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| Carmelo Anthony could turn the Nets into instant contenders. |
If you’re a Nuggets fan, you’ll feel that you’re losing two of your best players—Melo and Billups. If you’re a Pistons fan, you’ll be sad to hear that you’re letting go of a Piston that made a name for himself in Detroit—Rip Hamilton.
And if you’re a Nets fan, you probably have gotten used to the crazy antics of majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov. After all, the man did promise a championship team within five years. At 6 ft. 8 inches and a net worth $13.4 billion, fans could even expect Prokhorov to join the starting line-up himself if worst comes to worst.
And if you’re a Nets fan, you probably have gotten used to the crazy antics of majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov. After all, the man did promise a championship team within five years. At 6 ft. 8 inches and a net worth $13.4 billion, fans could even expect Prokhorov to join the starting line-up himself if worst comes to worst.
For those NBA fans who are unaware of the most recent Melo trade rumour, it’s a dazzling and altogether humongous three team swap between the Pistons, the Nets, and of course, the Nuggets. Here’s the trade in a nutshell, one that the Nets were close to completing Sunday evening, but now seems much more complicated (it’s estimated that more than 15 players could be involved).
-Denver Nuggets:
-Trading to: New Jersey: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Terrico White
-Acquiring from: New Jersey: Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow, Stephen Graham, Quinton Ross and Ben Uzoh, along with two first round draft picks
-Key Notes: The Nets are trading away one of their best players, a multitude of guards, a rookie forward and two draft picks, an awful lot for three players. Is it really worth it for the Nuggets to trade two of their best players for one solid guard and a bunch of ‘carry-ons’?
-Detroit Pistons:
-Trading to: New Jersey: Rip Hamilton
-Acquiring: Johan Petro, Troy Murphy
-Key Notes: Major savings for Detroit: Hamilton has over a year and more than $20 Million left on his contract; Troy Murphy comes with an expiring $12 million contract; Pistons don’t want Petro but may have to take him; Ben Gordon could finally be put into the starting line-up slot.
-New Jersey Nets
-Trading to: Denver Nuggets: Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow, Stephen Graham, Quinton Ross and Ben Uzoh, along with two first round draft picks
-Trading to: Detroit Pistons: Johan Petro, Troy Murphy
-Acquiring from: Detroit Pistons: Rip Hamilton
-Acquiring from: Denver Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Terrico White
The Nets were close to landing Melo in the preseason through a four team deal including Utah and Charlotte, but talks fell through. Recently, with Detroit in the picture, the Nets were close to completing the deal Sunday evening, but now have been left with Melo’s intention of not heading to New Jersey anytime soon.
Should the trade go through, fans would see a reunification of former Detroit teammates Hamilton and Billups. Billups was traded for former Nugget now Turkish star Allen Iverson. Melo has recently expressed remorse that Billups, who wishes to retire in his hometown of Denver, has been brought into the talks as well.
Melo has the potential to become a free agent in the summer of 2011 and has refused to sign the contract extension offered to him by the Nuggets last summer.
The bitter irony Detroit faces is that they could have had the trio of Hamilton, Billups, and Anthony in 2003 with the No. 2 draft pick by picking Anthony instead of Darko Milicic. While Darko is getting some quality playing time in Minnesota and could still blossom into a solid starter, there’s no question that the Pistons would rather have chosen Anthony (not to mention Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Chris Kaman were also available at the time).
Melo has come under harsh criticism since his horrendous performance against New Orleans on Sunday night, where he recorded only 8 points in a 96-87 loss. Anthony has led the Nuggets to a playoffs appearance for each of the first seven seasons of his NBA career and assures fans he didn’t blow the game on purpose. As many say, it was just a “bad” game.
At the moment, it seems that the Orlando Magic have pulled off the best trade of the season, with Miami closing out the offseason with the free-agent signing award. As the talks continue, all the former Syracuse University star could say was “It’s all in the air.”
So, we’ll just have to sit back, stay tuned and wait for the dust to settle.
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