On February 22, 2011, the New York Knicks made a blockbuster deal acquiring Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets.
More than six and a half years after that deal, the Knicks said their goodbyes to Anthony as they traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier today. In exchange, New York received center Enes Kanter, small forward Doug McDermott, and a second-round pick.
Carmelo's entrance into New York brought a lot of hoopla to a Knicks fan base that has not seen their team win a championship since 1973. The team already had Amare Stoudemire, who was playing at a near-MVP level at the time, so expectations were sky high after trading for one of the game's best scorers.
Anthony helped guide the Nuggets to the playoffs in all seven of his full seasons with Denver, and they advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2009. He made four All-NBA appearances (three Third Teams, one Second Team) in his Nuggets tenure. He averaged at least 25+ points per game in five of his last six seasons with Denver, not including the 25.2 he was averaging when the trade to the Knicks occurred.
Unfortunately, much like Michael Ray Richardson, Bernard King, Patrick Ewing, and Allan Houston before him, Anthony was unable to deliver the championship that Knicks fans have been pining to witness for over four decades.
Melo wins scoring title
The 2012-13 season was easily both the most successful for the team and Carmelo in his Knicks tenure.
The team finished 54-28, good for second in the Eastern Conference. Anthony won his one and only scoring championship averaging 28.7 points per game, He finished third in MVP voting, receiving the one first-place vote that wasn't given to LeBron James.
After being ousted in the first round in the previous two years, the Knicks finally won their first playoff series since 2000 by defeating the Boston Celtics in six games.
The Indiana Pacers knocked out the Knicks in six games in the second round, and the Knicks haven't made the playoffs since.
A lot went wrong for the Knicks in Anthony's tenure. Jeremy Lin got hurt in 2012 and did not play in the Knicks first-round loss to the Heat. Amare Stoudemire just couldn't stay healthy after his initial Knicks season and was not the dominant force he once was when he did play.
Phil Jackson came along as the team president and insisted on the archaic triangle offense as well as making boneheaded transactions (trading for Jose Calderon, and signing Joakim Noah are just two of a slew of bad moves).
Anthony did provide magical moments, perhaps most notably on January 24, 2014, when he scored a Knicks single-game record of 62 points against the Charlotte Bobcats. That surpassed Bernard King's record of 60 points, and also the Madison Square Garden record of 61 which was previously held by Kobe Bryant. Anthony had 37 points in the first half including a half-court buzzer beater before halftime and was taken out for good with 7:22 left in the fourth quarter as the Knicks were up by 37.
It was a game that no Knicks fan in attendance would forget as Carmelo finished 23-35 from the field, 6-11 on threes, and 10-10 from the foul line.
Now 33 years old, some parts of his game may slowly be declining, but he still has moments where he looks completely unstoppable. On January 20 of last season, he set a new Knicks record for most points in a quarter by scoring 25 in the second quarter against the Washington Wizards.
One of the greatest scorers in Knicks history
His Knicks career ends with 412 regular season games played with per game averages of 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He ranks third in team history with a 24.7 scoring average, and 762 made three-pointers, and seventh with 10,186 points.
He easily could be seen as the best pure scorer in team history (some may argue Bernard King). Knicks fans should forever appreciate the loyalty he showed for his team even when nothing seemed to be going right. His #7 could be in the rafters one day in "The World's Most Famous Arena."
The Knicks first game this season is against the Thunder. It will be odd seeing him in the opposition's uniform after so many years growing accustomed to him in the blue and orange.
