ill Take: NBA Roundup

Well, now that the Carmelo stuff is out of the way I want to give my take on a couple other NBA issues because they have been on my mind today and since I'm in such an NBA state of mind what better time than now to discuss these tidbits of info, let's begin!

• Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan says he's done with the dunk contest because of it becoming a prop dunk contest and he's not into the props because he's a dunker. I can understand where DeRozan is coming from because he had one of the best dunks of the night and all anyone can talk about after is how Blake Griffin jumped over the lowest part of a car from inside the foul line, it ain't right I tell you. I can sympathize with DeMar because the dunk contest used to be about bringing your talent and your creativity and seeing what you got, now all you gotta do is get a cupcake and a teddy bear and a phone booth and you're guaranteed a win. There's something about a great dunk with no frills attached, just natural ability, but it seems like the NBA is getting away from that is recent years.  

• There are reports floating around that Allen Iverson was found on Sunday night in a bar in Atlanta watching the All-Star game by himself wearing sweatpants. Sigh, I'm a huge AI fan and honestly, the people that are calling him out on Twitter because they feel like they can need to take a step back and evaulate their own lives before trying to act like big shots when it comes to other's. And regarding Iverson, it's been a long, hard and tough fall from grace for 'The Answer' and it looks like playing in Turkey wasn't the answer for him either, pun intended. I just hope that Iverson can find some peace in his life because it's not right that a bunch of these hype Twitter losers have decided to call out Iverson just to gain couple followers. Now that's lame.

 Photo Courtesy of the NBA

Hustle Points: The Knicks Become Must-See Again

If you missed the news, the NBA is now where amazing just happened in New York City. After an entire season of trade rumors and speculation about will he or won't he be traded to the Knicks, the thinkable finally happened. Carmelo Anthony is a happy member of the New York Knicks and the NBA is still recovering to this very moment.

Anthony has wanted this since LeBron's decision and that's to be in a major media market alongside someone of his ilk, like Amare Stoudemire.

And for Stoudemire, this is the exact reason he came to New York, as much as I'm sure he enjoyed being the guy, this will probably be a better experience for the new member of the New York two step. I'm experimenting, give me a break. 

Carmelo's trade continues a theme that has become increasingly popular in the NBA, which is to align as many powerful names as you can and pray for the best, so far it's been successful for anyone who's given it a go.

The Celtics have had major success culminating in a championship in their first season with the Big 3, the Los Angeles Lakers have enjoyed a great run since picking up Pau Gasol to pair with Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom.

Oklahoma City built their team through more conventional avenues, like the draft, but they too now have a couple big superstars of their own to base their success around thanks to the continued growth of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

And we have the new guys to the party like the Miami Heat who's story we know by heart now and the Chicago Bulls who added Carlos Boozer to create an impressive big-little tandem with Derrick Rose and now the Knicks with 'Melo and Stoudemire.

Aligning your stars is a proven winning method and now teams are starting to plan for success in this fashion and it doesn't hurt your ticket prices either.

Now that Carmelo is going to the Big Apple to reportedly rock the number 13, the question is just how good are they?

The Knicks have a starting lineup that you look at and you say, it's good but what do you do with Ronny Turiaf at center. While the five spot is an issue for New York, it can be looked at a couple ways.

If you take the Miami Heat and how they have dealt with the massive abyss they have in the middle at center you see that you don't need a consistent, powerhouse center to win as long as you have a good big patrolling the area, which is what Amare does. But the difference for the Knicks is on the defensive side of the basketball and that is where the flaws show.

The Knicks are 29th in the league in points allowed, giving up 105 points a night and now they add a well known slacker on defense without gaining many hard nosed defenders in return and in the end, what you have is a team that can run all night, but will struggle to stop the Clippers on a given night and that doesn't win championships, and it barely wins you playoff rounds.

I'm sure Isiah Thomas would tell you, they're the best and no body can beat them (corny, but funny to me and Thomas definitely still has his hands in the cookie jar). But as a team currently sitting in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference at 28-26, there is work to be done if the Knicks are going to prove to anybody that New York is truly a force to reckoned with.

Photos Courtesy ESPN and the NBA