The Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey and a zillion other players to assorted other locations around the NBA planet has not even officially happened yet, but the reaction to what seems like ’Melo’s eventually being beamed from Denver to New Jersey is already coming in.
Here is one from the National Post questioning Anthony’s judgment if he does indeed approve a trade to the swamps of Jersey.
But while James, Bosh and Wade agreed to sign four-year deals with an opt-out clause after three, Carmelo stuck with a five-year deal. This, clearly, was dumb. Partly, it was dumb because the deal would carry over into the strange unknown world of a new collective bargaining agreement, which even then was believed to be headed towards more restrictive terms, and which now seems destined to be achieved after a lockout of indeterminate length and rancor.
So while LeBron, Wade and Bosh were all eligible for six-year, US$121-million contracts when they were free agents last summer — remember last summer? — Carmelo is now eligible to sign a three-year, US$65-million extension, and then another deal in a far less congenial labour environment. If he doesn’t sign by the time this CBA expires, then who knows how many millions he will lose?
As it stands, the money is not the only thing Carmelo missed. While Bosh, LeBron and Wade were putting together a team which has won 21 of its last 22 games, and which I still say will win in the neighbourhood of five championships barring catastrophic injury or a misplaced meteor, Carmelo seems destined to join … the New Jersey Nets.
Great move, Carmelo. Yeah, you wanted to go to the Knicks, but they didn’t have the trade assets after razing the village in a doomed attempt to grab LeBron. After an awfully drawn-out trade negotiation … it’s New Jersey.
Which means that Carmelo Anthony would make a lousy general manager, too.
SB Nation’s Andrew Sharp wonders simply if the new era where it seems NBA superstars wield all the power to make or break franchises depending on where they want to be is a good thing for the league.
The New York Knicks, of course, would still like to get in on the Anthony sweepstakes but seem to understand they don’t have what it will take.
That might bum out Knicks fans, but it seems those who know him don’t really believe current Knicks star Amare Stoudemire will be bothered if Anthony winds up in New Jersey.
Geez, all of this and the trade hasn’t even happened yet.