Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Did Knicks Trade For Wrong Guy?


Tuesday: Knicks trade for Carmelo Anthony.
Wednesday: Nets trade for Deron Williams.

It should've been the other way around.

New York has two mismatched stars. Carmelo Anthony is a guy who holds the ball and runs a lot of isolations to get his points. Amare Stoudemire is at his best when he runs pick and rolls with a willing point guard.

New Jersey has Deron Williams who is a scorer that makes his teammates better. But he isn't really that superstar player that can make New Yorkers care. And his teammates aren't very good.

What if they switched places?

Do you think Deron Williams could run a pick and roll with Amare in Mike D'Antoni's system? Um, have you seen the Utah Jazz over the last two decades? Utah perfected that play and a Williams-to-Amare dynamic would be great. While he's an All Star player, his persona isn't going to eclipse Amare's. He'd fit perfectly in New York.

Carmelo Anthony is the perfect kind of player to become the face of the new Brooklyn Nets when they move across the river in a couple of years. Him being buddies with Jay Z and Mikhail Prokhorov just seems right. Moreso than Deron Williams.

I know that the "Chris Paul to New York" buzz would wipe out the need for Williams. I get that. I just don't think it will be possible for the Knicks to add Paul at any point. With a new CBA and, most likely, a smaller cap the Knicks may run out of space and assets to bring him in.

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