Carmelo Anthony Thread (Denver Finalizes Deal With Knicks)

[Shaheen]

It's crazy how everyone thinks the Nets are mortgaging their future with this trade. What future?

Harris isn't getting better. Trading him for Billups is probably an upgrade.

Favors hasn't show ANYTHING to prove that hes ready for the NBA. He should not be a deal breaker to get one of the best scorers in the league.

Then draft picks which are oh soooo valuable. Late picks rarely yield valuable players. The only one that has any value is the GS pick but that team is on the rise. Figure late lottery at best.

So the biggest asset we're giving up is our own pick this year. In one of the weakest draft classes ever.

I think Nets fans are really blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Favors is NOT going to be an all-star I don't give a **** how much potential he has. If he was gonna be Dwight he would have shown it already.

If we get Melo and Billups we still have our pick every year after this one. And we have cap space next off season to get Dwight or Paul.

Either we trade for a star now or we hope one falls to us in the draft. I'll take a guaranteed one any day of the week.

Billups
Melo
FA
Lopez
Howard

This is a possible championship team, Harris/Lopez and banking on high draft picks for the next 5 years will make us nothing but a joke for years to come.

[treiz]

It's crazy how everyone thinks the Nets are mortgaging their future with this trade. What future?

Harris isn't getting better. Trading him for Billups is probably an upgrade.

Favors hasn't show ANYTHING to prove that hes ready for the NBA. He should not be a deal breaker to get one of the best scorers in the league.

Then draft picks which are oh soooo valuable. Late picks rarely yield valuable players. The only one that has any value is the GS pick but that team is on the rise. Figure late lottery at best.

So the biggest asset we're giving up is our own pick this year. In one of the weakest draft classes ever.

I think Nets fans are really blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Favors is NOT going to be an all-star I don't give a **** how much potential he has. If he was gonna be Dwight he would have shown it already.

If we get Melo and Billups we still have our pick every year after this one. And we have cap space next off season to get Dwight or Paul.

Either we trade for a star now or we hope one falls to us in the draft. I'll take a guaranteed one any day of the week.

Billups
Melo
FA
Lopez
Howard

This is a possible championship team, Harris/Lopez and banking on high draft picks for the next 5 years will make us nothing but a joke for years to come.

Harris has nothing to do with our future, and how in the world is a declining Billups an upgrade?

Favors is 19 years old for goodness sake, he's in rookie season, give him a chance. Yes, Melo is one of the best scorers in the league, but what is else is he good at besides that again?

Draft picks are draft picks, they are assets to this team because we are in a REBUILDING process, and what is the best way to rebuild you say? It's draft picks. Lastly, yes the LAL and HOU one is a load of crap in all honesty, but if we continue to suck and GS becomes a lottery team this year, do you know what that can mean to us in draft night in terms of flexibility?

No we're giving up our pick, the GS pick and a 19-YEAR OLD ROOKIE who we just drafted for a guy who's just a great scorer. That's what we're giving up.

LOOOOOL at your understanding of how player development works. He has shown flashes of being a good rebounder and a strong finisher under the rim, so I have no idea what you're talking about. He's a rookie, development takes years not months. BTW, 5.3 RPG is not bad for a guy who gets under 20 minutes a game and is coached by Avery.

If we get Melo and Billups, WE WON'T HAVE ANY CAPSPACE, PLEASE GET THET THROUGH YOUR HEAD, and even if we keep our picks, it's going to be outside the lottery, so it'll probably have moderate to little value on it, depending where we are and what the situation is on draft night.

That team you posted is a championship team, but how do hell do you expect us to get Howard with no money? And Lopez would be horrible as a PF.

Lastly, yes banking on high draft picks will make lose for a few more seasons, but it's the right way to build a team, it's the best way to build a team because first and foremost, it's low risk high rewards. Secondly, once a core of young players is established, due to them being so young we can have that team for years to come afterwards.

[Sharcm1]

All you guys that don't support this trade act as if the Nets are this great team that we are breaking up to get this ok player. Wake up please.

First of all Melo is a top player in this league. Remember that. Also remember that no team wins without a superstar player and that is what he is. anyone that argues that point just doesn't know basketball.

Second: The nets are horrible right now. There is just no motivation to win. Harris doesn't show up half the time and Brook is getting surrounded every time he touches the ball. And when brook is on a roll half the time they can't even get him the ball because we have horrible passers. Any trade at this point will help but getting a player like melo, who wants to win, will help greatly. A star player like that with the will to win can make a huge difference (look at what Kidd did for the before)

Third: it's not like the nets have a great record of drafting players or developing them. The only way the nets are going to get better is via free agency and trades.

fourth and final: If we don;t get melo because he doesn't want to come to nj then we won't havea chance at any high level or even middle level free agents ever. So no CP3and no howard.

Melo would give us a great player and the best since Kidd. He will give brook a chance to develop and he will help bring in future free agents. and it's not like the nets are trading all their picks for the future. They will still have picks depending on which 4 they give up (probably golden states, lakers, houstons and one of their own). So lets say they give those 3 and their 2011 pick so we have a pick in 2012 and 2013.

[Sharcm1]

It's crazy how everyone thinks the Nets are mortgaging their future with this trade. What future?

Harris isn't getting better. Trading him for Billups is probably an upgrade.

Favors hasn't show ANYTHING to prove that hes ready for the NBA. He should not be a deal breaker to get one of the best scorers in the league.

Then draft picks which are oh soooo valuable. Late picks rarely yield valuable players. The only one that has any value is the GS pick but that team is on the rise. Figure late lottery at best.

So the biggest asset we're giving up is our own pick this year. In one of the weakest draft classes ever.

I think Nets fans are really blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Favors is NOT going to be an all-star I don't give a **** how much potential he has. If he was gonna be Dwight he would have shown it already.

If we get Melo and Billups we still have our pick every year after this one. And we have cap space next off season to get Dwight or Paul.

Either we trade for a star now or we hope one falls to us in the draft. I'll take a guaranteed one any day of the week.

Billups
Melo
FA
Lopez
Howard

This is a possible championship team, Harris/Lopez and banking on high draft picks for the next 5 years will make us nothing but a joke for years to come.

Harris has nothing to do with our future, and how in the world is a declining Billups an upgrade?

Favors is 19 years old for goodness sake, he's in rookie season, give him a chance. Yes, Melo is one of the best scorers in the league, but what is else is he good at besides that again?

Draft picks are draft picks, they are assets to this team because we are in a REBUILDING process, and what is the best way to rebuild you say? It's draft picks. Lastly, yes the LAL and HOU one is a load of crap in all honesty, but if we continue to suck and GS becomes a lottery team this year, do you know what that can mean to us in draft night in terms of flexibility?

No we're giving up our pick, the GS pick and a 19-YEAR OLD ROOKIE who we just drafted for a guy who's just a great scorer. That's what we're giving up.

LOOOOOL at your understanding of how player development works. He has shown flashes of being a good rebounder and a strong finisher under the rim, so I have no idea what you're talking about. He's a rookie, development takes years not months. BTW, 5.3 RPG is not bad for a guy who gets under 20 minutes a game and is coached by Avery.

If we get Melo and Billups, WE WON'T HAVE ANY CAPSPACE, PLEASE GET THET THROUGH YOUR HEAD, and even if we keep our picks, it's going to be outside the lottery, so it'll probably have moderate to little value on it, depending where we are and what the situation is on draft night.

That team you posted is a championship team, but how do hell do you expect us to get Howard with no money? And Lopez would be horrible as a PF.

Lastly, yes banking on high draft picks will make lose for a few more seasons, but it's the right way to build a team, it's the best way to build a team because first and foremost, it's low risk high rewards. Secondly, once a core of young players is established, due to them being so young we can have that team for years to come afterwards.

How about a sign and trade with orlando for howard. If howard is going to walk and says I'll take a trade to the Nets don't you think the magic would want to get someone like brook instead of nothing. It happens all the time. Just to say I don't see him leaving the magic but we will have a much better chance of getting him or cp3 with melo on our team than without him. basically we will have no chance without melo.

Why at are draft picks the right way to build a team? yes the thunder have done a great job building a good team but they are at least one superstar player away from winning a championship. They are a very good team right now but they won't beat the spurs, lakers or mavs to get out of west and if they did they wouldn't beat the heat or celtics. Durant is their superstar but as Kobe proved you need at least 2 to win.
the nets have a horrible draft record and they are horrible at developing talent. The thunder let durant play his first season. He jacked up shot after shot and they lived with it to help him develop. Yes he scored 20 a game in his first season but his fg % sucked. But they knew that he was their player and let him develop. The nets don't do that. the young player makes a mistake and he is benched and the ball is taken away from him.

Other teams also have won through trades not drafts. The heat drafted wade and that was huge but didn't win till they traded for shaq. The celtics drafted pierce but didn't win till they traded for kg and allen. the cavs drafted lebron (probably the best player since MJ) and didn't win cause they couldn't get him that second star.

Star players win championships not draft picks and with the nets draft record it's very hard to think that they are going to get that star through the draft.

[Sharcm1]

BTW I don't think melo is coming to the nets. Just by proky's comments about making the knicks give up more players being a good decision to get back in trade talks again. Stupid. Sounds like he already knew melo would say no and he only did it to make the knicks gut their roster to get him.

[captaincrunk]

BTW I don't think melo is coming to the nets. Just by proky's comments about making the knicks give up more players being a good decision to get back in trade talks again. Stupid. Sounds like he already knew melo would say no and he only did it to make the knicks gut their roster to get him.

If anything it makes it easier to beat them in some regular season games which isn't a bad plan B.

[Sharcm1]

I agree with it but it also again causes problems with the players we keep that were supposed to go in the deal. Now harris and favors will feel like the nets didn't want them. Harris I don't care about but Favors could develop into a good player and it would be nice to keep him happy.

getting back into the talks also damages the word of Proky because he said we were done and we weren't. So in future deals no one is going to believe the nets.

But as long as the knicks have to give up everything then I'm happy. Amare and melo don't make a championship team. They will have a good team but not win a championship. And yes they will have no way of getting that third allstar player because they will have no cap space and no players to trade.

[Rockice_8]

BREAKING NEWS!

[urlhttp://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard][/url]

Check about 4-5 tweets down.

NJ in talks with DEN about a separate deal should the MELO to NY deal go through. NJ would send 2 #1's to DEN for Mozgov and one of Gallo/Chandler/Felton.

I don't want Felton but I would like to give Chandler a try here, even Gallo would be a nice fit with his outside shooting. Not sure what the picks are but the HOU and LAL would be nice, DOUBTFUL.

Would our #1 this year and one of the HOU/LAL picks or the GS pick and one of HOU/LAL do it.

Lots to discuss. If we had to give up one of our 2011 1st or the GS which would you want (Please not both) and who is the better fit here Chandler or Gallo.

Thoughts?

Edit: not sure why the link isn't working but just copy and paste

[jamrock1975]

knicks fan here and I am not trolling i promise. I wanted to get you guys view on the report that you guys will be trading two first round picks for mozgov and either gallinari, chandler or felton. what the hell is going on. Is this amateur hour in Denver and why would you guys trade two first round picks for mozgov. I don't get it

[Rockice_8]

knicks fan here and I am not trolling i promise. I wanted to get you guys view on the report that you guys will be trading two first round picks for mozgov and either gallinari, chandler or felton. what the hell is going on. Is this amateur hour in Denver and why would you guys trade two first round picks for mozgov. I don't get it

I like the idea but it's not for Mozgov. The value for us would be for Gallo or Chandler. The rumor is 2 1st's for Mozgov and one of Gallo/Chandler/Felton.

I don't want Felton but I'm interested in Chandler or Gallo just not sure which would be the better fit. I like Gallo's shooting but I like Chandler's D. Tough choice.

Mozgov would just have to beat out Petro to backup Lopez which shouldn't be to hard.

[Rockice_8]

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=6144608

Here's the link.

[N Ireland Nets]

Surely it would be for Gallo as Chandler is a FA in the summer so why would we give up 2 1st's for someone who could walk away in the summer.

I'd pick Chandler over Gallo but due to the contract situation I'd take Gallo and Mozgov.

Miller/Farmar
Rudy/Sasha
Gallinari/James
Favors/Hump
Lopez/Mozgov

Not a bad starting 5 and good 2nd string. I'd do the deal so long as its not both our valuable picks

[jeff1624]

I'm curious as to which 2 picks they would be. I would assume that our own 1st rounder wouldn't be included and that it would involve GS's and HOU's picks.

[Rockice_8]

Surely it would be for Gallo as Chandler is a FA in the summer so why would we give up 2 1st's for someone who could walk away in the summer.

I'd pick Chandler over Gallo but due to the contract situation I'd take Gallo and Mozgov.

Miller/Farmar
Rudy/Sasha
Gallinari/James
Favors/Hump
Lopez/Mozgov

Not a bad starting 5 and good 2nd string. I'd do the deal so long as its not both our valuable picks

Yeah thats makes me nervous too but maybe we could keep both our 2011 pick and the GS pick if we take the shot on Chandler. DEN doesn't want anything to do with paying a guy like Chandler next year so they would at least get 2 1st's out of it instead of losing him for nothing. HOU and LAL for Chandler and Mozgov come on King prove us wrong that your not a terrible GM. We can pay him as much as anybody and he'd be a RFA so we could match. I think he's the better player and like what he brings on D.

If you've seen me post you know I'm a fan of Chandler and was targeting him this offseason.

[N Ireland Nets]

Surely it would be for Gallo as Chandler is a FA in the summer so why would we give up 2 1st's for someone who could walk away in the summer.

I'd pick Chandler over Gallo but due to the contract situation I'd take Gallo and Mozgov.

Miller/Farmar
Rudy/Sasha
Gallinari/James
Favors/Hump
Lopez/Mozgov

Not a bad starting 5 and good 2nd string. I'd do the deal so long as its not both our valuable picks

Yeah thats makes me nervous too but maybe we could keep both our 2011 pick and the GS pick if we take the shot on Chandler. DEN doesn't want anything to do with paying a guy like Chandler next year so they would at least get 2 1st's out of it instead of losing him for nothing. HOU and LAL for Chandler and Mozgov come on King prove us wrong that your not a terrible GM. We can pay him as much as anybody and he'd be a RFA so we could match. I think he's the better player and like what he brings on D.

If you've seen me post you know I'm a fan of Chandler and was targeting him this offseason.

I love Chandler and think he is a great player but you can't justify two 1st round picks for him with him being a RFA in the summer because someone is going to overpay him and I don't want it to be us. He is playing very well this season so it only takes 1 team to put a silly contract offer out there and we've lost 2 1st's.

I'd rather take Gallinari and Mozgov and if we really wanted Chandler we could offer him a contract in the summer.

But this seems really random to me to be honest. I don't see any trade like this happening

[Sharcm1]

I don't want mozgov. Maybe if the deal was we get to pick the two players that would be better. So I would pick gallo and felton. Felton could replace harris and leave us open to trade him for another player. I'm sure we could package him with murphy and someone else to get a good player.

Gallo is a no brainer. We need shooting big time.

But mozgov wtf? I wouldn't trade the laker's pick for him.

[Rockice_8]

Both the late 1st's are practically worthless and we could just buy one back. I see your point though.

[Shaheen]

Harris has nothing to do with our future, and how in the world is a declining Billups an upgrade?

Favors is 19 years old for goodness sake, he's in rookie season, give him a chance. Yes, Melo is one of the best scorers in the league, but what is else is he good at besides that again?

Draft picks are draft picks, they are assets to this team because we are in a REBUILDING process, and what is the best way to rebuild you say? It's draft picks. Lastly, yes the LAL and HOU one is a load of crap in all honesty, but if we continue to suck and GS becomes a lottery team this year, do you know what that can mean to us in draft night in terms of flexibility?

No we're giving up our pick, the GS pick and a 19-YEAR OLD ROOKIE who we just drafted for a guy who's just a great scorer. That's what we're giving up.

LOOOOOL at your understanding of how player development works. He has shown flashes of being a good rebounder and a strong finisher under the rim, so I have no idea what you're talking about. He's a rookie, development takes years not months. BTW, 5.3 RPG is not bad for a guy who gets under 20 minutes a game and is coached by Avery.

If we get Melo and Billups, WE WON'T HAVE ANY CAPSPACE, PLEASE GET THET THROUGH YOUR HEAD, and even if we keep our picks, it's going to be outside the lottery, so it'll probably have moderate to little value on it, depending where we are and what the situation is on draft night.

That team you posted is a championship team, but how do hell do you expect us to get Howard with no money? And Lopez would be horrible as a PF.

Lastly, yes banking on high draft picks will make lose for a few more seasons, but it's the right way to build a team, it's the best way to build a team because first and foremost, it's low risk high rewards. Secondly, once a core of young players is established, due to them being so young we can have that team for years to come afterwards.

Billups is a better player than Harris. Yeah Harris is younger but you act like finding players like Harris is so rare when they are a dime and dozen. For the short term Billups can easily be a replacement.

Just because he's 19 doesn't mean he shouldn't be playing decently. Dwight and Lebron both came into that league around that age and we immediately knew how good he would be. Favors will NOT be a superstar he can't even dunk the damn ball. Howard averaged 12 and 10 as a rookie at 18 years old. Enough with these useless excuses.

"Rebuilding" does NOTHING. Rebuilding is crap and smart teams don't do it. Did Boston "rebuild"? Did Miami rebuild? Did the Lakers rebuild?

NO all these teams sucked and used their assets to make trades and become good or sign free agents. Merely sucking and praying that your draft pick turns into Kevin Durant is a strategy which has brought misery to so many franchises.

How will we not have any cap space? Repeating something won't make it true. Thats the whole plan we have wanted since the beggining of course we will. We will have the money to get Dwight through smart strategy.

And you wanna go into Brooklyn with no one? We will have no franchise and we will make no impact. When the Knicks get Melo we'll be the Clippers. OR we can go into Brooklyn with Melo and Dwight/Paul. Which is more appealing.

No you're right lets wait 5 more years for Favors to "develop." He's Kwame 2.0.

[Rockice_8]

Look we are in a decent spot. Should NY back out we have Melo cause he wants to get paid and we would be sitting there waiting for him. I know Dolan doesn't want us to have Melo cause when we move we are in the running for CP3 and D-Will and he doesn't want that.

If they buckle hopefully they don't have enough to get over the hump and we can land two young guys to add to our core for cheap to continue our rebuilding. I doubt DEN wants Chandler so if they are willing to dump him and Mozgov for cheap we benefit there.

I like where we are right now.

[NyCeEvO]

Exclusive: Nets Owner Prokhorov Talks Carmelo Anthony
Published: Sunday, 20 Feb 2011 | 5:13 PM ET
By: Darren Rovell
CNBC Sports Business Reporter

From his hotel suite in Beverly Hills, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was playing coy on Sunday afternoon when asked what exactly happened in his short meeting with Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony yesterday.

"It was a fantastic meeting, trust me," Prokhorov said, smiling. "No words, live music, excellent atmosphere. We looked into each other's eyes. Just real man talk."

Earlier this week, the Nets reached a tentative deal that would send Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh, and four first-round picks to the Nuggets for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Shelden Williams and Melvin Ely. Anthony would then have to be willing to sign a three-year, $65 million extension for the trade to be made.

Prokhorov maintained that he has not wavered on his thoughts from a month ago that the team shouldn't be so eager to do a deal with Anthony. He insists he had no plans to meet with Anthony as of yesterday morning, but things changed.

"As you know, my instinct was to stay away and I still think that is (the) right decision," said Prokhorov, in a wide-ranging interview which will air on CNBC on Tuesday. "But when the meeting was fixed, (Nets GM) Billy King called me and said, 'We need you.' I was convinced and I still think I'm right to stay away, but we have teamwork so sometimes we need to be all together."

The stakes are higher for Prokhorov and the Nets because part of his business could be affected when he moves the team to Brooklyn. If Anthony goes to the New York Knicks, and it turns out to be a good deal, Prokhorov's loss could be Knicks owner James Dolan's gain.

It has turned into quite a ownership rivalry in the nine months Prokhorov has owned the Nets. The biggest manifestation of the attention duel was the giant Nets billboard opposite Dolan's own office with the words "Blueprint For Greatness" and pictures of Prokhorov and Jay-Z. Dolan then put a billboard over the Nets' arena construction site in Brooklyn.

The Knicks deal for Anthony includes giving up Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler to bring Anthony, Billups, Williams and Anthony Carter to Madison Square Garden. Sources told Newsday that the Knicks decided on Sunday that they would not go any further with their offer.

"I think we made a very good tactical decision to force (the) Knicks to pay as much as they can," Prokhorov said. "So it's very good, it's very interesting, it's very competitive."

As for the pressure on Anthony to make the right decision?

"Carmelo is in a difficult situation," Prokhorov said. "For him, maybe it's the most important decision of his life."

Is the pressure getting to Prokhorov? Probably not. He's going heliskiing in Canada tomorrow.

Even though Prokhorov has done the wrong thing by telling everyone that we're officially just trying to get the Knicks to pay more, I told you guys that we weren't really involved in negotiations. It was all a ploy to get the Knicks to fork up more.

In regards to acquiring more Knicks players, I don't understand why we're trying to improve so late in the game. We're not going anywhere. Even if we get Gallo and Mozgov, we're most likely still going to miss the playoffs. The only thing this does is make our chances of winning the lottery worse. No star is going to come to NJ just because we have Gallo and Mozgov. It does make us a deeper team but not necessarily better. There would need to be another deal going on for us in order for me to be happy about acquiring any more players.