trade deadline for one of the elite free agents. But the problem with that idea is that they have even less to work with than they did this season. New York won't have a first-round pick they can offer until, at best, 2016 (league rules prohibit teams from trading picks in consecutive years). So what could the Knicks offer a team like the Hornets, Jazz or Magic? Billups' expiring contract would be a possible lure. So would be Fields', if he continues to develop. But after that, the Knicks' cupboard is pretty bare now that they've used their best assets to acquire Anthony. Some have suggested that the Knicks could start stockpiling draft picks by essentially buying them from teams who need to save money. But typically those picks are in the late first round and aren't especially attractive to other teams. So while fans may be celebrating the arrival of another star to the Big Apple, luring one more and building a contender will be much tougher. In the short term, the team has achieved respectability, added two All-Star talents and even created some sizzle. But in the long term, the team still lacks the critical assets to be a true title contender. If Knicks fans are happy with 45-to-50 wins per season and a likely first-round exit from the playoffs, then this was a winning move. But for all the Knicks fans who say that nothing but a title contender will make them happy, this deal may have actually put their team further from their goal than they think. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Knicks-2012-110222
Uh, what part of Stoudemire's game is "low IQ" - other than not really playing much defense, he pretty much does exactly what's expected of him on the court and hasn't had too many mental breakdowns on the court. Other than being in love with his own shot at times - what's so bad about Carmelo's as well?
EXACTLY, These are the same losers that praise Chase Budinger for his "genius" BBIQ, yet most nights he's a zero on the court. Battier has a "genius" BBIQ yet he's a zero on ALOT of nights. Gimme Stoudemire over any Rocket right now!
Both players are excellent finishers but I wouldn’t want either of them making the decisions late in playoff games. Stoudamire: Forces things. He still needs to learn to take what the defense gives him. He has an excellent jumper but insists on forcing things inside at times when nothing is there. Also not a very good decision maker with the ball in his hands. Anthony: Another player who is not the best decision maker with the ball on his hands and forces things. And like you said he is trigger happy. They will contend simply because they have the talent but in order to beat the Celtics, Heat, or the Lakers, they need a legitimate general on the court and someone who can let these two be finishers.
I'm a little late to the action but GLAD to see this drama is finally over with. If I were a Denver fan I'd want to blow my fricken head off since the NJ deal was 30,000x better than the crap the Knicks were able to give up. Unfortunately, I realize Melo declining the extension with NJ thereby forcing Denver's hand with the NY deal is the only logical explanation to explain what happened here. So yeah, if I were a Denver fan I would: 1) Be VERY unhappy with the net result of this trade (essentially Melo-for-Gallinari) and 2) I would absolutely detest Carmelo Anthony for not only emphatically wanting to leave my team/city but also trainwrecking the team's future in the process. Hell, Tracy McGrady's career was on life support and Morey was still able to trade him for anything better than the Nuggets got in this deal. SPLASH!
