http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=18428

The Leon Rose Angle: Carmelo Anthony's agent Leon Rose is in the dream making business. Sources close to the situation say Rose promised Anthony that he'd land him in New York with a $65 million extension.

Rose has been selling Anthony's camp on the idea of Brooklyn and the Nets, mainly because there does not seem to be a workable deal with the Knicks.

Denver is empathic to Carmelo's desires to be in New York, but at the end of the day they are
going to make the best deal for Denver, regardless of what Carmelo wants.

The people closest to Carmelo are not at all happy how this has played out, with far too much being leaked to the press and far too much chaos blowing back on Carmelo, they want this to end yesterday.

There is a real sense of urgency from the Leon Rose side, according to sources in the know on the situation. If Rose can't deliver a deal, he may lose Anthony to a rival agent as Anthony's camp is growing annoyed with how this has played out.

Rose seems to have given the Nets assurances that Carmelo is open to a contract extension; however Melo continues to tell reporters that he isn't doing anything with anyone.

While New Jersey is clearly driving the trade discussions at this point, Leon Rose has a big role in this too, mainly trying to deliver the dream he promised his client, because it seems his client is getting annoyed with the process.

The Knicks: The New York Knicks don't feel like they have the pieces to get Carmelo Anthony and have shifted their focus to other players and other deals.

New York is clearly where Carmelo would like to end up, but sources near the Knicks that have been working on this situation said recently that they just don't feel like they have anything Denver wants.

As much as Knicks' fans believe they have better assets to offer – and they very well might - the Nuggets and the Knicks both are saying there isn't anything to discuss.

The Knicks have not sat out the Carmelo Anthony situation, in fact they have worked hard on trying to assemble a deal with Denver, but every conversation ends without much movement.

The Knicks just don't have the pieces Denver wants, and at the end of the day they will likely miss out on Anthony as a result of it.

Chauncey Billups: It's been made fairly clear by Chauncey's agent Andy Miller, that should Chauncey be traded from the Denver Nuggets he would want an immediate buyout or release from his contract.

It has nothing to do with New Jersey, but rather that Billups is very happy in Denver – his hometown – and if traded he'd rather try his luck elsewhere than face an uphill climb in New Jersey in a contract year on a team he won't be in the future plans of.

Billups' camp knows he's not in New Jersey's future and would want his release and might surrender some money to make it happen.

Nets' sources said they are not focused on that at all and would deal with Billups if they acquired him, but at this point they are focused on making a deal with Denver now, but said Chauncey's desires would not affect the deal either way.

As things stand today Billups is owed $13.15 million this season, but his contract has a $3.7 million buyout for next season, provided he's waived five days after the end of the season. Denver has already paid $5.8 million of the deal, leaving $7.34 million for this season and the $3.75 million buyout.

That number decreases by $77,000 every day, so for New Jersey waiving Billups could cost them in excess of $10 million, which even with Mikhail Prokhorov's money, that's a hefty expense just to get Carmelo.

Johan Petro: The New Jersey Nets need to send out Johan Petro to make the deal work under the salary cap trade rules, however no one in the proposed deal seems overly interested in the $3.25 million owed Petro this season and next. Petro holds a third year worth $3.5 million.

As of last night, the Nets were trying to find a fourth team interested in acquiring Petro for a trade exception.

The seven foot center from France is averaging 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds on the season, and has been playing backup minutes for the Nets this season.

Petro isn't a world beater by any stretch, but several teams looking for backup bigs, might be enticed by the idea of a free seven footer, especially if cash to cover his deal is included in the package.

The fact that Petro is owed $6.75 million after this season is a bit of a roadblock, but with so many teams holding exceptions, a deal is out there, it just depends on what New Jersey is willing to offer to sweeten the deal.

The odds that a Nuggets deal drops in the coming days seems fairly slim, however the Nets feel like they have assembled the deal the Nuggets have asked for, the question now falls back to Denver – are they going to deal or not?

Denver seems to have made it clear that they are asking for final offers, it may be last call in the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, the burning question is does New Jersey have the right cards to win the game or will another team swoop in with a better offer at the eleventh hour?

Houston's Got Pieces: The Houston Rockets have three fairly hefty ending contracts - Yao Ming ($17.68 million), Jared Jefferies ($6.88 million) and Shane Battier ($7.35 million).