When the Knicks of the 2010-2011 NBA season pulled the plug on the blockbuster trade that would send Carmelo Anthony to New York, it seemed like an exceptional deal. New York acquires a superstar, while the Nuggets cut one that didn't want to be there anymore while still receiving draft picks in return. In the moment, it seemed like both parties would walk anyway content with their decisions. However, years later that's definitely not the case for the New York Knicks who have been cursed to yearly mediocrity due to the acquisition of this same superstar.
Even though the Nuggets lost their franchise forward, the draft picks they received would assist in their rebuilding and the players they obtained in Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler would also aid in the rebuilding process. The Knicks, on the other hand, lost a ton of draft picks and young players with potential for scorer Carmelo Anthony. At the time, Anthony was joining an aging but still productive guard in Chauncey Billups and a healthy Amare Stoudemire. With this big three the Knicks organization and all of its fans thought they were a lock for the playoffs and perhaps could reach the Eastern Conference Finals if they were lucky.
In the end, that 2010-11 Knicks team did make the playoffs and finish with the sixth seed; but with two superstars in Stoudemire and Anthony their seeding shouldn’t have been that low. They were only one game ahead of the seventh seed Philadelphia 76ers and five games ahead of the eighth seeded Indiana Pacers. Amare would begin to struggle heavily with injuries, something that he continues to deal with, while Billups was also in and out of the lineup. In an instant this seemingly stacked starting lineup was falling apart at the seem.
On the other hand, in Denver their rebuilding process was going better than expected. Their post-Melo era started off on the right foot as their defense improved and they discovered a word that is nowhere in Carmelo’s arsenal of vocabulary: teamwork. Without iso-Melo coming down the court and dominating possessions, the Nuggets prevailed and finished the season with 50-wins and, surprisingly to NBA fans everywhere, a higher record in the Western Conference at the fifth seed.
So while the Denver Nuggets relinquished themselves of the ball stopping curse that is Carmelo, the Knicks were just realizing the error of their ways. Granted the next season the Knicks did make the playoffs again, however it was a seed lower than the season prior. Excluding their lone season in the 2012-13 season atop the Eastern Conference standings, Carmelo and the Knicks have not been a cohesive unit since he arrived and they never will be as long as the ball is constantly in his hands.
Until the Knicks trade for another superstar to take the ball out of his hands, making him a second option or somehow unload his contract on another poor team; the Knicks will maintain their average status of a franchise that doesn't see the light of the playoffs for another decade. In spite of this though, Knicks fans will remain in their confused misconceptions that their team will make it past the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks and their fans have long been delusional, but comments like these by their captain show how inadequate this team actually is.
----"We're competing, people might not believe that, but we're definitely competing for a [a title]," said Anthony.
----"We're competing, people might not believe that, but we're definitely competing for a [a title]," said Anthony.
It’s preposterous statements such as this that push the Knicks even further back as a team and an organization. Carmelo Anthony wasn’t healthy or playing games for the Knicks after the All Star game in February of 2015 but is making comments to the media. He required surgery during the All Star Break, but instead opted to play in a trivial game; that shows where Anthony's head is. Anthony expressed to reporters at training camp practice that he believes the Knicks will compete for a championship this upcoming season when he doesn't even know if he'll be fully healthy by season's start.
Unfortunately for the small forward, not only will the Knicks not reach anywhere close to tasting the victory of winning a championship, they won’t even be able to sample the menu of playoff contention. Due to trading for Carmelo Anthony in 2010, the Knicks have lost their draft picks for the top heavy 2016 NBA Draft. Subsequently, the Knicks will have to witness Philadelphia reel off three draft picks from the lottery, all possibly in the top 5. Carmelo is an internal plague for the New York Knicks, a plague that they can never rid themselves of as a result of signing him to a five-year extension last summer. An extension that Anthony himself must regret signing with his other option being to unite with returning Derrick Rose and a rising Jimmy Butler on the deep Chicago Bulls roster.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/draft.html, http://nypost.com/2015/10/01/carmelo-anthony-and-derek-fisher-revise-expectations-for-knicks/
True that. The Knicks are stuck with Carmelo. He needs a supporting cast like Coby had. Results: Five rings. Go Lakers!!!
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