Carmelo Anthony (Photo : Reuters File)
More possible trades are emerging and sportswriter/author Bill Simmons shares his perspective.
In his recent Bill Simmons' Podcast, he mentioned possible trades that could happen before the deadline. Being an admitted fan of the Boston Celtics, he proposed a trade for Carmelo Anthony.
In a hypothetical trade scenario, he asked Joe House if he would approve a trade sending Carmelo Anthony to the Boston Celtics in exchange for the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected 2016 draft pick, James Young, David Lee and Jonas Jerebko to match salaries.
House believes that it's a great value pick for the New York Knicks. They would have a chance to draft Ben Simmons and they would have more cap space to attract a free agent.
Assuming they win the lottery with the Nets' pick, they would have Ben Simmons and Kristaps Porzingis as their young "foundation players." House said the Knicks could probably not be able to find a better deal "considering what (type of player) Carmelo is now."
For the Celtics, they have a very deep, young cast but they do not have a reliable scoring threat that would attract the opponent's defenses. Carmelo Anthony is one of the league's best scorers and he could lead this cast, as House predicts, all the way to the Conference Finals.
This possibility has already been floated in the Celtics' fan site Hardwood Houdini. The question was whether Phil Jackson would accept a similar trade offer. However, the pick involved was 2018 First Round picks.
The 2016 Brooklyn Nets unprotected pick is a much more significant asset that can help the Knicks and the possibility of attracting a free agent with this young talent is something that might cause Phil Jackson to think twice.
Bill Simmons proposed this pick to hasten the Celtics development plan, but the Knicks can have bigger success in the long term if they do this.
