If Anthony is traded? Does he retire? He's clearly been using the return to coaching as his positive goal to focus on while recovering from cancer, so walking away may not be an option for him. On the other hand, how interested is he now in completely rebuilding the team? Regardless of whether you think this team can make the playoffs after a Melo trade, make no mistake, he will be faced with a total rebuilding. He has no choice but to install a completely new offense, and he's needed to revamp the defense for years.
The old offense was centered around Melo and the fact that opponents had to double team him every time he touched the ball. This baloney about Melo not being that good is proven false by simply seeing what opponents committed to stopping him. If he wasn't double teamed, he essentially scored, almost no one could guard him one on one. There has been a lot of focus on the things that Melo's game lacked, but with the ball in his hand his combination of size and speed made him a mismatch every night. Others on the team benefited by seeing less defensive attention and more open shots. Without the bellcow to center the offense around, the team will need a creative offense to score points. There isn't a proven 20 ppg scorer on the team. There are a bunch of proven 15 ppg guys, but most of them get there by someone else creating shots for them. Billups has never been a high assist pg, so he's not creating the shots. Nene could be the centerpiece, but he appears to lack the desire to do so. Yes, J.R. has the talent, but come on. Maybe he starts lawson and slides Billups to two. The point is, the offense will have to be redesigned to try to get 7 guys to score 15 a night. Is Karl up for this?
Karl has to make his decision now. The timing of this is unfortunate, and he may return even if his heart isn't in it so as to not leave the team in a bind right before training camp. That would be a mistake. If he's excited and invigorated by this opportunity, wants to stay to see through the next several years, and is ready to implement new offensive and defensive schemes, great. On the other hand, if he's instead disappointed by having to start over and would just be going through the motions, the team will be better off if he leaves now, despite the bad timing. I have no idea how this trade would impact Karls thinking, so my guess would be 50/50.
What do you guys think? Does Karl come back energized to work with his new team? Or does go home disappointed and continue his recovery?
