Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 11:00 am  |  103 responses

Carmelo Era in NY Set to Begin

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Our long, international nightmare mercifully came to an end last night. The Melodrama is over, and the Knicks have their man. At last.

It’s a glitzy, fascinating, somewhat desperate, and vaguely terrifying move on New York’s part. In other words: it’s absolutely, perfectly Knicks-esque.

The Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks have been forever transformed by this, and though it’s clear that the Nuggets are now in full rebuiding hell, it’s harder to tell where the Knicks truly stand.

We’ll have to wait until the summer of 2012 to see if New York can land another big fish to compliment ‘Melo and Amar’e Stoudemire; it’ll be yet another tumultuous period for the team and its fanbase, with a front-office that may look radically different by then.

For the rest of this season, the New York Knicks are going to be wildly entertaining. They won’t defend anyone, may even put a scare into a Playoff team or two in the Spring, and Madison Square Garden will once again be the most electric gym in the NBA.

Welcome to New York, Carmelo Anthony. This is what you wanted all along. Now, it’s time to deliver on the grandest of stages.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Newer Comments →
  • KSupreme

    NY is going to to it BIIIIIIIG

  • KSupreme

    NY is going to do it BIIIIIG*

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S2sLe8VuMo IAMORANGE4EVER

    HELLO MELO!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S2sLe8VuMo IAMORANGE4EVER

    Click my name for “Hello Melo”. rofl

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    ^^^^ LMAOOOOOOOOO hilarious!!!!

  • DRose4MVP

    If the Knicks don’t play defense, they have no shot against the Bulls, Magic, Celtics or Heat. Mike D’Antoni has never seen a defensive scheme in his life.

  • http://www.slamonline.com peter

    Finally it’s worth having MSG network

  • floe

    knicks are 5th seed in the east at best.

  • Riggs

    People seem to forget that they werent trading the coach also, the knicks arent going to magically get defense with or without carmelo. So id rather them have him anyways.

  • http://ballislife.com Stephon

    Cosign @Peter also great acquisition for the Knicks, the playoffs this year is going to be good!

  • Riggs

    Offtopic but can slam maybe put up a small article on escalade? Deadspin has one but the commentators there are a bunch of jack*sses making jokes about it.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    @riggs exactly. Plus when you consider the what they have with the acquisitions- Corey Brewer and Landry Fields are two of the better perimeter defenders in the league. Shelden Williams and Ronny Turiaf both are guys who can hold down the paint and energize a squad on the defensive side of the ball. There is absolutely NO drop off defensively, if anything there could be a fairly substantial improvement in those quarters.

  • bas

    Whats up with these comments sections filled up with various other user’s information? lol slmost wouldve posted as Joe Shmoe.

    But anyways New York’s going to be interesting. They got Melo at a good time. Team record since December had been up and down and were only a couple of games ahead of Philly for the 6th spot. Now Chicago should be damn afraid if they continue to hold the 3 seed. This is going to be one interesting damn first round of the East.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    definitely RIP Troy Jackson. That man is one of the reasons streetball is in every city around the world today. PERIOD. The tour started before him, but And1 was never really And1 until he came on. That was the heart and soul of And1 streetball. A lot of people try to clown on And1 but they represented NY streetball in a way it had never been before and will never be again, and again the heart and soul of that was Troy Escalade Jackson. RIP and condolences and prayers to the Jackson family. please lets do something nice for them SLAM

  • http://nicekicks.com meloman2.0

    Lets go MELO… been riding since the early days, no turning back now

  • Alex

    Agree with The Black Rick Kamla, however, they still need help on the inside. Brewer and Fields may suffice for now, but what they need is a big defensive Center that doesn’t need shots. Someone who’ll make their living on rebounds and being a defensive presence. No questions, Melo makes the knicks better, but if Billups can play the way he’s capable of, that makes the knicks alot better. They’re not elite yet, but they’re returning back to relevance. Brewer and fields better start working on that 3 point shot.

  • Overtime

    Question for all…if you put Melo on say the Kings, or the Cavs, how much do they improve?

  • Coney Islander

    People are sleeping and Chauncey! If he sticks around for a lil while he can make people like Toney Douglas better as well as run a game. He’s still on of the top floor generals in the game. I’m glad we got the deal done, I’ll miss those guys, Gallo, Ray, Wilson and Big Moz repped the jersey well. Best of luck and much success-unless they’re playing the Knicks! lol

  • http://www.twofistedpress.com Pve84

    What Coney Islander said. Does anybody remember Denver’s Defense before Chauncey got there? Not as bad, but comparable to the Knicks. Hopefully Chauncey can change the culture in a D’antoni system. Really sad to see Chandler go, but wouldn’t have been able to give him the money he deserves in the future anyway. Hope he does well in Denver.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    @bas – why should Chicago be “damn afraid” of the Knicks if they face them in the playoffs?
    This new Knicks team hasn’t beaten the Bulls, the Knicks team with Felton, Gallo, and Chandler did.
    They no longer have the depth to beat the Bulls 4 out of 7 times.
    Melo and Amare can score all they want, but they can’t play 48 minutes a game over a 7-game series.
    And best believe the Bulls will step up their D in the playoffs.
    The Knicks? Mmm… their defense, or lack thereof, will be similar to their regular season defense thanks to O’Antoni.
    Anyways, even though I’ve always hated the Knicks, and am not too fond of their fans, I am glad that the Knicks have star power again and they should be deadly come 2012.
    Knicks fans are some of the best fans in the world and y’all deserve to have a quality team again.

  • Cizzo

    The Knick gave up way too much…. I love Mello but those three player or four players they gave will knock a major dent in the Knicks and make Nuggets good believe it or not?

  • riggs

    @Enigmatic: The felton led knicks had defense? because your argument makes it sound like they did.

  • riggs

    Knicks are still going after Marc Gasol please dont forget that folks.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    I just don’t see the Knicks beating the Bulls in a seven game series. Or the Magic. Or the Celtics. Or the Heat. Or the Hawks. So basically, they’re still a first round exit team just like they were on Sunday. They will surely be entertaining (D’Antoni teams are) but c’mon, STAT and Melo do nothing more than score and average rebound. And no one expects them or their squad to lock down ANYONE do they? They’re now a possible 48 win team when before the trade, they might have pushed for 42. Good for Knicks fans for having star power again, but this team is not a contender. Nothing will be different next season either. We’ll see how they do in the 2012 offseason to make them elite. That’s as real and as honest as I can be about the move.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    @riggs – not seeing how my argument makes it sound that way. I said they had more depth. They’ve never had defense as long as O’Antoni’s been coach.

  • benno

    Nuggets will go out in the first round – but it would be good to see Heat vs knicks – melo vs lebron, stoudemire vs bosh and next year cp3 vs dwade.
    But for this year everyone knows that the title is the CELTICS!!! :)

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Walsh may be gone after this move. I heard that he didn’t really want to do this.
    Shout out to Isiah Thomas.

  • Overtime

    Merchandise wise? Excellent moving

  • MUBWAR

    Melo is not that bad of a defender. Now if they can rid of O’Anthony and hire Jeff Van Gundy, everything will be back in order for New York like they used to be an era ago.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    Eboy, by “average rebound” do you mean get a decent amount of boards but nothing impressive?
    Cause I do have to say, Melo is pretty nice on the boards for a 3.
    He’s averaging more rebounds per game than any other SF in the NBA, including LeBron.
    STAT’s never been anything special on the boards though.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Enig….I meant them together, as a front-court pairing. The one thing no one has mentioned is…..can STAT’s ego take this hit. He is immediately the Knicks second best player. He is no longer “The King of NYC” like he was reveling in. Now he is also not the focal point anymore either. This isn’t a Miami Heat situation where Dwyane was asking for help and didn’t mind sharing the spotlight. Neither one of these players are guys who make an effort to share the ball and try to be willing man on man defenders. I know there’s capability there, but without a great point to distribute (which these two guys will need to take the next step)they will dissapoint. The one thing I like about this trade? Not having to see that jerk-o*f Spike Lee make the “what’s a matter for you” hand signal to Gallinari everytime he makes a three.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Eboy hit the nail on the head, although i would agrue that NY could beat Atlanta in a series, as currently constructed.

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    @MUBWAR – for the sake of winning games and getting closer to contender status, JVG would be a nice hire.
    But his slow-down, half-court offense on a team with Melo and STAT might not be too popular with the fans.
    Remember how much sh*t he got in Houston for having them play that way?

  • http://nobulljive.com/ Enigmatic

    Co-sign Eboy.
    Part of the reason STAT went to NY was so he could be the undisputed MAN of a team.
    Not no more!

  • bakers’-dozen

    Celtics, Heat, Magic, Bulls…NYK are paying a lot of $$$ for two players who won’t get them in the top 4. Maybe in a few yeras they’ll be better, but this doesn’t do much for them except sell seats.

  • MikeC.

    I don’t think the Knicks will set the world on fire this year. They still need a big who can stay out of the way on O. Too bad Kendrick Perkins doesn’t grow on trees. They need depth, which is going to be tough to come by with few or no draft picks. The most important thing to get done would be a 2 or 3 yr extension for Walsh so he can finish putting things together.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    I do like Billups with the two of them although he’s not a great distributor. He will knock down clutch shots (something a few other contenders can use) and not make mistakes with the ball. However….his D has suffered due to age and not having the backup of Tayshaun, Sheed and Big Ben protecting his a*s. I guess it just comes down to Chauncey not being elite and they need an elite PG to be a gangsta squad.

  • MikeC.

    I just wish Cuban hadn’t effed up and given so much money to Brendan Haywood. He’s exactly what the Knicks need at the 5. Big, solid help and man defender and doesn’t demand the ball. He’d probably end up fighting Balkman and ripping out some locks.

  • robb

    Billups is a great acquisition as well and still can make things happen but they better start playing some defense because no matter how good a scorer Melo is, you can’t just go and try to outscore your opponents and as long as Mr. Pringles man is on charge the Knicks won’t be a serious contender.

  • http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bulls-confidential/2011 Diesel

    Knicks got slightly better with this trade. They’re still not threatening the top 4 teams in the east. That being said, everyone’s failed to mention that the Knicks actually don’t have the money to give CP3 or Deron a max contract in 2 years. Those guys would have to take pay cuts. And with the new CBA, that chance of a third superstar coming could be gone all together. There is a very real chance the Knicks could be stuck with similar versions of this team for a while, considering they have no cap space for the next 2 years and no draft picks for the next 4 years.

  • Jose

    Defense Wins Championships. . .not saying they ont go deep into the playoff eventually but i mean, Defense. . .wins. . .championships

  • http://jooo Max

    NO MORE RUMORS!!!

  • showtime

    ^ Cosign diesel plus if old isiah comes back # epic fail

  • Trout

    This is bad news for Chauncey he wanted to hang em up in Denver not sure if he is gonna be productive in this system but who knows it could work out for him.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    Where does the notion that Carmelo can’t rebound or defend come from? He’s not Bruce Bowen but he’s ok on defense and is a great rebounder for a perimeter player.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    he’s a good rebounder, Amar’e is horrible, cancels out. And he is a bad defender, he just has never had to guard anyone. He has always had an Aaron Afflalo type next to him to take on the premiere players.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    Honestly, defense is all about effort and lateral movement along with team concepts. If motivated enough, I don’t think Carmelo will have any trouble defending. I saw several games over the years where he did a decent job on LBJ and also Kobe. I’m also glad Melo didn’t get stuck with Brook Lopez who is avg 5 rebs again and is probaly the worst defensive big in the NBA even worse than Amare.

  • Shem

    Billups
    Fields
    Melo
    STAT
    Turiaf

    Thats who they ll be starting right?

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    @Kap:
    One of the reasons that Anthony is not considered a great defender is because, he will not chase.
    As in, if his guy is going through screens, Anthony won’t chase his man. He’ll look for a switch nearly every time.

  • http://www.michaelcho.com M Cho

    New York gave up too many players to get a guy who said he wanted to sign with them and them only. The only real winners in this trade are the basketball fans who won’t have to hear news about the Melo trade 24 hours a day now.

Newer Comments →
Advertisement