A Word From Ryan #4

Ryan Ward is a passionate and opinionated sports writer that has dedicated himself to his craft over the past five years writing about all the sports he loves from the US and overseas, from International soccer to NFL football, but with an especially passionate interest in NBA basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Follow Ryan on Twitter

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The MELO-drama continues

Ever since All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony declined to sign the three-year $65 million dollar contract extension with the Denver Nuggets, the trade rumors surrounding the superstar have been circulating around the entire league. Even though almost every team in the league would love to get their hands on arguably one of the best scorers in the NBA, only three teams have surfaced as possible destinations for the rising star.

Once the news of the contract extension being declined by Carmelo Anthony came out, the one team that seemed to be the frontrunner for Melo was the New York Knicks. Considering that Melo’s wife Lala Vasquez works in the Big Apple and the superstar forward played his college ball with Syracuse, New York was the perfect fit for Melo, but trade talks between the Nuggets and the Knicks have come up short as the two teams are finding it hard to agree upon a deal.

Unlike in years past, the New York Knicks are finally a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern
Conference once again. With the addition of All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire and point guard
Raymond Felton, this storied franchise is starting to get back on track as they seem to be playoff bound.
If the Knicks were able to bring Melo to the Big Apple they would get what many people believe as the final piece to the puzzle. With Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton, the New York Knicks might be able to contend with the likes of the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat in the East.

Unfortunately, the Knicks and the Nuggets just can’t seem to agree on a deal as Denver is asking too much and New York is unwilling to part with their promising young talent. With the Knicks failing to get a deal done with the Nuggets with the NBA trade deadline rapidly approaching, the New Jersey Nets have gotten back into the running for the All-Star forward as reportedly talks between the two teams have started up once again.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the New Jersey Nets new owner and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokorov called off trade talks with the Denver Nuggets as he believed a deal just couldn’t be done. Not only were the Nuggets asking too much of the Nets, but the trade talks and rumors had become a big distraction for the team.

Ironically enough, the Nets are seemingly back in the mix for Carmelo Anthony as the two teams have begun talking once again. If a deal does get done between Denver and New Jersey, a third team like the Detroit Pistons might have to get involved. Otherwise, a deal including rookie Derrick Favors, Troy Murphy and draft picks for Carmelo Anthony would be the most likely proposal by the Nets.

Even though the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets are the frontrunners in the Melo
sweepstakes, the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers may be the dark horse as they can offer players like Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown.

Despite still being in the Mile High City after months of trade rumors, Carmelo Anthony could ultimately end up staying with the Denver Nuggets, but my best guess is that he is headed to the Eastern Conference before the NBA trade deadline on Thurs. Feb. 24, 2011.

A Word From Ryan #3

Ryan Ward is a passionate and opinionated sports writer that has dedicated himself to his craft over the past five years writing about all the sports he loves from the US and overseas, from International soccer to NFL football, but with an especially passionate interest in NBA basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Follow Ryan on Twitter

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NBA Trade Rumor: Is Carmelo Anthony headed to Los Angeles?

Every single year around this time in the NBA regular season, trade rumors start swirling around the league as teams consider wheeling and dealing before the NBA trade deadline. Usually during this time the best teams in the league stay away from making deals as they are normally content with their squads and don’t want to mess with the team chemistry at the halfway point in the season.

When the best teams in the league do make moves it usually is to pick up a veteran before the playoffs as an insurance policy, but heading towards the Feb. 24 NBA trade deadline, the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers seem like the one team in the league that are destined make a deal.

The one big-name that has been circulating around the NBA as a player that wants out of his current situation is the Denver Nuggets superstar forward Carmelo Anthony. At just 26 years old, Carmelo is a bright young star in this league with a promising future if he can get on the right team.

A few years ago, the Denver Nuggets were arguably one of the best teams in the league after they made a trade before the deadline to acquire Chauncey Billups in exchange for former NBA MVP Allen Iverson. When the deal went down a lot of people wondered why they would get rid of Iverson for Billups, but the trade completely turned the franchise as they finally had a solid floor general at the point guard position.

With Billups running the point and Melo shouldering the offense, the Nuggets made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, but lost to the eventual NBA champion Lakers. Since then, the Nuggets haven’t really been able to repeat their success in the playoffs and have gotten progressively worse over time.

This season the Denver Nuggets will most likely be playoff bound once again as they currently would have the seventh seed in the West and still have a shot to win the Northwest division title, but it is highly unlikely that Carmelo Anthony will be on the team as he will almost certainly be traded before the deadline.

The one team that has been mentioned as Melo’s likely destination is with the New York Knicks, but he has also been linked to the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. Even though Melo could still be headed to the Big Apple, the Los Angeles Lakers have gotten in the mix as they have started talking with the Denver Nuggets about a deal involving their superstar.

The deal would send Lakers center Andrew Bynum and possibly some other players to the Nuggets in exchange for Carmelo Anthony. With Bynum being just 23 years old and a two-time champ, the Nuggets feel they can build around this young kid, but the Lakers seem ready to ship him out of town as they are tired of dealing with his injury problems.

At first glance, this seems to be too good to be true for the Los Angeles Lakers as their starting lineup would be extremely talented to say the least. With Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Carmelo Anthony, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol this team would be close to unstoppable. They would definitely have to strike some team chemistry like the Miami Heat had to with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, but if they can do just that, a three-peat might be around the corner.

Whether or not this blockbuster trade goes down remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Melo and Kobe end up teaming up in Los Angeles.