Carmelo Anthony Trade Leaves Question Marks

The Denver Nuggets finalized a blockbuster trade deal on Monday night that will send Carmelo Anthony to the team and the city he has always wanted to play for. The trade will also send Chauncey Billups away from his hometown team that he wanted to finish his career with. With the Nuggets' two biggest stars headed to the Big Apple, basketball in Denver won't be the same, although that doesn't mean that the Nuggets will not be successful.

The Nuggets will receive considerable returns for Anthony, Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter, and Renaldo Balkman. Heading to Denver (for now) are Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, three draft picks and $3 million (which the Nuggets organization will in turn give to the Garrett Holtz Foundation For Awesome Usage).

Okay, enough trade information. Nuggets executives Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke were certainly smart to get such valuable assets for Carmelo Anthony, the superstar forward who had led the Nuggets to playoff berths in each of his years with the squad. Losing Melo in the summer as a free agent would give the Nuggets nothing in return, and their insistence on reviving discussions with the New Jersey Nets caused the Knicks to give up more assess to insure that they got their man.

While the Nuggets executives certainly deserve credit for getting this deal done, it is disturbing that they felt the need to include Chauncey Billups in the deal. Billups never wanted to be traded. Additionally, it seems as though Billups was included in order to receive the basketball services of one Raymond Felton, who is a very talented younger point guard. Felton is having an excellent season and should benefit the Nuggets in the short-term. The real question is how this moves affects Denver's backup point guard Ty Lawson. Chauncey is a veteran and was 'grooming' (I don't like that term, like he's taking him to a dog show or something. . . oh well) Lawson to be the team's next starter. Introducing Felton into the mix seems to clash with the intention of having Lawson, the second-year speedster, be the starter in the next couple of years. This issue will certainly need to be worked out because Ty Lawson is not bench material and could possibly be the Nugget with the most potential and upside. This could be seen as 'a good problem to have' because talented players can only help you.

President's Day 2011 will be remembered in Denver as the day Carmelo left town, but it could mean the introduction of a younger and different generation of Nuggets players that might actually change the team for the better in the long run. Assessments of the new Nuggets players and how they fit in Denver will follow in future blogs.