Los Angeles is at a cultural standpoint for embracing the sport if nothing else; Staples Center has been the origin to host the NBA All-Star festivities in a city of mural arts in which many tourists flock to visit famous landmarks in Hollywood.
The NBA All-Star game has stolen the landscape this weekend, well to some extent, but nonetheless not as much as anticipated. If no one realizes what has been taken place of late, weary of hearing the insanity with the Carmelo Anthony rumors swirling around the league faster than a buzzer-beater dropping through the net, the buzz has reached a point of silliness as the NBA season has advanced near the midway point and it seems the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets are undecided to exercise in proposed deals.
It's a no-brainer to grasp that such a glamorous event, almost coincidentally, is veiling amidst the facades of the melodrama and endless rumors of the Melo trade talks. Even more so, it's also a notion that the Knicks are leaning towards the realm of his availability, earnest to acquire Anthony and truly are ready to break away from the mediocrity and revamp the promising franchise around Amar'e Stoudemire.
So now, waiting calmly to see where he lands before the trade deadline comes to a close, we are brainwashed by the chatter. It's said that he'll join the Knicks, once a doomed mortal franchise, by the end of this weekend. With any luck on a new team, it would be no surprise to see Anthony in a Knicks uniform, affiliated with a wealthy organization surrounded by gifted stars. It's obvious, for sure, now justified as prime contenders in the league, that the Knicks are aiming for Anthony to form a fearsome tandem, one of the best in the Eastern Conference.
When it comes to drama of potential transitions in the NBA, it features Anthony and the Nets, even if the Knicks always have been a perfect suitor for the coveted forward. The fuss has drawn much controversy lately, and now, he is clearly the one player discussed in the news. All along, he has desired to play for the Knicks, but from the scheme of things, it seems as if he's on his way to the New Jersey Nets when the Denver Nuggets reached a tentative agreement on Friday to send Anthony to the Nets.
Evidently, as he has the leverage in this delirium, he'd be pressured to agree to sign a $65 million contract extension with the Nets. Over the weekend, hopefully a sense of relief to tone down the volume a bit, he is expected to meet with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov here in Los Angeles during the All-Star weekend. Keep in mind, there's another team anxious to bring aboard Carmelo. And once before, if you can recall, he has shown much passion in joining the Knicks, no longer a receded franchise owned by the billionaire Dolan, optimistic he could rejuvenate life inside the Madison Square Garden.
The most respected venue in the world craves for thrills and infinite zeal from potentially the Knicks talented stars, but much of the talent must be dealt in exchange for the top superstar on the market possibly. The fact of the matter is that, particularly at the point when the Knicks have excelled with the likes of Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and even Landry Fields, the team fears losing out on tremendous star power for one player and has been unsuccessful in constructing a deal.
With such magical endowment, the Knicks aren't sabotaged finally and their personality illustrates they are in contention in which a well-known celebrity by the name of Spike Lee owns courtside seats, elated for the resurrection of his favorite ball team in the NBA. Besides a trade in the next 24 hours, if it ever does happen, it's hard to believe anything. Rumor has it, this is nothing but a draining rumor, exhaustion that has lasted eternally to peeve our minds, having us wonder what team he'll eventually call home for the rest of the season.
This is a topic that everyone has blabbered about, guessing repeatedly on where he'll wind up, again if he is ever placed on the market. The Nets are clearly in the Melo sweepstakes and appear to be the frontrunners, desperately wanted in New Jersey, not only to transform the identity but to improve the Nets and inflate ticket sells with the attraction of a superstar capable of epically putting on a display. The behind-the-scene business is hazy for this All-Star weekend, and all of us are sick and tired of hearing the rumors, the nonsense and the absurdity.
As a writer, it's difficult for any reporter to turn down useful specifics, but believing all things has caused a national disturbance in the NBA, and Anthony owns the limelight this weekend. Pretty soon, if the Knicks or Nets are quick in putting together a reasonable deal for Anthony, the obnoxious storyline will fade out of the equation by Feb. 24. The theory is, every team interested is unsure about the potential acquisition, but the Knicks essentially begs for Anthony in the middle of negotiations allegedly.
This is a city still mourning the sadness of losing on LeBron James last summer when he became a free agent and bailed on Cleveland to take his talents to South Beach. This is a city that has witnessed a gloomy era, worthless of woeful troubles and had been painfully disrespected for years, but so were the Nets after returning from a disillusioned season a year ago, suddenly rebuilt with a phenomenal nucleus. It's even better that he can play with Brook Lopez, the seven-footer on the Nets roster and work as a cohesive group under first-year head coach Avery Johnson.
The framework of a blockbuster package for Anthony is close to getting done, a deal that sends him, Chauncey Billups, Melvin Ely, Renaldo Balkman and Shelden Williams to the Nets for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh and four first-round draft picks, according to sources. For whatever reason, the Eastern Conference GM believes honestly the Nuggets might as well hold on to Anthony instead of accepting a below-value offer.
"I don't understand why Denver would take any offer from Knicks relative to just keeping him," the GM said. "The Nets deal at least gives them something. I think it's the Nets deal, or Denver keeps him."
What he'll bring to either team, quite simply, is symbolic goodness in a league that prefers a competitive nature of the sphere of pro basketball. Whether he was vilified after he had been too wishy-washy on his trade status, but now willing to leave the Nuggets. Whether it was his constant suggestions on where he'll like to finish out his career or play in the near future, he'll be welcomed immediately and be an asset of the inner city.
There is a certain belief, on the verge of another flashy generation for a league built on star power and the imagery of superstars, that Knicks president Donnie Walsh badly would like to trade for Anthony. That's how much experience he has in the league, rightfully so, in which he could coax Anthony to join the next generation in New York. Better yet, which perhaps has defined his legacy as a team executive, for years of course, he's been creative in pulling the trigger and owns a gratifying resume of maintenance and conservation, but deprived of an NBA championship. Maybe, probably, Carmelo is his guy.
Please let him be someone's guy.
Just so we can move on, trade for him already.
--Jonathan Mathis
