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Carmelo Anthony is a member of the Knicks.
According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh is none too pleased with what the team gave up to acquire Carmelo Anthony. While Amar'e Stoudemire now has another scoring partner, the Knicks did give up three starting-quality players in Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and WIlson Chandler.
If Walsh believed the Knicks were giving up too much for 'Melo, why did this trade happen? Wojnarowski tweets:
Walsh believed the Knicks could adhere to those principles [link], and still get 'Melo. All that went out the window, with Isiah/CAA pushing Dolan.
Ah, yes. Isiah Thomas, great NBA Player but also an NBA executive of questionable skill. Thomas, in a previous stint in the Knicks management, made his first big splash by acquiring Stephon Marbury.
Does this turn of events leave Walsh in a precarious position with the Knicks going forward? On the other side of things, Masai Ujiri comes out pretty good in all of this, playing hardball to get the Knicks to cave in on the particulars.
Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks from the Denver Nuggets, ending seven months of trade speculation, denials and non-answers. While several minor details remain, the Denver Post reports that Carmelo Anthony will soon be a member of the New York Knicks.
The Nuggets will reportedly send Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman to the Knicks. In return, The Nuggets will receive Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks' 2014 first-round draft pick, second-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013 from the Golden State Warriors (though owned by the Knicks) and the league maximum of $3 million in cash.
The Knicks will also trade Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the deal.
Earlier reports had the Knicks balking at including Mozgov in the deal, but it appears the Nuggets were able to press hard enough for the Knicks to end their unwillingness to do so. It still remains possible that the Nuggets could make a trade with the New Jersey Nets by sending Mozgov and one of Gallinari, Felton and Chandler for two first-round draft picks.
The Nuggets play the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday night, and it's going to be a quite different Nuggets team from now on.
Masai Ujiri Confirms Carmelo Anthony Trade, Plans To Keep All Acquired Players
In confirming the Carmelo Anthony-to-the-Knicks trade, Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri insisted that he plans to keep all of the players he acquired in the deal. That is according to a report from David Aldridge. Earlier speculation in the day surrounded a potential Nets-Nuggets deal that would have centered on Timofey Mozgov and one of Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler.
Of the players the Nuggets acquired, Gallinari is the most likely to be in the starting five on Tuesday night. The question of who is the point guard now arises if Ujiri is telling the truth. Raymond Felton is enjoying a career year, but he is a free agent at the end of the season. Meanwhile, Ty Lawson has been discussed as the long-term answer at the position for the Nuggets. With the team clearly in a rebuilding mode, starting Lawson right away would be a good move.
While the Nuggets play the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, a Nuggets-Celtics matchup on TNT's Thursday night double-header will give everyone a look at the new and rebuilding Nuggets.
Feb 21 9:47p by Russ Oates - 0 comments