Didn't see one of these started and the trade today warrants a new thread for the upcoming season. The Knicks have finally ended the Carmelo Anthony era by trading him to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a second round pick. Kanter is a scoring big that doesn't play defense, and McDermott doesn't play much defense himself. But I think the haul is at least decent compared to just getting Ryan Anderson's monster contract from the Rockets and not much else. I guess Paul George plays the 2? Unless Melo plays the 4 but that sounds like a defensive nightmare. I wonder how Russ is going to deal with having to spread the ball as much as he'll need to with PG and Melo. I personally though that PG was the perfect pairing for Russ. Good defender, deep range and can play off the ball. Combined with all their solid role players. Melo sort of throws a monkey wrench into that, with little time to work it all out together. Melo is also going to have to learn to play off the ball already. He can be good at it if he doesn't have an old dog new tricks mentality. The dude can absolutely drain from anywhere on the court. I think the Rockets would've been a better fit having a true point guard rather than Russ as more of a scoring combo guard. We'll see how it all shakes out. This season is truly the era of the super team. The rest (or 4 other teams) of the league is catching up to the idea of doing everything in their power to pair up superstars.
Given the disastrous way this has played out for a year, I'm amazed that the Knicks did this well. You're absolutely right that Kanter and McDermott do nothing for the team's defensive woes, but if nothing else they are pieces that could have some value in future trades. The second round pick is a big bonus, and the Bulls are probably going to be terrible this year, making the pick even more valuable (OKC is just passing on Chicago's pick that they acquired earlier). Most importantly, it finally ends the absurd drama that has been surrounding the team. With Melo and Phil both gone the Knicks can just be a bad team trying to get better, rather than the subject of daily national ridicule, which is a big improvement. On the other hand, I will be amazed if this works out well for OKC. Westbrook didn't particularly like Durant taking shots, and KD was a vastly better player than Melo. Westbrook, George, and Anthony were three of the top eight players in the league in terms of percentage of team offense that went through them. There are plenty of cases of there being enough balls for two people to share (my favorite being when Earl Monroe came to the Knicks to join Walt Frazier), but enough for three to share? I don't know.
I honestly thought Melo was going to be on the team for the next 2 years. I'm surprised they got a deal done. Chicago's 2018 pick could be decent. Now if only they could somehow offload Noah.
If it weren't for the NBA's trade rules, the Knicks should have just sent Melo and Noah to the Thunder for nothing in return.
LOL, all these moves and all this drama is still going to lead to LeBron losing to the Warriors, more than likely. Thunder will probably lose like in 5 games, to the Warriors. I know I sound like a darksider but it is true. The NBA desperately needs to shrink and it needs to do it fast. We need to cut teams like Orlando, Minnesota, etc. Sorry but they have to go.
Minnesota is going to be a good playoff team. Eliminating teams is an awful idea. It's bad for fans, and bad for the league. There needs to be a hard cap, no luxery tax. Period.
It's bad for local fans but they get over it, just like they got over it in Seattle after OKC adopted your Thunder, they could get over it in many small markets that suck up talent. It's a compound problem of too many teams and too many divas who want to play for super-teams, hence we need to cut teams.
I don't think it's a horrible idea really. It would make the league more competitive. These players colluding only allow 4-6 teams to be competitive anyways. A team like the Magic, who are not an attractive destination anyways, will never draw free agents. So unless they hit the lottery in a year when a LeBron comes out, they'll never be competitive.
Those are tiny markets though. I feel like the NBA has much fewer die hard fans than other sports. I'm a Nets fan. And for obvious reasons I'm moreso just a fan of the entire league. I wouldn't be pissed if they contracted the Nets.
Lol @ people that think Russ won't distribute the ball ... he was 2nd in the NBA in assists kicking out to Roberson and a bunch of other guys you probably never heard of unless you actually watch OKC basketball lol! Wouldn't surprise me if Russ by far leads the league in assists this year. and KD won 4 or 5 scoring titles in OKC... Russ never stopped KD from doing him scoring wise
