NBA Rumors: Melo Drama Aside, the Trade New York Needs To Make Isn't With Denver

Carmelo Anthony is NOT going to the Nets, period.

OK, maybe this is news to some, especially since the Nets seem to be willing to give up anything and everything to get Anthony, and the Nuggets have made it no secret that they want what the Nets have to offer. But if this deal was going to happen, Carmelo would have received a key to the city of Newark from Mayor Cory Booker already.

Don't let the rumors fool you: The Nets didn't care that Denver tried to throw in Al Harrington at the last minute a few weeks ago, and the Nuggets don't really care that negotiations with New Jersey have gone public. There is one thing, and only one thing stopping a Melo-to-New Jersey trade from happening.

Carmelo Anthony wants to play for the Knicks.

It's been quite sometime since Knicks fans have heard that anyone, especially a player the likes of Carmelo Anthony, wanted to play for the Knicks, but the Stoudemire/Felton-led Knicks resurgence have suddenly made New York a sexy place to play basketball. Madison Square Garden hasn't been rockin' like this since the flat-top fade was in style.

The Knicks want Anthony just as much as he wants them, and now that it seems increasingly less likely that Anthony will land in New Jersey, especially after he said he didn't even want to meet with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, Donnie Walsh and company's chances of landing the Denver forward are as good as ever.

It looks as if the stars may be aligning for New York to land another superstar to play alongside MVP candidate Amar'e Stoudemire. That being said, trading for Carmelo Anthony right now is not the move the Knicks need to make.

They need to trade for Sebastian Telfair (I'll give my fellow Knicks fans a few seconds to call me every expletive in the book before we continue).

Telfair isn't even in the same stratosphere talent-wise as Anthony, he hasn't lived up to being the last lottery draft pick (13th) in the 2004 NBA draft and he is a relative of Stephon Marbury. But, for this season at least, the Knicks need Telfair more than they need Anthony.

Think about it objectively for a second. Any trade the Knicks make for Carmelo Anthony this season, unless Denver panics at the last second before the trade deadline, is more than likely going to cost the Knicks Anthony Randolph (in order to obtain a first round draft pick that Denver wants), as well as at least two, and probably all three players. Those players are Wilson Chandler, Landry Fields and Danillo Gallinari, or in other words, three-fifths of the Knicks' starting lineup.

The Knicks are not a deep team as it is, so is it really believable that trading their three best players behind Stoudemire and Felton makes New York better, even if it is for Carmelo Anthony? Is a starting lineup of Felton, Stoudemire, Anthony, Shawne Williams, and Toney Douglas that much better than what they have now?

Don't forget to take into account that if Williams and Douglas become starters, that means more minutes for guys like Bill Walker, Roger Mason and the human foul machine, Timofey Mosgov. Even with Anthony, are the Knicks really better with those guys seeing the floor more?

The Knicks as currently constructed, barring injuries of course, are good enough to make the playoffs somewhere between the four and six seeds. They are not yet in the class of the Eastern Conference's elite of Boston, Miami, and Orlando. If the Knicks were to add Anthony this season, a player they can easily sign outright after this season, they STILL are not in the class of those three teams, so trading 60 percent of their starting lineup, at least for this season, would be a lateral move.

Adding Anthony after the season to this current Knicks lineup puts them among the Eastern Conference's elite, and maybe even makes them the best team in the conference.

This Knicks team desperately needs depth, especially at the point guard position, where Raymond Felton has had to play almost 40 minutes per game in Mike D'Antoni's high-paced offense. He is banged up, playing with a sore ankle and wrist, and it is showing in his numbers, especially his percentages.

Just look at Felton's last two games. He is a combined 5-for-28 from the field, including 1-of-8 from three, for just 13 points. While Felton does have 19 assists over the last two games, he also has seven turnovers. The worst number, however, is two, as in two losses at home against two bad teams in Sacramento and Phoenix.

Toney Douglas, Felton's current backup, has proven to not be the answer. He shoots too much, is a poor distributor and makes terrible decisions with the ball in his hands. He's basically Nate Robinson minus the dunking ability.

This is why a Telfair deal makes sense. Sure, he never became a star like many basketball people predicted, but the well-traveled cousin of Stephon Marbury has turned into one of the better reserve point guards in the NBA. He is a solid distributor who turns the ball over less than twice per game. Telfair is currently averaging 7.5 points and almost four assists in only 20 minutes per game.

To top it off, the Knicks have made it known that they plan to trade Anthony Randolph for a first round pick prior to the trade deadline, and according to a tweet by ESPN's Chris Broussard, Minnesota is one of the teams interested.

At this point in time at least, a Douglas/Randolph for Telfair/pick trade makes much more sense. Sure, Telfair is no Carmelo Anthony, but before the Knicks can worry about adding a third star, especially one who seems destined to end up here anyway, they need to shore up the roster they have.

Especially since Carmelo Anthony is NOT going to the Nets, period.