Carmelo Anthony Trade: Did the New York Knicks Make the Right Move?

While the trade between the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets—headlined by Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari—has yet to be officially sanctioned by the NBA, it's more or less a formality to finalize the proceedings at this point.

The New York Knicks may have finally acquired the player they have coveted for months, in Anthony, but they paid a steep price to get him.

For the short-term, this trade is an immediate upgrade for the Knicks. They have a one-two scoring punch that can match or surpass any pairing in the league.

Anthony is arguably the most clutch scorer—and one of the most versatile—in the game today and he lifts a heavy burden off of Amar'e Stoudemire's shoulders (or is it knees?).

While I personally prefer having Raymond Felton at this juncture of their respective careers—and in D'Antoni's fast-paced offense—Chauncey Billups is being overlooked in this blockbuster deal. While Billups' numbers are down this season, he's still capable of getting it done. Most importantly, the Knicks will need "Mr. Big Shot" to come through during playoff time.

Of course, we have yet to see how New York's very own "big three" meshes together, and while it will take some time, I don't doubt that they will eventually develop strong chemistry. The question now will be how long it takes for them to come together as a team.

Offensively, the Knicks didn't really need to improve all that much. They had one of the most efficient and potent offenses in the NBA and they rarely had trouble putting points on the board.

Adding a scorer of Anthony's caliber certainly adds another dimension to their offense, but it changes it too. Anthony loves to isolate and post-up his defender—two plays the Knicks' offense rarely calls for. The offense will evolve and both sides will be forced to adapt to one another, but in the long run, it should be for the better.

However, one thing is for sure—the Knicks' defense will most certainly not improve. While cliché, I stand by the notion that defense wins championships.

Granted, the defense was pretty awful even with the old roster, but the team's biggest problem wasn't scoring points—it was preventing them.

The lack of true centers to back up Ronny Turiaf and his shaky health are quite worrisome. Turiaf is loved by all at the Garden, but he practically defines the term injury-prone and he has yet to average over 20 minutes a game for an entire season. Not to mention, his offensive game is near non-existent.

I fully expect to see Anthony at the four and Amar'e at the five for prolonged stretches throughout the remainder of the season. While that lineup causes numerous matchup problems on offense, they will give up points like a sieve.

New York needs to put a priority on filling out the glaring hole at the center position if they hope to stand any chance of competing against the East's elite. Signing Earl Barron will simply not cut it for a playoff-bound team.

While trying to include Nene Hilario as part of the package would have been difficult—and he's not the greatest defender—he brings the tough, hard-nosed attitude that the Knicks require down low. If anything, the Knicks should have been pushing for his inclusion in the deal and not Denver asking for Timofey Mozgov.

The biggest hole is in the middle, but perimeter defense will be sorely lacking just the same. While Anthony is not as bad a defender as people say he is, he's not even remotely close to being a lock-down defender.

If Anthony ever hopes to reach the upper echelon of the league's elite, he must commit to defense. He need not look any further than his fellow draft classmates, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. They're considered two of the best players in the world because of their otherworldly abilities on both sides of the ball.

Anthony, on the other hand, is a fringe top 10 player.

This is where they may miss Chandler the most. He was, without a doubt, the most versatile player on the Knicks' roster and played a pivotal role on both sides of the ball.

On offense, Chandler is a capable scorer that can slash to the bucket and spot up to drop a three. Defensively, he's a shot-blocking animal that can effectively guard multiple positions.

Only time will tell if Anthony's scoring prowess can offset both Chandler and Gallinari's contributions to the team. As it stands now, Anthony's "contributions" in the proceedings thus far have had a negative impact.

Behind closed doors, Anthony not so subtly demanded a trade from Denver, and he only had one destination in mind from the very start. This is what makes the deal so puzzling. The Knicks were essentially bidding against themselves, and they fell for all the rumors—which were probably started by Denver—circulating around.

The Nuggets front-office managed to leverage the Knicks' gullible and desperate nature to force a deal better than most, if not all offers on the table.

The Knicks have Anthony to thank for that.

Anthony showed his true colors as we entered the final two weeks before the trade deadline. While he claimed some time ago that it was never about the money, that may have been the biggest factor in forcing the Knicks' hand.

If it truly was never about the money and only about winning, Anthony would have never taken part in this whole charade. You can argue all you want, but there's no question Anthony and his people played a part in making sure that he got the lucrative contract extension he craved.

Anthony could easily have openly refused—or at least privately to potential suitors—to sign any sort of extension with any other team aside from the Knicks. By playing a part in this game, he gave the Denver Nuggets far more leverage in negotiations.

He forced the Knicks into action by not ruling out the possibility of joining the New Jersey Nets. The thought of the Knicks' cross-river rivals getting the prized possession they sought the most probably didn't sit too well with James Dolan.

It appears as if the New Jersey Nets were nothing more than pawns in helping to facilitate a much more favorable deal for the Denver Nuggets.

If Anthony forced his way to free agency, the Knicks would have been able to retain all of their assets—with the exception of Wilson Chandler, who would likely be offered a contract this summer that the Knicks were unable to match—and have a deep team capable of competing against the elite teams of the Eastern Conference.

Now, with a gutted roster, the pressure is on Anthony to bring a championship to New York—a difficult task when you look at the top-heavy Eastern Conference.

Anthony's $65 million extension devours any cap space the team could hope to use to bring in other assets to build a true title contending team. Paired with Stoudemire's contract, the two take up two-thirds of the team's cap space.

A hard cap in the upcoming CBA would crush any hopes of signing the necessary pieces to vie for East supremacy.

If he were to take a pay-cut so the team could afford critical building blocks necessary to compete against the likes of Miami and Boston, I would have that much more respect for him and believe in his will to win at all costs.

Frankly, I think there's a better chance LeBron James takes a trip to Cabo with Dan Gilbert.

Of course, if any of the prized players—Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Chris Paul—of the 2012 free agent class find their way to the Big Apple as a result of this deal, it may end up being one of the best moves in franchise history.

But, that's a big "if."

The worst part of all of this? Isiah Thomas may have found himself back in the good graces of James Dolan, and we all know how that worked out.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, a Donnie Walsh ally says of the price paid to get Melo, "This is all Dolan. All Isiah. All (Worldwide) Wes and Leon Rose..."

If there is any truth to that, Walsh may be on his way out of New York. That may end up being the worst thing to come out of this entire trade. Walsh worked tirelessly to clean up the mistakes of Thomas and bring the Knicks back to a level of respectability. To push him to the side after such a monumental move for the franchise is disheartening.

For Knicks fans in the Big Apple, tickets will never dip below the $70 threshold for nosebleeds with the addition of Anthony, which is technically business as usual, as most things are overpriced in our fair city. However, they can look forward to the playoffs and the possibility of getting out of the first round, a feat any Knicks fan would have called an implausible outcome just a few years ago.

So was it the right move? Well, for now, the price may not be worth the cost. Patience is a virtue and it looks like they jumped the gun with this one. Only time will tell if this deal pays off in the long run.