It seems like Nuggets fans are spending more time worrying about what the Knicks do than what their own team is doing. This has nothing to do with rooting for Carmelo Anthony to fail. This has everything to do with this year’s NBA Draft.
If the Knicks miss the playoffs, the Nuggets get the Knicks’ draft pick as part of the deal they received in return from the Anthony trade. It’s funny this comes back to Anthony being that his failures could help the Nuggets get back to being an elite team after he pulled a LeBron by bailing out on a franchise through wanting a trade.
When looking at this year’s class in the 2013 NBA Draft, no one can blame the Nuggets fans for rooting for the Knicks to fail. They know teams win a championship by having a superstar to build around.
Former Nuggets coach George Karl thought he could win a championship without a superstar. His theory was based on the Pistons winning a championship in 2004. That team was the exception rather than the norm.
Karl had a team that was good enough to make the playoffs, but come playoff time, they struggled to win playoff games. They haven’t won a playoff series without Anthony in three tries. The problem is the Nuggets don’t have a go-to guy that can make shots in the level of Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry.
The only way the Nuggets can get a player of the ilk of Durant or Curry is in this year’s draft. Imagine Julius Randle making shots after shots. How about Jabari Parker? The possibilities are endless. Maybe the Nuggets can get a star that won’t be a streaky shooter like Anthony was. Unlike Anthony, the Nuggets can get a star who is not going to be a diva.
That’s why it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the Nuggets miss the playoffs, so they can get two chances of getting those guys with their own pick and the Knicks’ pick.
The Nuggets hired Tim Connelly to rebuild the roster for all intents and purposes. He has to break up this roster in the offseason by trading Ty Lawson and Danilo Gallinari. This roster went as far as they could go. The best they can do is make the playoffs as a .500 team. That means being a seventh or eighth seed and lose in the first round to either the Thunder or Spurs. That’s not good enough.
Connelly’s rebuilding job will be easy if he can get one of the top five draft picks. It would be ideal to win the lottery altogether. How sweet would it be if Nuggets get the top pick at the Knicks’ expense after what Anthony did to the Nuggets?
This is a scenario the Nuggets could not envision when the season started. Everyone expected the Knicks to be a title contender this season. It has not turned out that way. Amar’e Stoudemire, J.R. Smith and Tyson Chandler have been bust, and Raymond Felton have been awful at point guard. Plus, Anthony has not played like a MVP this season.
Despite all that, the Knicks are 2.5 games back of the last playoff spot. It speaks of how bad the Eastern Conference is that the Knicks are in this and that they can be a third or fourth seed if they go on a winning streak.
The Knicks haven’t given anyone the impression they can be a playoff team. They have done lot more losing than winning in the last three months. It has gotten to the point they know how to lose. Their role players are probably not going to capture that spark that made them great last season. This is who they are.
The Knicks could be firing Mike Woodson as coach at the All-Star break in an attempt to save themselves from embarrassment of missing the playoffs. That’s how desperate they are at this point. The problem with firing the head coach is there are not many good candidates to choose from and most good coaches are not coaching midway in the sseason. If they fire Woodson, it probably means more chaos and more losing.
There’s no question the Nuggets are watching the Knicks closely as we head to March and April. They are not going to admit what the Knicks are doing, but that has to be on their mind each game. They know the Knicks may not have what it takes to make the playoffs with the way things are going.
If the losing continues to March, the Nuggets have a reason to believe the Knicks are terrible enough to be a lottery team.
If Knicks miss the playoffs and the Nuggets get a high pick, the Nuggets win out the Anthony trade. Game! Set! Match!
That’s the only Nuggets’ saving grace in an attempt to show they made out well in getting what they receive in the Anthony trade.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro at @LightRodWriter.
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
