The Atlantic Division is on the brink of undergoing a huge makeover, and Carmelo Anthony is far from foundation or blush.
If Melo signs with New Jersey, who appears to be the frontrunner as of yesterday, he'd also sign a 3 year/$65 million dollar extension to stay in Brooklyn for the foreseeable future. Coming with him would be Chauncey Billups, who has a $14 million team option before his contract expires, with a few other salary-eating Nuggets. The upside is the Sixers wouldn't have to face Derrick Favors four times a season, and 4 first round picks would be leaving the division. If Brook Lopez is more like the 2010 version of himself, he could combine with Melo and Chauncey to be a formidable foe next season. If he's the high usage-low rebounding player that we've seen this year, Mikhail Prokhorov is going all-in on the wrong guys.
Then again, New York and James Dolan have reportedly upped their offer to include three starters and a first rounder. Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and Raymond Felton would be shipping off for the Rockies and giving Amare Stoudemire the co-star he so desires. Landry Fields would be counted on even more to be one of the best rookies in the league and their depth would certainly be in question. With the way Mike D'Antoni runs an offense, that could be a problem for the Knicks. But it's undeniable that with Stoudemire and Melo, they'd vault themselves into the conversation of the Celtics and Bulls as Eastern Conference favorites.
So as Sixers fans, where would you like to see him go? Personally it would be hilarious of he ends up staying in Denver, opting out in the offseason, and going somewhere nobody's talked about -- like Minnesota or Cleveland. It seems, however, like he'll be on the move somewhere near the Hudson River and that will certainly have repercussions for our surging Sixers. It appears definitive that, to our dismay, the Sixers will not be a third team to benefit from Derrick Favors falling into our laps in exchange for salary matching. Sigh.