Melo Finally Goes To New York After A Three Team Trade

Carmelo is Finally a Knick after a three team 13 player deal.

It's over, it's over, it's over. Carmelo is in New York.

In the late hours of February  21, 2011, the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks finally reached agreements on possibly the biggest trade of the year. In a three team, 13 player, and three pick pick deal, the Knicks would gain Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and Anthony Carter. The Nuggets would receive Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, and Danilo Gallinari, two second round picks, and a 2014 first round draft pick.

In a side deal in order to keep the Knicks under the Hard Cap, the Minnesota Timberwolves agreed to send Corey Brewer to New York, for Anthony Randolph, the expiring contract of Eddy Curry, and 3 million dollars.

In the end Carmelo gets what he wants. He goes to New York, he gets his extension, his wife gets publicity, and he gets to play ball with his friend, Amar'e Stoudemire. Earlier this month, talks were getting very heated, when New Jersey Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov announced that he would meet with Carmelo in Los Angeles, and that the trade was almost complete. Also earlier in the months, trade rumors with the Nets were saying a deal could have been done in 24 to 48 hours. Eventually, those deals would fall due to Carmelo not wanting to go to New Jersey, despite the teams move to Brooklyn in a few years.

So the Knicks lost six players, and gained six players. When they play their next game on Wednesday against the Bucks, the whole team will look very different. The projected starting lineup would be Billups at point guard, rookie Landry Fields at shooting guard, Melo at small forward, Amar'e at power forward, and Ronny Turiaf at Center. Coming off the bench for the Knicks would be Corey Brewer, Toney Douglas, and Kelenna Azubuike, who was injured earlier in the season and did not play much after that.

For the Nuggets, their projected lineup would be Felton at the point, J.R. Smith at shooting guard, Gallinari at small forward, the injury plagued Kenyon Martin at power forward, and the big Brazilian Nene at center. Wilson Chandler is likely to be the teams 6th man. The Nuggets are looking to transform Gallinari into a star and they feel he still has a lot of potential as a dominant shooter and scorer.

As i read on Twitter, one person wrote that " With J.R. Smith, Chris Anderson, Wilson Chandler, and Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets will lead the NBA in tattoes". That is true, but i am not sure the Nuggets will lead the NBA in anything else after losing 'Melo.

Many Knicks fans are being unappreciative of the current deal, and are saying the old GM Isiah Thomas created and finalized the trade.

To all my Knicks fans out there, be grateful.

You got what you wanted, and besides maybe Wade and LeBron, the Knicks form one of the best one two punches in the NBA. So you gave up half of your team including Felton and Gallinari who everyone loved, but for a superstar like Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks did not give up THAT much. They still got to keep Landry Fields, the rookie sensation who has been a hit in New York, and the Knicks still have many first round draft picks, which are much better then seconds.