Late last night, news broke that Carmelo Anthony had supposedly accepted a deal that would send him to the New Jersey Nets as part of a four team swap. The New York Daily News reported it first, and then retracted their story like assholes after I tweeted about it.
Regardless, Yahoo also confirmed that the deal was pretty much in place pending Anthony’s approval, which should come in the next 24-36 hours. Details of the trade include Denver receiving Derrick Favors (rookie) and Andrei Kirilenko plus multiple first round picks for Anthony. Charlotte is also involved but not even Charlotte fans care about the Bobcats, so I won’t bother with their details. Irrelevant.
Now, maybe I’m missing something here, but New Jersey (sans Devin Harris who would be sent to Charlotte), does not seem to a much better option for Anthony than Denver is. For one, Anthony would be playing in the East which is now clearly the better conference.
Second, as Bill Simmons pointed out several times over the past week, the Nets with Anthony and Brook Lopez are a 40-45 win team at best. I know Anthony wants the 3 year $65 million extension so I guess if that is his only motivation, New Jersey should suffice. If he wants to win, he should reconsider quick, cause it ain’t happening in Jersey/Brooklyn.
Sidebar: I’m happy if Anthony does get shipped out East because it makes things that much easier for my Lakers. It undoubtedly adds a year to the career of Kobe Bryant and leaves the Oklahoma City Thunder (a team that gave me an ulcer last postseason) as the only competition for LA.