Seemingly everyone that I talk to is still venting on the whole Lebron, Wade, and Bosh forming a superpower in Miami thing. While I personally would have liked to have seen James stay in Cleveland and forming his own legacy by attempting to win a title on his own, in all seriousness, the Heat have quite a nucleus to build around. Now the problem will be finding enough players to surround the “Big 3“ with enough supporting pieces on the cheap.
The team that I feel sorry for is the NY Knicks, who pretty much sacrificed the last two seasons in an all-out attempt to secure the services of “King James.” What a media match made in heaven that would have been with Lebron’s mug plastered on every billboard and TV screen in the Northeast corridor. Even though things didn’t work out quite as they had planned; signing 2 max free agents this Summer, the Knicks did secure the services of perennial All Star and soon to be fan favorite Amare Stoudemire, and got back some real value in the David Lee 3-for-1 sign and trade deal with the Warriors.
And to make things even more interesting, with their 2010 roster finalized, NY has now shifted onto Plan B to bring respectability back to the Knickerbocker franchise. GM Donnie Walsh already has a plan in motion that just might trump the plans laid out in Miami by forming a “Big 3“ combo of their own which could become a reality as soon as next Summer. The plan of both financial flexibility and creating an excellent supporting cast to surround players of such high caliber of Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and either Tony Parker, Deron Williams, or Chris Paul running the point. Surely the thought of convincing both Melo and CP3 to play in the Big Apple is an intriguing thought which has to have the New York faithful frothing at the mouth at the possibility of having arguably the league’s best scorer(Anthony), best point guard(Paul), and Top 5 power forward and one of the game’s most exciting players(Stoudemire) playing home games at the “Mecca of basketball”, Madison Square Garden.
Now this isn’t some sort of wish list or fairy tale, but a very real possibility of the scenario happening. In fact, Chris Paul, as an invited guest at Carmelo Anthony’s New York wedding, seized the moment by giving a surprising toast to the bride and groom which concluded with the words,” Next year we’ll form our own Big 3!” The words, which almost caused NY icon Spike Lee to choke on his champagne, reportedly had some heartfelt meaning since Anthony, Paul, and Stoudemire, all nodded, eyeballed eachother, and raised their glasses to seemingly agree on the future plans.
In actuality, the Knicks are set up perfectly for ‘11 and ‘12 since they have stockpiled a boatload of desireable role players and tradeable assets to help them accomplish their goals of a “Dream Team” for next season. Anthony, even though he is a Baltimore native, always has a place in every New Yorker’s heart after helping the Empire State’s resident collegiate team, the Syracuse Orangemen, win their only National Title as a freshman in 2003. Melo has the option of becoming a free agent after next season and has already refuted the Denver Nuggets offers of an extension, instead choosing to play out the season and see what happens in 2011. Without a doubt, Anthony will become the prized free agent of next year, similar to Lebron, this Summer unless Knicks management can jump the gun and convince the Nuggets to trade the NBA’s top ranked SF before season’s end in fear of losing him for nothing.
In addition, once the calendar hits December 15th, and teams are permitted to trade draft picks and free agent signees, New York will undoubtedly try to implement a full court press to secure the services of Chris Paul from New Orleans, or go after another possible free agent point guard you may have heard of named Tony Parker in San Antonio. Newly signed Ray Felton, who has developed a respect as a good NBA pro, could be in high demand come December, and could be packaged with either Danilo Galinari or Wilson Chandler to at least acquire Parker. Remember, the Spurs already have an excitingly younger and cheaper replacement in George Hill already on the roster.
Acquiring Paul may take a larger package, but the Knicks are well stocked with the expiring contract of Eddy Curry and a number of enticing young players like Anthony Randolph and 25 year old imposing Russian center, Timofey Mozgov. As a back-up plan to getting Paul or Parker, don’t forget that Utah’s developing floor general Deron Williams will be a free agent in 2012.
So, don’t feel too bad for the New York Knickerbockers since things aren’t as bad as they appear on the surface, and come next Summer, we may all be dealing with the Knicks haters after they come down on the club for bringing together their own “Big 3.” to the “Big Apple.”
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
