This has gone on far too long. It is a trade saga that has now dragged out over the span of two seasons. Phil Jackson may be back in Montana sipping on ginseng and juice, but his messes still remain. Those disasters will only get worse if his replacements, and yes I pluralize that, don’t get their proverbial mops out. The next order of business must be a trade of Carmelo Anthony. Whether it be Houston, Portland, or CSKA F’n Moscow, the Knicks need to rid themselves of this distraction ASAP. Scott Perry, welcome to the New York party pal!
Houston is the most logical destination for Anthony at this juncture. Many teams have entered the fray over these past two seasons, but it all circles back to the Rockets. The only thing about a trade with Houston now though is the need for a third and possibly fourth team to consummate the transaction. Chris Paul and James Harden are on the same pay scale, but they are obviously going nowhere. That leaves Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon as the only price comparative chips the Rockets have to make a deal work. Despite Carmelo’s trade value being at an all time low, it isn’t straight up for Ryan Anderson low. Or at least I hope not.
Unless you want to try to make the money work within the percentages necessary, they’ll need a team, or teams, with ample cap space to facilitate a move. A little under half of the league’s franchises have that wiggle room. San Antonio is the only team that isn’t going to be abysmal in 2017-18. Taking on one of these underwhelming clubs’ wretched contracts and giving up picks may be what needs to be done.
I’ve run scenarios through the Trade Machine so much Bill Simmons would tell me I need therapy. The two teams that always ends up being the conduits in my scenarios are the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic. Whether by themselves or together, Atlanta and Orlando help Houston get Carmelo Anthony every time. Each time they give up little to nothing in terms of players and get something, whether it be tangible or future picks, that betters their chances of competing in the barren Eastern Conference wasteland. Yet when I read stories about trades, the two teams show up a whole bunch of never.
Now don’t take that last paragraph as gospel by any means. It is just one man’s opinion. It just goes as a brief illustration of how the Knicks are once again making something harder on themselves than it needs to be. There are many a trade that work, most which can grant the Knicks a respectable return or at the very least cap relief. Instead, they bullheadedly try to pound the same square pegs into round holes with trade partners willing to part with just pesos on the dollar for an All-Star.
Carmelo Anthony is willing to waive his trade kicker to make a deal happen and he’s made it clear where he wants to go. So just trade him already. The team will suffer for it initially, I get that. But it needs to happen. This is no longer a “We can work it out.” kind of problem. Carmelo Anthony’s relationship with the New York Knicks is beyond repair. And every team in the NBA knows that. The Knicks can go to the same trade partners and get fleeced or broaden their scope a bit and get a somewhat respectable return. Knicks fans like myself expect the former, but there is a numbness that exists when it comes to their dumbness. Stop trying to shoehorn Joakim Noah‘s albatross into a deal. Trade Carmelo Anthony and move on. It’s not rocket science to get him to the Rockets.