5 BOROUGH SPORTS

Well, call me the biggest opponent of the Knicks trade this evening.

Basically I think we should have waited until this summer to sign Melo, because he’s stated time and time again that’s what he’ll do. Keep your young players and add Melo, don’t give them up for him.

This is the terms of the deal according to sources, its not official yet but it sounds like its done:

Knicks Give up:

Raymond Felton, PG, age 26, 17 ppg, 9 asp

Danilo Gallinari, SG, age 22, 16 ppg, 5 rpg

Wilson Chandler, SF, age 23, 16 ppg, 6 rpg

Timofey Mosgov, C, age 24, 4 ppg, 3 rpg

Anthony Randolph, PF, age 21, 2 ppg, 2 rpg

Eddy Curry, C, age 28, 4 ppg, 3 rpg (2009)

2014 1st Round Pick

$3 Million in Cash

Knicks Get:

Carmelo Anthony, SF, age 26, 25 ppg, 8 rpg

Chauncey Billups, PG, age 34, 16 ppg, 5 asp

Sheldon Williams, PF, age 27, 4 ppg, 5 rpg

Renaldo Balkman, PF, age 26, 2 ppg, 1 rpg

Anthony Carter, PG, age 25, 2 ppg, 2 asp

Corey Brewer, SG, age 24, 8 ppg, 3 rpg

Consider this, the Knicks gave up the majority, if not all of their young talented players on the roster. In return they got a superstar, two aging point guards, two useless power forwards and an underachieving shooting guard who can’t shoot. You can tell me all you want that the Nets were about to get Melo, but I don’t buy the fact that he was going to sign an extension with them. If the Knicks had simply done nothing, come this summer they could have signed Carmelo Anthony and had him along with all our young promising talent. Instead we now have two stars, and not much else. Chauncey Billups is a good player, but his time is coming to a close, he’s not part of a long term plan. The Knicks better have had Chris Paul on line two while this trade was going on, that’s for sure.

All I know is, I loved the Knicks team this year. They gave me hope of a future where these young players could develop and we could add a few more pieces to become a top notch team in the NBA again. Instead we are doing a lame impression of the Heat. I don’t like it a bit. You wins championships by being smart and building around young players. The Knicks actually made some good draft picks over the last few years in Gallinari and Chandler, but now they are gone.

The remaining roster and depth chart looks as so:

PG: Chauncey Billups/Toney Douglas/Anthony Carter

SG: Landry Fields/Bill Walker/Kelenna Azubuike*

SF: Carmelo Anthony/Shawne Williams/Corey Brewer (i’ll move him to SF cause hell he’s 6’9″)

PF: Amare Stoudemire/Renaldo Balkman

C: Ronny Turiaf/ Sheldon Williams

The lack of depth is glaring. Landry Fields has been great this year, but he doesn’t project as the starter type. Ronny Turiaf is a good glue guy coming off the bench, but not starting. Sheldon Williams and Renaldo Balkman will probably not provide great depth their either. The Knicks are small and have limited scoring options outside of Stoudemire, Anthony and Billups.

All I know is, I hope to god the Knicks know what they are doing. I’ve heard Isiah’s name way too much lately and their better be some plan for free agency this summer. The knicks need a another good low post guy and will soon need a big time point guard. Chris Paul might be the answer to that, but only through free agency because the cupboard is empty now.

I want the Knicks to succeed just as much as any other Knicks fan, but this trade doesn’t sit well with me for know. Are the Knicks going to be good enough for the playoffs? Probably, but they don’t have the depth or firepower to make a run of significance with this roster.

I want Melo and Amare teaming up as much as you, I just feel as though waiting a few more months would have been the better move.

This entry was posted on February 21, 2011 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Knicks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.