After months of enormous, LeBronesque buildup, “The Melo-Amar’e Show” is finally hitting the Garden.
“Wow, just had the craziest 12 hours of my career,” Anthony said on his Twitter account last night after arriving at Teterboro Airport at 7 p.m. “So much to say but really want to thank all my fans and friends for their support!”
Knicks owner James Dolan has made this happen, paid a hefty price by surrendering the entire supporting cast, and now the Carmelo Anthony/Amar’e Stoudemire Knicks will be the hottest ticket in town for the next few months, likely starting tonight.
If all physicals are done in time — which is likely — a Knicks-Bucks game in February becomes an historic night as Anthony makes his Knicks debut tonight wearing No. 7. In a display of urgency, the Knicks flew the players they dealt away on a private charter last night to Denver, and the plane picked up the former Nuggets (aside from Anthony, who took his own flight) and flew them to New York.
“It’s what he wants,” Stoudemire said of Anthony and the big stage. “It’s what I wanted. To come to New York and play on the big stage. He has that same type of swag. He can handle it. We’re going to do it together.”
“Every team needs a 1, 1-A punch,” Stoudemire added. “With the ways that we both can score — he scores in many ways from the wing, I score in many ways from the wing and post. We’re very versatile. We’re going to be tough to guard.”
Dolan gutted the roster to add a second star and sources said the owner overruled embattled team president Donnie Walsh in giving up so much. The deal also has Dolan’s buddy Isiah Thomas’ fingerprints all over it. But if the new CBA is not a disaster, the Knicks will have the cap space to add a third star, Chris Paul in 2012, and compete for a title.
For now, the whole basketball world wonders what this assemblage will look like — with 34-year-old point guard Chauncey Billups at the controls of coach Mike D’Antoni’s speedball offense and Anthony and Stoudemire trying to share the ball.
“These are the kind of guys who are really hard to get in free agency or trades,” Walsh said of Anthony. “They are guys who can get 30 to 40 points in a playoff game.”
The trade became official last night after Anthony’s contract-extension paperwork was completed. The 13-player deal cost the Knicks Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Russian center Timofey Mozgov, prospect Anthony Randolph, a 2014 first-round pick, two second-round picks, Eddy Curry’s contract and $3 million. The Knicks also obtained forward Shelden Williams, guard Anthony Carter, swingman Renaldo Balkman and forward Corey Brewer.
“Bringing in Carmelo and Chauncey,” Stoudemire said. “It’s about us really being able to take our talents and taking that hard work to ultimately contending for a championship.”
Dolan gave up the store because he had to. As The Post reported yesterday, the Nuggets warned the Knicks Anthony would be traded to the Nets if the Knicks didn’t add the final piece, Mozgov. Anthony was desperate to sign the three-year, $65 million extension, even if it meant playing in Newark.
“We pretty well knew that,” Walsh said. “If he could sign an extension, that’s what he wanted to do. He wasn’t going to make it to free agency.
“All the players were difficult to give up,” Walsh added. “[Mozgov] was the last of that. It came down to how much we wanted Carmelo and Chauncey. Are we a better franchise with those guys in it? The decision we made was we are.”
According to sources, D’Antoni felt they gave up too much. He sounded extremely cautious about the blockbuster. He used words like “painful,” and “risk.” He used phrases like “took a chance,” “Denver hit a home run,” and finally cautioned, “We think we moved the rock ahead but don’t get carried away that we’re challenging Miami and Boston because we’re not.”
But he has no choice but to try to make the Stoudemire/Anthony connection into more than just the NBA’s hottest spectacle.
“We know we want to win a championship,” D’Antoni said. “The way to do it, you got to get star players in here. We know we have two of the best players in the league. And we got to get them to play on the same page. We got to get them to move the ball. Got to have them play a little different than when they played by themselves. But if they’re open to it and serious winning a championship, we’ll try to do it. If they come in here and want to win, they will figure out how to play together — a little like Miami.”
“When you go out hunting, would you rather have a bigger gun or smaller gun?” D’Antoni said. “You’d rather have a bigger gun.”
D’Antoni’s biggest concern will be defense, the lack of “big-man depth” and 3-point shooting without Gallinari, Felton and Chandler. Injury-prone Ronny Turiaf is their starting center now.
“I think the offense is going to be really good,” D’Antoni said. “It’s whether we can defend.”
Stoudemire sounded cockier, saying the Anthony addition means, “The East is stacked.”
“It’s not going to get any easier for us now because the target’s on our back,” Stoudemire added. “Teams are going to be eager to play against us.”
And everyone is eager to finally view the “Melo-Amar’e Show.”