With no rust to shake off, the former Nugget has picked up right where he left off last season. After three games, Anthony is averaging 25.7 points per game. That is one tenth of a point more than his 2010-11 numbers. In his ninth NBA season, the Syracuse product has led his team to the playoffs each year and is also a three-time All-Star.

When then-general manager Donnie Walsh acquired Anthony, he joined Amar’e Stoudemire in the frontcourt and teamed with him to form a bona fide one-two punch. But in today’s NBA, it seems that three superstars are required to challenge for a championship.

Enter Tyson Chandler. The 7’1”, 225-pound center who came to the Knicks from Dallas in a trade after the lockout was lifted fills out the trifecta. Mike D’Antoni recognized that immediately when addressing the media at the press conference announcing the deal.

“Tyson will be the anchor to our defense,” the Knicks head coach said. “The trio of Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson makes one of the most formidable frontlines in the entire league.”

With the Eastern Conference loaded with ‘Big Three’ teams in the aforementioned Celtics (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen) and the defending conference champion Miami Heat (Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh), the Knicks needed to add an impact player to the mix to put them in elite territory.

But even with Chandler on board, Anthony is the main focus on the hardwood for the Knicks. They will need him to be there every night, as Stoudemire has had injury problems throughout his entire career.

And it seems as if Anthony knew that while awaiting the start of the season.

Photo by Jim Leary

No matter how much it hurts the residents of Cleveland, ‘The King’ was ready to return if he could have convinced Bosh to come to town. The Cavalier organization was already going through changes with the firing of head coach Mike Brown and the hiring of Byron Scott. If Bosh shunned James’ invitation to take the same offer from Wade to come to South Beach, then that speaks volumes about the state of the organization.

Bosh apparently did not see the same upside in Cleveland as he did in Miami and you can even take it a step further by making an assumption that he felt Wade was a better teammate than James. There was no guarantee that James would join them with the Heat when Bosh agreed to sign.

Speaking of that, Bosh deciding on Miami played a big part in Wade not signing with his hometown Bulls. The Chicago native was torn apart by not coming home, but ultimately chose to stay in Florida once Bosh told him his intentions.

Weighing his options, James had to see the grass greener on the southern side of the street. Without Bosh, Cleveland did not look as rosy. And although the Knicks signed Amar’e Stoudemire to a five-year, $100-million contract trying to lure him, James must have felt that New York was still years away from contending for a championship. Chicago? Perhaps if Wade had signed there, but James would still have been playing in Michael Jordan’s shadow forever.

When it was all said and done, James choosing Miami should not have come as a surprise, and it didn’t if you read our article posted earlier in the day of “The Decision.” What did cause some shock is that it was Bosh, and not James, who played the biggest part in free agency.

Numerous sources around the league, including Chris Broussard of ESPN The Magazine, have cited that James will indeed make Miami his choice. It is merely a formality at this point.

The first real clue came on Wednesday when Wade and Bosh announced live on ESPN SportsCenter that they had decided on Miami. Both were coy when asked about LeBron joining them in South Beach and said that ‘The King’ needed to make up his own mind. But it was the way they seemed extra giddy about it, their own mega-millions contracts notwithstanding.

So what does this mean for the teams that were left at the altar? It is most disastrous to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise that was less than an afterthought before James came around. Things could have been much different is James was able to convince Bosh to come to Ohio, but the former Raptor did not want to play for the Cavs and his move to Miami set the wheels in motion for James to go south. Now the Cavs have to regroup with not much to show for the offseason with the exception of new head coach Byron Scott, an upgrade over the dismissed Mike James.

The Knicks have been shooting for James for the past two seasons and president Donnie Walsh’s salary cap clearing was geared for just that. Their signing of Amar’e Stoudemire does not have the same effect without James and they will once again be a team in search of a star player. Another part of this move is that Stoudemire just happens to play the same position as David Lee, who is an automatic double-double and the Knicks most consistent player the past two years.

The Bulls were a team that appeared to be in a great position only a few days ago, but it all blew up in their faces. Wade had notified the Heat that his family situation would play a part in his decision and his children reside in Chicago. If he had decided to go to his hometown, then James was said to be very attracted to the Windy City. Their consolation prize? Carlos Boozer, not exactly someone to light it up every night.

Two other teams that did get some of LeBron’s time to court him were the Nets and Clippers, but neither had a legitimate shot at the top free agent in NBA history.

How interesting is it that Bosh – and not James – became the key free agent this summer that dictated where others signed?

A tough sell has become even tougher due to a rule that was put in place to create parity, but its effect has done nothing but cause parody in the National Basketball Association. The salary cap has destroyed organizations if long-term mistakes happened to be made. No one has paid the price for this as much as the New York Knicks, who have thrown in the towel for the next two years in the hope that they can throw enough money at LeBron James to convince him to resurrect the dead at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

King James (along with Dewayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire) hits the open market in 2010 and has become the apple of the Big Apple’s eye with the fantasy of him coming to Manhattan. But until then, the Knicks – and many other teams around the league – will suck on purpose and throw whatever they can on the court, as long as they’ll be packing their bags in the next 24 months.

This way of thinking has not helped a league in need of a marketing boost, something that will bring the fans back that have left or never came. Without a Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan, the NBA has found it difficult to sell its product to the casual fan. For whatever reason, basketball has been hitting a rocky road in gaining more popularity. Some say that it is a hip-hop league and the ‘thug’ reputation has turned off many. Commissioner David Stern has worked diligently to make his sport better, and adjusting the salary cap and how it effects teams should be the first thing that he fixes, which is more important than wearing suits on road trips.

By the time Donnie Walsh is done, the Isiah Thomas era will be nothing more than a bad memory. The new president of the New York Knicks has reportedly traded leading scorer Jamaal Crawford to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for forward Al Harrington, according to Newsday.com.

Former head honcho Thomas acquired Crawford in 2004 from Chicago, with the eight-year pro holding a player option for two more years after the current one on the deal he signed. Harrington’s deal expires after the 2009-10 season. Why is that so important? The Knicks are doing everything possible to clear cap space to make a run at LeBron James, who hits the open market in 2010.

But is this trade just the first of many? Newsday is also reporting that a bigger, three-way deal may be on the horizon.

This menage-a-trois supposedly also involves the hapless Los Angeles Clippers, with Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins packing their bags and clearing space in the locker room for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. While this should not get anyone’s pants stained, when you hear that all three (Harrington, Mobley, Thomas) come off the boards by 2010 you may get some movement, if you know what I mean.

Thomas has already been a Knick (and a forgettable one at that), and Mobley has bounced around the league, playing for four teams in 11 seasons.

Randolph has produced since coming to New York, but is a ticking time bomb and makes a ton of money, while Collins’ claim to fame has been brawling with Carmelo Anthony. Two more Isiah mistakes that won’t be missed.

If all of this comes to fruition, then Knick fans may finally feel that something good os brewing at the Garden. It is nearly impossible to watch this team, even though they have played some spirited basketball with new head coach Mike D’Antoni. But the fact remains that there are still slugs like Eddy Curry, Jerome James and Stephon Marbury (did I mention that these three are also here by way of Isiah?) taking up space on the roster. Once these can be redacted, maybe…just maybe the Knicks can shake the label of being the league’s ‘shittiest’ team once and for all.