So the New York Knicks are in a weird spot. At this point, they almost have to trade Carmelo Anthony. With how rumors have swirled for months and the relationship between the team and player have deteriorated, the thought of Anthony suiting up for the Knicks at any point during the 2017-18 season and beyond is ludicrous.
This is the best possible news for the Houston Rockets. With Anthony possessing a full no-trade clause, he is in full control of where he goes. Anthony has reportedly told the Knicks that he wants Houston or Cleveland, with recent reports suggesting that Anthony’s focus is 100 percent on the Rockets.
And the good news for him is that Houston is reciprocating this interest. The Rockets see an opportunity to add another All-Star to its roster, which is an increasingly big deal in the superstar-driven landscape of the Western Conference. Houston already took one step towards building around multiple superstars this summer, when it traded for Chris Paul to pair alongside James Harden and create the best backcourt in the league. Now, the opportunity to add an all-time great scorer in Anthony is available, and Houston looks like it is on the verge of building its own big three.
Having said all of this, there is a problem with any potential deal for Anthony. How, exactly, can Houston make it work so that they can take on Anthony’s massive contract (two years and about $54 million, although he can become a free agent after this season)? The Rockets, meanwhile, are way over the cap, so it’s not like they can move a few young dudes on cheap deals to bring in Anthony.
I think it’s time we start fiddling with ESPN’s Trade Machine, no? Here are the Rockets players who, for the purposes of this exercise, cannot be moved:
- Harden
- Paul
- PJ Tucker
- Nene
- Troy Williams
- Luc Mbah a Moute
- Bobby Brown
The first two names cannot get traded because, uh, they’re James Harden and Chris Paul. The last five all signed with the team over the summer and possess restrictions on their contracts that do not let them get traded prior to Dec. 14, 2017. Seeing as how ESPN’s Chris Haynes thinks we may see Anthony moved over the weekend, that’s … well, kind of problematic.
Let’s start with the Rockets’ most expensive non-Harden or Paul player, Ryan Anderson, in a deal for Anthony straight up.
Ok, we’re getting somewhere! There are some logical holes to this deal — the Knicks seem like they’re poised for a rebuild and Anderson has three years and about $60 million left on his contract — but there’s at least room for something like this to happen.
Next up, we’re adding the most valuable asset the Rockets have, 23-year-old big man Clint Capela.
We’re inching even closer. For cap filler, let’s add young guard Tim Quarterman to the mix…
Hey, it worked! Let’s call it in. Which one of you has Adam Silver’s number? I am now the general manager of the New York Knicks.
[Takes a minute to think about this deal]
Would this ever actually happen? Think about what the Rockets are giving up in this trade, namely Anderson (their most reliable perimeter shooter and someone who would thrive next to Paul and Harden) and Capela (their best center and a potential franchise building block, especially as Nene ages). That guts their frontcourt, and makes it so their starting four and five heading into this year very well could be Anthony and Nene. Put those two and Harden on the floor and you are going to have a really, really rough defense.
So let’s scrap this and start over and make a different deal that doesn’t include Capela. And while we’re at it, let’s have it be built around a different centerpiece. The Rockets will have a ton of perimeter scoring if they get Anthony, so let’s throw in Eric Gordon — whose deal is for three seasons but is much more affordable at a little more than $13 million a year — instead of Anderson.
So the financial gap is (unsurprisingly) larger, but getting Gordon might be a better fit in what the Knicks want to do. He’s a year younger than Anderson, and seeing as how New York could really use a scorer who can stretch the floor alongside Tim Hardaway Jr. and rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina, Gordon provides value.
Now that you mess with the vision, fam, let’s build. To make up for this gap in space, let’s see what happens when we add the expiring deal of former Knicks legend Trevor Ariza into this deal.
Adding Ariza gives the Knicks a veteran presence who can provide three point shooting and perimeter defense. If they want, though, they could just buy him out or flip him to a contender who could use him in the pursuit of a ring this year. Since we’re still not quite there, let’s add one more young piece: second-year big man Chinanu Onuaku.
Hmm, not quite. What if we add the team’s best asset not named “Clint Capela” and throw in Zhou Qi, a 21-year-old native of China who was recently named the best big man in Chinese Basketball Association? And let’s throw in Quarterman as well just to make the money balance out.
Hey, we’ve got ourselves another possible deal! This is a ton for the Rockets to give up, but to get a player the caliber of Anthony, it’d be necessary. And sure, the Rockets’ roster would be decimated, but they’d still have Paul-Harden-Anthony-Anderson-Capela with Tucker, Mbah a Moute, Nene, and Tarik Black rounding out their roster. They’d need to get some reinforcements at guard in all likelihood, but other than that, this is a good team.
Could it beat the Warriors? I would lean towards no, but who knows. At least they’d be a ton of fun and score a whole buncha points. Also, it’s possible that a whole bunch of things happen — the Rockets could try and get a third team involved, this whole thing could fall through and Anthony ends up in Portland, the Knicks end up saying screw it and just take back Anderson and Ariza along with the rights to 19-year-old German big man Isaiah Hartenstein to get this over with.
At this point, no one knows anything.
