Aside from putting together the core pieces of the team the Pistons should have formed in 2004 when they passed on Carmelo Anthony, I'm struggling to figure out what the New Jersey Nets are doing with the proposed trade being rumored at the moment.
Nets close to landing Anthony - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
The proposed trade will send Anthony, Hamilton, Billups, Nuggets guard Anthony Carter and forward Shelden Williams to the Nets. The Nuggets will receive two first-round picks from the Nets, point guard Devin Harris, rookie forward Derrick Favors, guards Anthony Morrow, Ben Uzoh, Stephen Graham and Quinton Ross. The Pistons will get Nets forward Troy Murphy and center Johan Petro.
On one hand, there are shades of the Kevin Garnett deal, where he wasn't originally excited about joining another rebuilding effort so the deal was called off until the Celtics could acquire immediate help in the form of Ray Allen. On the other hand, those pieces turned the Celtics in to title contenders right away. Nobody thinks that an aging Rip Hamilton is going to push the Carmelo-Billups tandem (stuck in neutral in Denver) over the top.
Obviously the new billionare Russian owner and Jay Z want to make a splash moving to Brooklyn in a few years but I don't know if Rip is going to last that long and I'm also wondering when Billups will start to slow down. So then Carmelo will find himself in potentially an even worse position than he's in right now. The key would appear to be the Nets chances of landing another star like Chris Paul or Dwight Howard - which seems like a long shot right now.
I guess time will tell, and if you can go get a star like Anthony you should do it. But I'm not sure this does anything but bring the Nets in to the middle-ground of mediocrity.