Melo Moving On

Tonight marks the debut of Carmelo Anthony...with the Knicks. He spent the last seven and a half years balling in Denver. Five of those years he couldn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs. Then in 2009 they made it to the Conference Finals, only to run into the machine that is the Lakers. You can't blame the guy for getting sick of going nowhere. He spent this last off season watching his two buddies team up together in South Beach. For an added bonus they got Chris Bosh to come too. Melo has had to carry the Nuggets by himself, with occasional help from the likes of Allen Iverson or Chauncey Billups. Not quite the same as adding LeBron or even Bosh. Then he watched as Amare Stoudemire went to New York, a place that Melo definitely wanted to go. The Nets were often rumored to be in trade talks for Melo, but let's be honest here, nobody wants to go live in New Jersey. That was a Russian billionaire and Jay-Z pipe dream.

Now I'm not a big hoops guy, but I like this move. It actually piques my interest in the NBA. Let's take a look back at the last 12 NBA champions. There have only been five different teams that have won the title: Lakers (5), Spurs (4), Celtics (1), Heat (1), Pistons (1). Compare that to the NFL: 10 different champions, MLB: 9 different champions, NHL: 9 different champions. That shows you there's not a whole lot of parity in the NBA. It's the one sport where you truly need superstars to win. The Celtics have the Big 3 (Rondo, Pierce, Allen), the Spurs have their own trio (Duncan, Ginobli, Parker), the Heat have theirs (Wade, LeBron, Bosh),and the Lakers have Kobe and Gasol, which counts as 3 because Kobe is that good. These are the only teams that have a legitimate shot at winning it all.

However, there are two teams that are on deck to become elite: the Bulls and Knicks. The Bulls have Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer, so they're one piece away from their own big three. And now the Knicks have Melo and Stoudemire so they're also one piece away (Chris Paul anyone?). This gives us two more teams that have a shot at winning. Obviously Chicago and New York are two of the biggest markets in the league. The NBA has to be happy that these once proud and great franchises that have sucked lately, are now back in the picture. It should make for a somewhat intriguing playoffs this year. I'll guess we'll find out in, late June.