I’m sure I’m not alone in having the opinion that the Knicks should just cut out the middleman and trade Marcus Morris for Carmelo Anthony. Morris, armed with a sweet jumper, is doing a really nice job of emulating Melo in New York (what happened to his headband though???? can’t be Melo without a headband), but now that the real deal is back in the NBA and ready to contribute, there’s no reason to settle for the off-brand version.
The Knicks really have nothing to lose (except all their games) here. It’s not like they struggle to sell tickets or anything (being in one of the world’s largest and richest cities has its perks), but hype for their squad is fairly low right now. An injection of Melo right into their bloodstream would excite the fanbase and make them remember when their team was in the playoffs for a year or two. Heck, Jason Kidd is still around, I bet he wants to suit up again too. And I’ll do anything to get Steve Novak off the Bucks broadcast. Why not give him a 10-day or two?
And in this hypothetical trade, the Blazers get Morris, who is way better than Melo for a team who actually wants to win games and not just trot out meme players from the past. They still have playoff aspirations, you know. Maybe not very strong ones, but they’re there. The trade deadline has not passed yet, and the Knicks say they want to keep Morris, but the Blazers could sweeten the deal by adding… Caleb Swanigan? Yeah. Swanigan sounds good. Assuming he can even be traded so soon after being traded from the Kings.