J-Speaks: OKC's Second Blockbuster Trade of 2017 Off-Season

Coming into last season, many thought that the Oklahoma City Thunder would take a major step backwards, especially after Kevin Durant left in free agency to join the now defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Behind the historic season of now reigning MVP Russell Westbrook, who garnered a new single-season record 42 triple-doubles, the No. 7 Seeded Thunder won 47 games and made the postseason, but lost in five games to the Houston Rockets and MVP runner up James Harden 4-1. Coming into this off-season, it was clear that the Thunder needed to improve the team, especially if they wanted to keep Westbrook in toe beyond this season. The team acquire another four-time All-Star to join him, and on Saturday managed to acquire another, who is one of the best scorers to ever grace the NBA hardwood. 

In a shocker of all shockers, the Thunder acquired 10-time All-Star, and three-time Olympic Gold medalist Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks, in exchange for center Enes Kanter, forward Doug McDermott, and a 2018 Second-Round pick, that belongs to the Chicago Bulls, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and the Vertical. The trade became official on Monday after the particulars were okayed by the league. 

Earlier this summer, the Thunder shocked the NBA universe when they acquired four-time All-Star swingman Paul George from the Indiana Pacers for forward Domantas Sabonis, and guard Victor Oladipo. 

“I take my hat off to the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT, studio analyst Charles Barkley said of the two major moves that Oklahoma City’s General Manager Sam Presti made over the off-season on Saturday to NBATV’s Matt Winer, and Dennis Scott. 

“They’ve done everything humanly possible to give Russell, so that he was not a one-man band, and they still have Steven Adams, who I think is probably one of the most underrated players in the NBA.” 

This latest trade by the Thunder took place because Anthony waived his no-trade clause, which was a serious sticking point that really limited the teams that the Knicks could trade Anthony to. 

All throughout this past season, then Knicks’ President Phil Jackson made it no secret of his feelings about Anthony would being better off with another franchise. Every chance he got, Jackson chastised him about his game and ability to lead others on the court, and all that did was lower his value and made him look like damaged goods

“He’s a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talents somewhere where he can win or chase that championship,” Jackson said.

Anthony really had hoped he be traded to the Rockets to team up with their All-Star backcourt of Harden, and the team’s new lead guard in perennial All-Star Chris Paul, who the Rockets acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this summer. 

Two main reasons did not come to fruition is that Jackson, an 11-time championship coach with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers was fired as President of the Knicks earlier this summer, and that the Rockets did not have anything the Knicks were looking for. 

The one specific person the Rockets wanted to move to get Anthony was sharp shooting forward Ryan Anderson, but the Knicks did not want to deal with the three years and nearly $60 million left on his contract. 

So, on the heels of the Knicks’ front office brass of new General Manager Scott Perry, and Team President Steve Mills, and head coach Jeff Hornacek saying they expected Anthony to report to training camp on Monday, they found the trading partner that took Anthony off their hands, their books, and avoided a very awkward moment if he was still a Knick. 

Throughout what he called the last 12 months “an emotional roller coaster” to NBATV/NBA on TNT Insider David Aldridge, Anthony went out on the court and played as hard as he could play. When questions came up about his future with the Knicks, he answered all the questions from the media to the best of his ability and he never once threw the organization under the bus. 

Earlier this season, Anthony said, “If they [Knicks organization] feel that my time in New York is over, then I guess that’s a conversation we should have.” 

He also said, “I would love to be back. I would love to be back, but there’s somethings that I would love to see different.” “But, I’ve to come to peace with the situation I’m in, and kind of try happiness again.”

This trade will Anthony more a chance to find happiness as he will be teaming up with one of the most electrifying lead guards in the NBA in Westbrook, and one of the best two-way players in George. 

Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said on Tuesday that Anthony will be the team's new starting power forward this upcoming season. He was played the majority of his career at small forward, but has played some power forward in his time with Team USA, and said he has "no problem" with the change.

He specifically said about the position change, "I embrace that. And for this team, I think it will be better."

To bring the dynamic of this new trio into context, Anthony, George, and Westbrook ranked in the Top 23 in scoring in the NBA this past season. Westbrook lead the NBA in scoring a season ago, with a 31.6 average, and joined Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double in a single season, where Westbrook averaged 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists to go along with his scoring average.
George’s average of 23.7 points per contest was ranked 15^th, to go along with 6.6 boards, and 3.3 assists per game.

Anthony finished tied with Toronto’s Raptors All-Star lead guard Kyle Lowry with a scoring average of 22.4, to go along with 5.9 rebounds. 

The biggest thing for this trio is that they will because of their great offensive skills should be able to get easier shot attempts, as well as make a higher percentage of their shot attempts. A season ago Anthony and Westbrook shot just 43.3, and 42.5 percent respectably from the field, which is far below their career averages of 45.2, and 43.3 for their careers. George shot a solid 46.1 percent from the field during the 2016-17 season.  

This trade marks an A+ off-season for Presti and the Thunder organization. If you go back a few years ago, they traded Harden to the Rockets, where he blossomed into a Top 10 player in “The Association.” They said goodbye to Durant, who moved to the Bay Area to help the Warriors win their second title in the past three seasons this past June, where he was named Finals MVP. In just one off-season, they acquired two perennial All-Stars and did not surrender and of their other top players or draft picks in the process.

“I hope Russell stays there, because Sam has done everything within his powers,” Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley said on Saturday. 

“I mean think about? There’s not a single person who though Paul George was going to end up there [in OKC]. There’s not a single person who though Carmelo Anthony was going to end up there.”  

The question now is can this new so-called “Big 3” mesh together and turn the Thunder into a serious player in the tough Western Conference? 

All three have shown in their careers that they can carry a team with them leading the charge, but in the cases of George and Anthony, they wanted to be in a better situation where they can make the playoffs and have their team be a serious player in the postseason. 

In his historic season in 2016-17 Westbrook showed that he can make his teammates better and that he can trust them, even though they did disappear a great deal in their First-Round setback to the Rockets. However, Westbrook reverted to the doing everything on his own, like he did at times with Durant, when things got tough that series and it did not help matters for the Thunder. 

If the Thunder are going to make any kind of noise this upcoming season, Westbrook will have to more than ever make it a habit of deferring to George, and Anthony to take the load off his back scoring wise. If he can become comfortable with those nights where he scores between 19, to 20-plus points, while rebounding and assisting at the level he did last season, this season has a chance of being a good one for the Thunder.

This past season for George, his now former team in the Pacers had more ups, and downs than the stock market. There were times they played up to their potential, and other times they played like they had no business being on the court against their opponent. 

While they had some moments against the back-to-back-to-back Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round of the 2017 postseason, they were swept 4-0, and the one loss that really hurt was Game 3, where they had a 20-plus point lead and lost. 

For Anthony, he has not been in the playoffs since 2012-13 season, where the Knicks won 54 games, and their first Atlantic Division title since the 1993-94 campaign, where they made it to The Finals, but lost to Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets in seven games. They lost in the 2013 Semifinals to the East runner-up that season ironically enough to George and the Pacers 4-2. 

Since Anthony’s third in the “Big Apple,” the Knicks have not made the playoffs the last four seasons in succession, and complied a record of 117-121 in that period. When the team hired Jackson to be their president on Mar. 28, 2014, their record was an abysmal 90-171. In the 6.5 seasons Anthony was a Knicks, the team had a dismal 207-269 record, which includes an 80-116 record under Jackson when he was in the team's front office.

"Melo going there gives him a whole new lease on basketball. A chance to win a championship. Play with another great player in Russell Westbrook, and Paul George. At this stage of his career, he wants to win and who can blame him," 13-year NBA forward said to Adam Schein on Tuesday's edition CBS Sports Network's "Time to Schein."  

Individually though, Anthony made a major name in the Knicks record books. This past season, he joined Hall of Famers Patrick Ewing, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Willis Reed, and Richie Guerin, and Allan Houston, and Carl Braun as the only players to score 10,000-plus points in a Knicks uniform. Only Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo (26.7), and Bernard King (26.5) had better scoring averages in their time with the Knicks than the 24.7 average of Anthony. 

On top of that, he will bring a level of leadership to the Thunder where he as mentioned earlier can handle all the tough questions from the press, and will always take the high road. 

“As a media member I loved him,” Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News said to Winer, and Scott. “He handled himself like a pro. He treated us well. He was there after every game, good, and bad. “He was commenting on things when Phil Jackson wouldn’t comment on them.” 

Bondy described his time with the Knicks as a, “roller coaster.” When he was traded to the team on Feb. 22, 2011, the fans and the organization expected more from him than the just mentioned 54-win season and division crown four seasons back. He did say though that he is the best Knick since Ewing, and considering that Anthony did pretty well in a city that has high expectations of star athletes he more than held his own despite not living up to the expectation of bringing the team their first title since 1973.

Besides the incentive of making it back to the playoffs, Westbrook, George, and Anthony can all be free agents in the summer of 2018, with Westbrook and Anthony being able to waive the final year of their respective deals. 

Presti has done everything in his power to put the best team he can around Westbrook to make some noise coming into this season to show him that signing that five-year contract extension worth $217 million the Thunder offered back in July, and has until Oct. 16 to sign it.

"It's been a long, long summer. I had a baby. So, I've been working on a little fatherhood. But, like I said before, this is the place I want to be. I love being here. I'm excited about this season," Westbrook said at Media Day about his future with the Thunder.  

Perhaps the biggest reason for him not signing that extension is the fact that George is not expected to stay with the Thunder beyond this season. 

It has been reported since this the middle past season that George, a Palmdale, CA native, who played his college ball at Fresno State wants to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers next off-season. 

As far as what happens next summer is for next summer. For now, the Thunder are focused on this season, and while the West is loaded with the defending champion Warriors, Rockets, and the five-time champion San Antonio Spurs just to start, the new trio of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony gives the team an offensive attack that could make them a serious threat. They look good on paper, but can they turn that hype on paper into reality on the court.

They will not have to wait long to find that out as they will tip things off their season versus the Knicks at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. on TNT. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 7/1/17 story on bleacherreport.com, “Russell Westbrook Reportedly May Delay Signing Contract After Paul George Trade,” by Adam Wells; 9/23/17 4 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Matt Winer, and Dennis Scott; 9/23/17 11:30 p.m. edition of WABC 7 "Eyewitness News," with Sandra Bookman, Laura Behnke with Sports, and Jeff Smith with Weather; 9/23/17 NBA.com story by its staff, “Report: New York Knicks Trade Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City Thunder;” 9/26/17 6 p.m. edition of "Time to Schein," on CBS Sports Network with Adam Schein, with guest Carlos Boozer; 9/26/17 3 p.m. edition of "NBA: The Jump," on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Israel Gutierrez, and Scottie Pippen; 9/26/17 Bottom Line news crawl on ESPN 2 at 9:30 p.m.; http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/leaders_career.html; www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3468/russell-westbrook; www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/1975/carmelo-anthony; www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/avgPoints/year/2016-17; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Knicks_seasons; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelo_Anthony; and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_George.