Carmelo Anthony Trade Implications

Categorized as: Author: Patrick, Charlotte Bobcats, Denver Nuggets, NBA Teams, New Jersey Nets, Player News, Trades, Utah Jazz
Posted on: September 25th, 2010

The big news heading into the weekend is the huge Carmelo Anthony trade which is on the verge of going down. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the four-team trade would send Anthony to the New Jersey Nets, provided he is willing to sign an extension with the team. The trade would also send Nets rookie Derrick Favors, Andrei Kirilenko and multiple future first-round picks to Denver. Nets’ point guard Devin Harris and forward Jarvis Hayes would go to Charlotte. Nets swingman Quinton Ross would go to the Jazz, while the Bobcats would send Boris Diaw to the Jazz and D.J. Augustin to the Nets.

Whew.

New Jersey Nets

The trade clears out some of the Nets depth chart, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given all the players they had under contract. Here is the Nets new projected depth chart:

PG: D.J. Augustin, Jordan Farmar, Ben Uzoh
SG: Terrence Williams , Anthony Morrow
SF: Carmelo Anthony, Travis Outlaw, Stephen Graham, Damion James
PF: Troy Murphy, Kris Humphries
C: Brook Lopez, Joe Smith, Johan Petro, Brian Zoubek

Avery Johnson was a solid regular season coach for Dallas a couple years back, but his Mavs teams were at the bottom of the league in pace factor (an estimate of the number of possessions per 48 minutes for a team). By contrast, the Nuggets were 5th in the league last season in pace. That probably means a few less touches and scoring opportunities per game for Carmelo. However, the offense will clearly run through him, so his numbers shouldn’t be affected all that much fantasy-wise.

Travis Outlaw – who I had pegged as a sleeper going into the year – will now be buried behind Anthony. I like D.J. Augustin less on the Nets than I did on the Bobcats because Jordan Farmar is more likely to steal minutes away from him than Shaun Livingston. The rest of the team shouldn’t be affected all that much, although Troy Murphy becomes a much safer draft pick now that Favors is gone.

***

Charlotte Bobcats

PG: Devin Harris, Shaun Livingston, Sherron Collins
SG: Stephen Jackson, Gerald Henderson, Matt Carroll
SF: Gerald Wallace, Eduardo Najera, Dominic McGuire
PF: Tyrus Thomas, Derrick Brown
C: Nazr Mohammed, DeSagana Diop, Kwame Brown

Tyrus Thomas is the big winner here. Thomas could only average 22 minutes a game after being traded to the Bobcats last season, but with Boris Diaw out of the picture, he’ll start and see a big jump in minutes. Harris’ fantasy value shouldn’t change all that much on the Bobcats. Maybe he is asked to do a little less scoring, but a far bigger determinate of his value this season is whether or not he can stay healthy.

Denver Nuggets

PG Chauncey Billups, Ty Lawson, Anthony Carter
SG Arron Afflalo, J.R. Smith
SF Andrei Kirilenko, Renaldo Balkman
PF Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin, Derrick Favors, Shelden Williams
C Nene Hilario, Chris Andersen

Facing the loss of Anthony, the Nuggets are gearing up for a rebuilding process by grabbing draft picks and Derrick Favors. In addition, Kirilenko’s contract expires at the end of this season. For now he’ll fill in the hole left by Anthony. Any potential fantasy impact that Favors had on the Nets this season is down the drain. That’s a lot of depth chart for him to climb through and by all accounts he needs the time to develop anyway. Who is going to pick up the scoring hole left by Anthony? Probably some combination of Billups, Harrington, J.R. Smith and Nene.

Utah Jazz

PG: Deron Williams, Ronnie Price, Sundiata Gaines
SG: C.J. Miles, Raja Bell, Othyus Jeffers
SF: Boris Diaw, Gordon Hayward, Jeremy Evans
PF: Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap
C: Mehmet Okur, Francisco Elson

The trade saves the Utah some money this year, although Jazz fans aren’t exactly excited about swapping AK for Diaw. Fantasy wise, things should not change all that much for Diaw, provided he can stay out of Jerry Sloan’s doghouse.

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• Fantasy Basketball Preview: New Jersey Nets (1)
• Fantasy Basketball Player Tiers: Small Forwards (3)
• Not a Bad Consolation Prize: Deron Williams Heading to the Nets (3)
• Time to Get REAL: Part One (2)
• Day 116 of 170: Amar’e Stoudemire Would Have Made a Shot (8)
• Day 44 of 170: The Iceman Cometh (4)
• Day 34 of 170: Ever wonder if Mark Cuban wants Devin Harris back? (5)

Tags: Andrei Kirilenko, Boris Diaw, Carmelo Anthony, D.J. Augustin, Derrick Favors, Devin Harris