Carmelo To The Knicks: Can the New Knicks Compete With the Celtics and Heat?

It’s finally over, and we can move on to talking about something else in the NBA for once. Carmelo Anthony is finally a New York Knick, and James Dolan, with the help of Isiah Thomas, finally got their wish of adding a second superstar to the Knicks.

Despite getting probably the best small forward, the Knicks are the obvious losers in this trade. They got rid of four guys who regularly contributed to their team and were on the verge of getting the Knicks back into the playoffs, for two guys who will see some playing time. Actually, because the Knicks no longer have a bench, Carmelo and Chauncey will see a lot of playing time.

Any time you can add an aging point guard who is more comfortable running a slow, half-court offense, to a team that loves to run at a breakneck pace, you have to do it.

How did that work out for the Suns after they added Shaq?

Losing Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton is a pretty big blow. Felton was the best point guard for this offense, and it’s really going to have to slow down with Billups running things now. The upgrade is definitely at the small forward spot. Carmelo is definitely better than Gallinari, and that’s not even up for discussion.

How can Anthony Carter, Corey Brewer and Shelden Williams make up for the production of Wilson Chandler, though?

Chandler could go off for 30-40 on any given night. You’d be lucky to get 30 points combined out of Carter and Williams for a full season. Corey Brewer is a decent addition, but he’s definitely not even close on the level of Wilson Chandler.

Maybe Brewer will be able to thrive under D’Antoni’s offense, and the Knicks could actually use someone who does give a damn about defense.

Will any of this matter when they are battling the Bulls, Heat or Celtics in the playoffs?

Not having a bench in the playoffs isn’t going to be too big of a deal because most teams tighten up to about an eight man rotation and try to keep one or two of their best players out on the court.

The problem for the Knicks is now Carmelo, Amare and Chauncey are all going to have log in around 42-45 minutes a night to make sure they win games and don’t drop too far down the playoff ladder.

Right now they sit at sixth and should be able to stay in the playoff mix, but if they don’t mesh well, they could end up falling out of the playoffs and have Isiah Thomas come back to coach the team after Mike D’Antoni is fired.

If I were a Knicks fan, I’d make sure Thomas stays handcuffed to the FIU bench and doesn’t have access to a phone to call Dolan anymore.

I can hear the arguments now that the Heat doesn’t have much of a bench either, and the Knicks could compete with them.

Well, to counter that, the Knicks have Amar'e and Anthony. The Heat have Lebron and Wade. Who wins that argument?

Plus, when you have Amar'e moving over to center, or Ronny Turiaf playing either center or power forward and Shelden Williams is about the only backup option at either spot there is a very, very big issue there.

Shelden Williams should not be logging any meaningful minutes for a team that has high playoff aspirations.

We’ll also probably get to see a few more minutes from Bill Walker as well.

Again, another guy you don’t want logging meaningful minutes when you are trying to make a playoff run.

How does this look for the future?

Knicks gave up about $27M in salary, but took on about $35M with only five of that coming off the books at the end of the season, and Melo’s extension will raise his salary $6M next season. Essentially, the Knicks just increased their payroll by $14M next season and lost a first round draft pick that could have probably help their bench production on top of that.

This is going to severely hurt their chances of getting another big contract, unless they can somehow move Chauncey Billups in the offseason or buy him out this year, but that leaves them with Toney Douglas and Andy Rautins getting all the minutes at the 1.

This move does absolutely nothing for the long term future of the New York Knicks; if anything, it hinders it a bit more and the deal has the Isiah Thomas stink all over it.

The Celtics will probably win one more championship, the Heat are going to win a couple and the Bulls are going to be right there as well.

Where will the New York Knicks be in all of this?

Losing in the first or second round to one of those teams over the next few years and completely wasting the primes of Amar'e and Carmelo.

This is exactly what Amar'e was afraid of and had apprehensions about.

What about Denver?

Well, if they complete the secondary deal with New Jersey that everyone expects them to make, then they are going to have at least four picks in the top 20 of an extremely loaded draft, and with the Lakers and Spurs getting older very quickly, they are going to be competing for a chance to go to the Finals year after year.

At least Carmelo got his wish of playing at MSG now and returning home. It’s a good thing he’s getting all the familiarity back. He can add going home early every year in the playoffs to that list.