When it comes to NBA, it is a well-known fact that Basketball, at this level, is a game played by superstars. This holds true particularly if you are playing in the Easter Conference. The New York Knicks were certainly missing that superstar factor. Yes, the Knicks have Stade Stoudemire in their rooster and yes, he has led the team to an unprecedented (at least since the turn of the century) 28-26 season, to hold on strongly to a sixth place in the Easter Conference that might as well just earn the team its first playoffs berth since 2004.Some are venturing to say, even before Mello plays its first game in New York, that this is the best decision the franchise has made since the Knicks picked Patrick Ewing as the No.1 pick in the 1985 draft. Most of the speculation comes from the idea that both Stoudemire and Mello could mix in for quite an aggressive offensive front. Stoudemire has said that with his 26.1 point per game average added to Mello’s 25.2, the Knicks are going to be a really hard team to guard from now on.Yes, on the long run -let’s say two or three years- it is quite possible that the Knicks might work their way back into NBA prominence.
But it is still uncertain if the team might have just what it takes to be truly dangerous in April.The thing here is that regardless of what happens this season, the Knicks really had to find a way to get at least one more top-notch player to at least be competitive in the region. Let’s face it: the Boston Celtics have four superstars in their rooster: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, are all top-caliber players that are dominating the conference. As if that was not enough, they also have to face the recently rebuilt Miami Heat with its spectacular rooster that includes LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh.Stoudemire has said the he has no doubt that the two of them could play together, find in the right mix in a matter of days. Only time will tell if they can really get going as soon as they both get on the court, or, like it happened with the Heat, it’s going to take a while to get the gears running smoothly.Details of the deal that took Carmello Anthony from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks are still unclear. All we can say is that he is certainly leaving the Nuggets (the team were he has played all of his 6 seasons as a professional) in much better terms with both the franchise and the fans than LeBron James did with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Certainly Mello learned from other’s mishaps.
So far the details we have been able to scratch together suggest that as a part of the deal, the Knicks will send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Nuggets, who would get additional picks and cash. Along with Anthony, the New York Knicks would get Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman from Denver. So yes, it is quite a big swap.It seems as if the additional picks that the Denver Nuggets will get are originally two second-round selections that the Knicks acquired from Golden State when the Warriors signed forward David Lee during last year’s preseason.