The Utah Jazz traded Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday afternoon, and for the Nets, aside from adding one of the best point guards in basketball, it’s a pretty emphatic counterpoint to the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony trade heard round the world.
The Nets Get Deron Williams, And The Knicks Get Played By The Prokhorov
How great is this? After Knicks columnists taunted Mikhail Prokhorov for missing out on Carmelo Anthony, everyone’s favorite Russian billionaire gets the last laugh. Instead of a months-long saga, the Nets quietly did in a day what the Knicks haven’t done in years--traded for a franchise player that makes sense.
For Knicks fans? ... Damn.
As if the Carmelo trade didn’t look a little foolish on Tuesday... On Wednesday, Mikhail Prokhorov and the Nets made the Knicks look like full-on losers in all this. To recap: Prokhorov and the Nets got back involved in the Carmelo trade sweepstakes last week, forced the Knicks to give Denver just about every attractive asset they had, and then, when nobody was looking, they went and stole a much better player in Deron Williams.
Can you imagine how good Williams would have been in Mike D’Antoni’s system? Well, so can Knicks fans. And if they felt conflicted about the way the ‘Melo trade went down on Tuesday, then you can imagine how it feels to watch the real missing piece end up across the river.
Having said that, let’s be clear: The unrelenting hubris of the New York Knicks deserves no empathy, so nobody’s shedding a tear over this news. When you factor in karma’s sweet justice toward James Dolan and the appeal of someone as awesome as The Prokhorov, then today should really be a holiday or something. To celebrate, let’s all admire the column from Mitch Lawerence in yesterday’s New York Daily News:
The Knicks get richer with Carmelo Anthony.
The Nets get nothing.
Another star lands at the Garden.
Another batch of egg lands on the face of Mikhail Prokhorov.
[...]
Prokhorov likes to tweak his counterpart, Garden chairman Jim Dolan. He likes to put up billboards across the street from the Garden, challenging the Knicks. He likes to send statements out of Moscow saying he doesn’t want the Nets to become the Knicks, he wants them to become the Lakers.
[...]
Prokhorov has more money than any other NBA owner and can’t get anyone to take it. He can’t deal for superstars. During his time owning the Nets, he’s seen the Knicks get Stoudemire and now Anthony. So here’s the score:
Knicks 2, Nets 0.
There’s not much Prokhorov can do about it now. Maybe put up another billboard.
Yeah, about that... Don’t ever doubt The Prokhorov.
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