Deron Williams Trade: Nets Rebound Quickly After Losing Out on Carmelo Anthony
In a stunning development, reports coming out of New Jersey are that the Nets and the Utah Jazz have agreed on a trade that will send Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and two first-round picks to Utah for elite point guard Deron Williams. Part of the deal also includes New Jersey shipping Troy Murphy's expiring contract to Golden State for Dan Gadzuric.
The past few days have possibly shed new light on how New Jersey's billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov plans to tackle the Knicks head-to-head. First, I suspect they re-entered the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes more with the thought of jacking up the price for New York to land him. Given the time that has elapsed since the Melo trade, I have to think this deal was already in place, or mostly so.
Some have speculated that the Knicks overpaid for Melo, myself among them, giving up virtually every trade-able asset on the roster, as well as potentially wiping out their financial flexibility with his $65 million extension. With the salary cap certain to be smaller and much less flexible after a new CBA, the Knicks will have about $40 million tied to two guys, and could potentially have as little as $10-12 million for the rest of the roster. That doesn't exactly scream third superstar kinda cap space to me, let alone two other starters and any kind of bench.
Landing Deron Williams also takes a potential Knicks target off the table. It remains to be seen whether Chauncey Billups will even be a Knick for long, and if so, will he fit in Mike D'Antoni's system? Any way around it, he is a short-term fill in at the point. This limits the Knicks to pretty much only Chris Paul for that role. Somehow, I don't think Paul, who many believe is the best pure point guard in the league, will happily accept being a distant third on the payroll behind one-dimensional players like Amar'e and Melo, no matter how attractive the big-three proposition seems.
New Jersey, meanwhile, still has plenty of cap room, and two other first-round picks to work with to continue to add pieces. With one of the best point guards in the NBA now suiting up for them, and the move to Brooklyn looming, the Nets could very well become an attractive place for guys to come play.
With rumors continuing to swirl around the Knicks about how much influence Donnie Walsh had in the Melo trade, and whether or not he will return after this season, and more disturbingly, how much influence Isiah Thomas has over the organization and whether or not he will reappear in an official capacity, the Knicks suddenly look like a team that could be headed for turmoil, especially if the Melo-Amar'e pairing doesn't click quickly. New York fans are a lot of things, but patient isn't always one of them.
Any way around it, things just got a whole lot more interesting in New York and in the Atlantic Division.
