Melo-drama

Will Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony share a shade of blue after the Feb. 24 trade deadline?

story by ESPN.com
written by Marc Stein
photo by US Presswire

The NBA's Melodrama has reached the point that even Nuggets coach George Karl calls it Melodrama on first reference.

It has reached the point that Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri publicly acknowledged to the Denver Post's Woody Paige, of Around The Horn fame, that he's for the first time "listening aggressively" to other teams' offers for Carmelo Anthony, which is the strongest public signal to date that Anthony will be dealt before the Feb. 24 trading deadline.

It has reached the point, after the Melo-chasing New Jersey Nets made a bold trade this week to try to increase their odds of winning the Melo Sweepstakes, that we need to answer another where-are-we-now round of questions about Anthony's future.

Hopefully eight will be enough to get you through the weekend:

Are the Nets realistically any closer to acquiring Melo after the three-team trade they swung earlier this week with the Rockets and Lakers to pick up two extra first-round picks?

Realistically? Without question.

For all the understandable pessimism surrounding Anthony's willingness to sign an extension in New Jersey -- since even the Nets privately concede that Melo's overwhelming preference is to wind up with the Knicks -- there's likewise no dispute that no team out there has assembled more pieces that interest the Nuggets than New Jersey.

The Nets now possess four first-round picks they can include in a trade, highlighted by their own 2011 pick and Golden State's 1-to-7 protected 2012 first-rounder, along with prized rookie power forward Derrick Favors and Troy Murphy's expiring contract. With Devin Harris and the two additional firsts that the Nets landed in this week's deal, they also still have the assets to recruit other teams to help facilitate a deal similar to the four-teamer with Charlotte and Utah that collapsed just before the start of training camp.

So ...

When the Nuggets finally concede that they have to trade Anthony -- and Ujiri basically announced that they have to Paige on Thursday night when Ujiri said he's "listening aggressively" to Melo offers -- New Jersey will rightfully be the team commanding much of Denver's attention. The Nets' bigger challenge was, is and will always be selling Melo on the deal.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-101217-19/latest-melo-drama