Denver Gets:NYK: Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and the Knicks' 2014 first-round draft pick, 2 second-round draft picks (from the Golden State Warriors - from the David Lee trade)
New York Gets:Denver: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo BalkMANIA
Minnesota: Corey Brewer
Minnesota Gets:NYK: Eddy Curry's fat ass...I meant, expiring contract, Anthony Randolph, 3 million bucks to take said Eddy Curry's fat ass...I meant, expiring contract.
With all the talk about Carmelo all year long, remember this: Carmelo is a top-15 player in the league, top-10 when he's motivated (see: 2009 Western Conference Finals). He's a 25 ppg scorer without question, a guaranteed double-team and a money making machine (for himself and for the team). He's a guy you can ride to the playoffs, maybe, MAYBE even a championship. So why the skeptics? When you have a chance to get a guy like this, how could anyone think of this as anything but a win for the Bockers?
New York gave up a lot for Carmelo, there's no doubt about that. They essentially gutted their team to get the guy. Gallinari is a former first round pick with comparison's to Dirk Nowitzki. Mozgov is a very young 7-footer that has shown flashes of talent this season in limited playing time. Felton was a borderline all-star, Chandler is having a career year and Randolph (to use baseball terms) is a "5-tool guy". But.
What did New York reaaaally give up for Carmelo? I know what Wilson Chandler is. This is the best he's going to be and hopefully the worst his hair is going to look. Raymond Felton is a fine player, but like Chandler, I think this is the best he is ever going to be. I think Anthony Randolph could be an impact player, but when he's on the court, he looks absolutely devastated - like he's been made to watch "The Human Centipede" a few times in a row. The guy's confidence is gone and shipping him out for anything was the only option. The first rounder that the Knicks gave up were likely to be in the low twenties.
The two questionable moves were dealing Gallo and Mozgov. Gallinari has brought out so many different spectrums of emotion from my Knicks-following cohorts - joy, hope, anger, frustration, confusion...but mostly anger, frustration and confusion. Some nights, he can look like a poor man's Dirk (maybe even destitute, herpes ridden Dirk). But some nights he can look like another soft Euro with no balls an an errant jump shot (for an example of both, please see the last Heat-Knicks game - he was the latter in the first half and hobo Italian Dirk in the second half). Mozgov's potential looks like it could be high, but any type of projections made about this guy is from such a small sample size.
So to recap, what did the Knicks give up? Two guys that were pretty good in their career years, a guy who looked like he watched "The Human Centipede", hobo Dirk (one day, maybe) and a young, big Russian dude.
But the question is really, is will Gallo or Mozgov ever make as much of a difference on the Knicks as Carmelo will? Will their impact on court ever individually equal Carmelo's, which we can quantifiably measure as a known asset? Will both of them combined ever be able to match up to Carmelo's impact? My answer is no. Gallo would have to turn into a borderline or true all-star and Mozgov a dominant defensive force (think Tyson Chandler or Andrew Bogut) for that to come true.
Also, don't forget, the Knicks got Chauncey Billups, who isn't too shabby himself. He's a gamer, and while he couldn't defend me on the court (that's obviously not true), he's still an able body that can produce.
Overall, the Knicks did give up a lot, but nothing they can't replace for something that they couldn't get otherwise. Good work Donnie.
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