2011-02-22 Trade Details & Commentary
(2011-02-22)
New York Knicks traded Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph to Minnesota Timberwolves for Corey Brewer and traded Raymond Felton, Danilo Galinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, a 2014 1st round pick (?-?), a 2012 2nd round pick (from Golden State) (?-?), a 2013 2nd round pick (from Golden State) (?-?) and cash to Denver Nuggets for Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and Anthony Carter in a 3-team trade.
Minnesota Timberwolves traded Kosta Koufos to Denver Nuggets and traded Corey Brewer to New York Knicks for Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph in a 3-team trade.
Denver Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and Anthony Carter to New York Knicks for Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, a 2012 2nd round pick (from Golden State) (?-?), a 2013 2nd round pick (from Golden State) (?-?), a 2014 1st round pick (?-?), and cash; and acquired Kosta Koufos from Minnesota Timberwolves in a 3-team trade.
Commentary:
The Knicks gave up everything they had other than promising rookie Landry Fields in order to secure prodigal son Carmello Anthony. Instantly the price of season tickets went up – must be because of the cost of a barrel of oil. Seriously though, this was a trade that the Knicks had to make. Donnie Walsh has accomplished what he was hired to do – clean up the worst salary cap situation in the league and bring in a star (or two) – although he had to extinguish the few assets he inherited to do it. Nothing needs to be said about what Anthony brings but the real bonus to this trade is the acquisition of Chauncey Billups. Billups is the consummate professional and the ultimate floor general. His coolness in pressure situations complements Anthony’s clutch shooting and his experience should bring a confidence to the team that they were not going to have with Raymond Felton. Billups also has a decent contract in terms of length – an option for 2011-12 is all that remains after this season which is when Chris Paul potentially hits the open market. The team will be short on help from the draft but making the Big Apple relevant again is huge. If James Dolan fires Walsh now he is the biggest idiot in sports.
Denver does as good a job as they possibly could considering all of the factors working against them. It was clear that Carmello was only going to sign with Denver or New York and that the Knicks knew this. They take on no major contracts. They get young players to help rebuild in Gallinari and Mozgov; as well as a couple young players in Raymond Felton that they can trade (only one reasonably priced year on his contract) or sign-and-trade in the case of Wilson Chandler. A couple Golden State 2nd round picks could find nice players and a future 2014 1st rd pick is a nice asset to hold. I did like New Jersey’s offer better but I feel that was never an option because Carmello wanted to play for the Knicks.
Minnesota was also part of this deal. David Kahn has collected point guards (signing Ramon Sessions and Luke Ridnour, and drafting Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn) so now it appears that he will start collecting power forwards (Beasley, Love and now Anthony Randolph). Randolph is a nice young player so taking a flyer was worth it since they really didn’t give anything up. I do have to wonder if they could’ve done anything better with that large cap exception but…
Analysis: New York wins +1, Denver wins, Minnesota even