The NBA Trade Deadline is now only nine days away. It’s so close now: Soon, our national nightmare will be over, and Carmelo Anthony will either be a Knick or he won’t, and we’ll all be able to move on with our lives. One of the more curiously ignored aspects of a potential Anthony is just what the Knicks are expected to give up for him. It’s rarely discussed, as if the Knicks should either give their entire roster for him, or they shouldn’t, and the particulars don’t matter. But they obviously do matter, and they’re currently making the Knicks balk.
Actually, let’s all play amateur GM this morning. This is, according to the Daily News, what the Nuggets are proposing, and what the Knicks are rejecting:
To the Knicks:
Carmelo Anthony
Chauncey Billups
To the Nuggets:
Danilo Gallinari
Raymond Felton
Eddy Curry
First-round draft pick (presumably acquired for Anthony Randolph)
On one hand, that’s not inherently crazy. Remember, at one point, the Nuggets were asking for Danilo and Wilson Chandler and Eddy Curry’s salary cap space and two first-round picks, all for just Anthony. This would seem to be a slight drop-down in price.
On the other, Felton, for all his struggles over the last month or so, is still one of the team captains, and Billups is on record as saying that he doesn’t want to leave Denver. Also: Gallo! Also, and more to the point: Right now, Donnie Walsh and the Knicks still hold all the cards. The Nuggets, as of this moment, still are the weak party, trying to get something for Carmelo while they still can, to the only team he apparently wants to play for. If you’re Walsh, you have to think that in the next nine days, that price will only go down. That’s a distinct advantage. That’s a reason to keep your finger off the trigger.
Unless, of course, your boss keeps sticking his beak in. There’s always that issue.
(Ed. Note: We misread, and indeed: The Nuggets want another starter. Which is of course crazy.)