Where the Knicks Should Send Carmelo Anthony If He Doesn't Jive with Jeremy Lin

The experiment of Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony is just getting underway. The first game didn't go so well. While there's a little more time to work this out, there is the lurking question in the background—what happens if things never work out?

Let's qualify this with a couple of suppositions. First, let's suppose that Anthony and Lin never work out. Second, let's assume Lin proves himself to be the real deal. Obviously, if neither of those things proves to be true, this whole story becomes a non-issue. 

If, however, both of those things prove to be true, the question opens up: What to do with Carmelo Anthony? You can't afford a max-contract player who isn't giving you max-contract results. 

Where would the New York Knicks send Anthony and what could they get in return for him? 

One possibility would be a trade to Orlando where they would send Anthony and Tyson Chandler to the Magic in exchange for Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard. 

That would give the Knicks a well-balanced starting five with Lin at the point, J.R. Smith as the shooting guard, Amar'e Stoudemire at the power forward and Howard as the center. Turkoglu would be a better fit in the pick-and-roll offense with Lin as he is a better outside shooter. 

Another possibility would be to consider shipping him to a small-market team that historically has trouble landing big-name free agents. Provided that Lin works out, the Knicks wouldn't need to get star power in return for Anthony as they would have presumably three stars already in Lin, Stoudemire and Chandler.

They might be better off with two very good role players. A possibility would be a team like Portland in exchange for Gerald Wallace and Wesley Matthews. That would give the Knicks a quality two-way player in Wallace and added depth in Matthews.

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post speculates about the possibility of trading Anthony for Pau Gasol. That makes no sense for the Knicks. They would then have a stockpile of big men and no small forward. 

The last thing the Knicks would need to be doing is just trying to find another big name without regard as to how the pieces fit. The Knicks would need to be more concerned with putting a team together than just assembling random pieces. With Lin in the lineup, for the first time they've started to look like one. The last thing they want to do is undo that.