As the Melo Turns

First of all, let me say that I am dog tired of this whole drama involving Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. This is worse than the whole LeBron James free agency extravaganza that took place in the summer. With James, it was the summer and there was no basketball going on and he was arguably the biggest free agent ever. This is going on during the season and every day something different comes about, then you hear the obvious things that everyone knew already. Then Anthony was close to being traded how many times now? It's the NBA's version of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'. The 'he said, she said', this source, that source crap gets old. All of that aside, I do have an interest in it because of the magnitude of the player and because the Knicks are within the heart of the rumors.

It's a complicated situation that doesn't seem to be near to a close. There are so many questions that still need to be answered on Anthony's end, on the Nuggets end, and on the end of whichever team (looking more and more like the New Jersey Nets) is willing to trade for him. Is Denver trying to openly spite Anthony? Is Anthony willing to sign an extension with the Nets? Is Anthony 'all in' on eventually being a New York Knick? There is no way to accurately gauge what is going on within the trade rumors, especially when there is a plethora of different rumors every single day.

I'm not particularly sure why Anthony would want to sign his future off to New Jersey when they currently are a poor team who wouldn't stand to get much better with the trade. Of course though, there is the sticky issue of a new CBA agreement, and the money Anthony would potentially pass up by foregoing an extension now.

Of course I'm somewhat biased here as I'm a Knicks fan but I think his best bet going forward would be playing for the New York Knicks. Given the fact that the Knicks are in a somewhat tricky cap situation in this coming offseason, mostly due to Wilson Chandler's cap hold, the Knicks almost have to trade for him if they want him. Ultimately, if the Knicks trade for him they might clear their pantry of role players but the trio of PG Raymond Felton, PF/C Amar'e Stoudemire and Anthony would be a force for years to come.

If I had to make a prediction now on where Carmelo will end up, I'd say he'll be a Knick. Of course, I also swore LeBron would be a Knick. I'm tempered in my thoughts this time as I saw a similar situation play out last summer. Who knows what Melo wants? Does Melo even know what he wants? Who knows anything involving Melo at this stage that isn't speculative? Nobody knows anything. But I know this, tomorrow features another episode of 'As the Melo Turns'.