I live over 4,000 miles away and I’m still tired of hearing about the saga over Carmelo Anthony’s “negotiations” with the Knicks and Nets. Amar’e Stoudemire may be happy his buddy is now a teammate but I’m not sure the majority agrees, including Donnie Walsh, supposedly the Knicks GM and Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks coach. In a sign of possibly very bad things to come, the organization was forced to issue a press release assuring everyone that Knicks management are all on the same page. Yeah right – who are they kidding? For some God awful reason that I can’t even begin to fathom, owner James Dolan has repeatedly turned to Isiah Thomas (currently coaching a 9-17 college team called Florida International) for basketball advice. It was apparently Thomas who urged Dolan to empty his coffers for the superstar.
The problem though, which will become apparent soon, is Dolan took this advice literally and really did empty his roster. Let’s see, they lost Danilo Gallinari (an excellent shooter and ball handler), Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, 7-footer Timofey Mozgov, prospect Anthony Randolph, a 2014 first-round pick, two second-round picks, and $3 million (bad sign when that amount of cash is an after-thought). Stoudemire took the view that “Every team needs a 1, 1-A punch” which is exactly what they’re getting as there isn’t anyone else left on the team! Oh yes, there’s 34-year-old dynamo Chauncey Billups, also obtained in the Anthony trade, who will now run D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense. This is such a scary thought that D’Antoni told the New York Post “”We think we moved the rock ahead but don’t get carried away that we’re challenging Miami and Boston because we’re not.” Stoudemire, Anthony era set to begin – NYPOST.com
Sounds like a coach ready to jump ship right? Or, at the very least, consider changing his offensive style! Seriously though, his statement is correct at least in the short-term. Several New York area teams have tried to win championships (hello New York Rangers also owned by Dolan I might add) by “buying” expensive players in the vain hopes that they’ll gel enough to subdue their competition by star power alone. This is not how the current sports landscape works and the only hope now is that Anthony is actually a great player (averaging about 25 points per game). I can only hope as a forlorn Knicks fan that he settles down post-drama and buys in to the “team” mentality that Walsh and D’Antoni have fostered. Otherwise, I see more rebuilding ahead…
Carmelo Anthony - photo courtesy of Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
Sports by Goldie 