ive been following the knicks for the last few seasons, almost as much as the lakers in fact, and to see them become a team this season rather than a group of individuals was pretty cool. this organization has been without success and good luck for too long and bringing in amare and felton into the starting line-up really clicked, those guys had a raport, they had a good way of playing off each other. sure billups is good, but felton was playing so well this season, he was a big reason why the team was going okay. anyway, its obvious that the knicks arent fooling themselves thinking they'll be a contender straight away. they still have a few peices to add, like the ones they gave up in this melo dea. but billups, fields, melo, amare and turiaf will be good until the end of the season, they'll probably make the playoffs and have a decent run. i dont see them commiting to billups as a starting 5 player for too long, i think its almost a given that chris paul or deron williams will be a member of this team in 2012. sheldon williams, balkman, and brewer provide some good energy, steady rebounding and big bodies to bang around, but they still need to add one or two key players who are good defenders. when your two best palyers are both sub-par defenders, you know that defense should be a top priority in terms of additions to the team. im not sure if im correct, but i think billups is a good defender, this will probably help melo, stoudamire and turiaf at handling players driving through to the basket. what im really interested in seeing is the relationship between melo, stoudamire and D'Antoni. they have the potential, with the additions of a few key role players, to build a team to seriously contend againt miami, orlando and chicago (boston will be out of the picture in 1 to 3 seasons).
I'm not a GM, but I think we had a lot more leverage, and we gave up way too much. But I'm ok with the trade. We still need to put more pieces together, which is why this deal could be dangerous. If we are a perennial second round team, what assets do we have to swing a trade for that "missing piece"? Another thing I don't like about this trade is all these new bandwagon Knicks fans. When I was hating my life this entire decade watching us win 23 games, and sign Jerome James, and trade a 2nd and 9th overall pick for Eddy Curry, these bandwagon fans weren't feeling my pain. Oh well. And I'm quite happy the Nets leave with nada...again. That usually makes my day.
I agree with you that Chris Paul may find his way into NY's starting lineup for 2012. When you look at the Heat, Celtics and Thunder, having 2-3 elite ballers almost guarantees a playoff spot and automatic success. Amare is turning into a great leader and Carmelo is clutch. If Billups wants to keep his job he would need to really work out harder than ever before.
We'll have to wait a couple of seasons to know if the Kicks made a good choice. They are a few pieces away from title contention.
I think the Nets played this whole situation very well. Raised the price for Melo and still got themselves an All star.
I certainly did speak too soon, but I don't know if they'll be able to keep him, which does make me happy.
The Knicks made a great move acquiring Billups and Carmelo. Curious to know if CP3 will be acquired and Billups moved over to the SG spot, or even backup PG. @Shapecity I'd rather have Deron because he has size and offensive/defensive skills. CP3 got pushed around in the playoffs a couple years ago when Dahntay Jones from Denver was guarding him.
That's a tough question. I'm sort of leaning toward CP3 because he is more of a run and gun point guard and he seems like he wants to be here more. Plus Deron Williams has been a bit of a diva lately. All signs point to him running Sloan out of town. You don't just trade arguably the best point guard in the league one random day if there wasn't a serious problem with him on your team. I frankly don't buy that Utah didn't think they could keep him with half a season and a full year left on his contract. With that said, both would be fantastic options here in NY.
Honestly I believe Sloan was run out of town because the Utah Jazz organization felt he was good but not good enough to get the job done. He never won a championship so they wanted to make changes. As far as Deron, he was frustrated. The Jazz got rid of the coach, Korver and Brewer. They didn't seem to be on the same page with progress.
But even if the Jazz didn't think Sloan was good enough to win a championship he was still their best option right now. Plus it's more than a tad bit disrespectful to let go of a legend and your franchise's coach for the past 23 years in midseason. If they had intentions of letting him go it seems that they would at least wait until the end of the season. I understand Deron was frustrated, and he probably has some legitimate reasons. But he's arguably the best point guard in the league, and players of his caliber aren't just traded for the likes of Devin Harris and a few first rounders unless there are some serious problems going on between him and his team.
There has to be more to the story with Sloan quitting. It probably has more to do with the new ownership group than with anything Deron was doing. Who knows, maybe Sloan knew they were shopping Deron Williams and didn't want to be part of another rebuild? Tonight's game should answer a lot of questions for the Knicks. They'll have to build their roster to match up with the Big 3 in Miami.
