Now we have Chandler(???) we can trade Melo for Deron, have the PG, PF and C with complementary tweeners like Fields and Toney. Then next year get Wilson Chandler for the 3?!?
Trading Anthony and Calling Nets Makes Sense for KnicksFinally and fittingly, the Knicks appear to have woken up to a not-so-harsh reality and to a world of immediate possibility. Gone, apparently, is their three-superstar agenda, replaced by a more original, and practical, championship-contending blueprint.
Reports on Thursday that the Knicks were on the verge of landing the free-agent center Tyson Chandler meant that they had snapped out of the trance that had them waiting on Chris Paul, the disgruntled New Orleans point guard, to join his good friend Carmelo Anthony, along with Amar’e Stoudemire, in New York next season.
They still may have time for second thoughts after some owners and Commissioner David Stern were said to have voided a deal made by the league-owned Hornets to send Paul to the Lakers. The Knicks would be wise to go about their business and assume that Paul isn’t coming to New York as a free agent.
All we have heard since the lockout ended is that the Knicks didn’t have the dispensable assets. As if that wasn’t obvious when the owner James L. Dolan — determined to justify his planned price war on season-ticket holders — detonated the former president Donnie Walsh’s more patient, prudent strategy and overpaid for Anthony last winter.
But for those thinking out of the box, the Knicks did come out of last season with significant trade assets, at least one of which should be especially attractive in a league increasingly held hostage by blue-chip players nearing the end of their contracts. They have a certified shoe-company icon at the beginning of his contract, without no-trade protection.
They have Anthony, who made a smart business move by forcing his way out of Denver last February and signing a three-year, $65 million extension with a player option for a fourth. Now the Knicks should do what it is in their best interests by putting Anthony on the table and at least finding out what that leverage might reap.
Leaving Paul aside for the moment, Deron Williams from New Jersey is the name that comes to mind.
Yes, Stoudemire could be dangled in a deal to fill the point guard position that will be apparently vacated by Chauncey Billups. But in addition to the possibility of forming an imposing power tandem with Chandler, Stoudemire has four years remaining on a contract that is uninsurable due to past injuries. That alone would appear to make Anthony the more tradable asset if the Knicks are determined to better balance their team, which they should do if they can.
“See, that’s why when people said the Knicks gave up too much for Anthony, I totally disagreed,” Jeff Van Gundy said when we discussed this possibility last spring. “They had a chance to get a player of that magnitude, but if they decide it’s not working, they will still have flexibility because players like that are always in demand.”
Who knows what Paul’s fate will be? But would the Nets swap the uncertainty of the free-agent-to-be Williams for the certainty of bringing Anthony, whom they pursued doggedly last winter, with them to Brooklyn next season?
Note to Nets: if Mark Cuban is not re-signing Chandler, it is not because the deep-pocketed Mavericks owner can’t afford him. Cuban must want to be under the cap next season when Jason Kidd’s contract will have expired. Williams is from Dallas, which the Nets might want to remember if Dwight Howard isn’t coming to make Williams happy.
You might ask: why would the Knicks trade Anthony after they worked so hard and surrendered so much to get him? Because in the cap-restrained N.B.A. — where movement was made more difficult in the recent collective bargaining settlement despite the knee-jerk howling that it wasn’t — he never was the greatest fit on a team that already had Stoudemire.
Because the addition of another high-scoring forward with the reputation of being allergic to defense and passing meant the Knicks would be limited in upgrading their roster and would have to ultimately choose between the franchise point guard they have lacked for so long and a badly needed interior defensive presence.
By acting now, by moving on Chandler, the Knicks will spare themselves and their fans another season of waiting and worrying whether Paul would eventually take considerably less free-agent money to join Anthony and Stoudemire. They reject the harebrained notion that friends uniting harmoniously have meaningful bearing on the formation of a contender compared with configuring a team that actually makes competitive sense.
The three-star scheme may be the big-market rage, but Dallas — a team with only Dirk Nowitzki who would qualify as transcendent — is the reigning league champion.
With all due respect to Anthony, Stoudemire and Paul, their much-discussed union would not have matched Miami’s Big Three in terms of versatility. Forget Mike Woodson, hired this season to help Coach Mike D’Antoni improve the Knicks’ alleged defense. Even a third Mike — Ditka — could not have lifted the Anthony-Stoudemire-Paul Knicks to the required level for title contention.
Assuming the Chandler signing happens, maybe the Knicks prefer to improvise with a player who hits the open market via amnesty (Baron Davis) and evaluate their options later on. But as long as they have come this far out of the box, why not try to go the distance? Why not make that call to New Jersey?
Why not offer a deal that suddenly makes sense for both sides? Unless Stern and the owners tell them they can’t.
12/9/2011 4:25 PM