It’s time to discuss the Knicks. ESPN is running a five-question series with its network of bloggers, and I’ve been tossing in my two cents (which is worth about one and a half cents in today’s economy). Anyway, off we go:

1. Fact or Fiction: The Melo trade, as constructed, was a mistake.
Fiction. The Knicks didn’t gel right away (and never really did), but they still added a Top 15 player and anytime you can do that, you’ve won the trade. This question was never going to be answered in 2011. It’s going to be answered over the next four or five years.

2. Fact or Fiction: The Knicks will eventually form their own Big Three.
Fact. I’m not sure how they’ll do it, but the prospects of playing in New York with Carmelo and Amare would have to convince some point guard somewhere to force a trade or take a less than market deal.

3. Fact or Fiction: Landry Fields is a legitimate starter for a contender.
Fiction. But only because of the word “is.” He has the potential to be a legit starter on a contender, but I don’t think he’s there yet. He has to find his niche on the perimeter alongside Anthony, who holds the ball too much and that doesn’t jibe well with Landry’s game. But he can shoot, rebound and defend, so he can certainly develop into a legit starter.

4. Fact or Fiction: This is the final season in New York for Mike D’Antoni.
Fiction. Give D’Antoni a full season — wait, there’s a lockout isn’t there? I don’t think that the Knicks are going to find a better coach unless they’re somehow able to coax a revitalized Phil Jackson out of retirement. I think D’Antoni is capable of shaping the Knicks into the Suns of the East, but he needs to find a point guard to run the show.

5. Fact or Fiction: The Knicks are a top-four team in the East.
Fiction. I’d still take the Heat, Bulls, Magic (for now) and Celtics (for now) over the Knicks. They’re a “next four” team — should make the playoffs every year, but they aren’t going to make that next step until they find a good point guard.

In an interview with FoxSports Bill Reiter, Isiah Thomas spoke about how his game compared to those of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. His comments are surprising, to say the least.

“I have no problem saying this at all,” he says. “[Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are] all 6-(feet)-9 and Jordan was 6-6 and a half. If they were all 6-1, it wouldn’t even be a question. They wouldn’t even f—ing rate. If they were all my size, s—, they wouldn’t even be talked about.

“I beat the s— out of them when they were that big. If we were all the same size, f—.” He stops to laugh good-naturedly. “Make them 6-1 and let’s go on the court.”

In basketball, there’s an obvious advantage to being tall, but if it were the only (or even driving) quality necessary to be great, Gheorghe Mureşan would have been a Hall of Famer.

Little guys have an advantage in quickness and bigger guys are closer to the rim. Isiah used his quickness to get by bigger defenders, while Jordan, Magic and Bird used their size to dominate smaller players.

Had MJ, Magic or Bird been 6-1 or 6-2, they still would have been great players. They wouldn’t have been as big, but that wouldn’t affect their ability to shoot the ball or find the open man. Isiah complaining about their height no different than if they complained about Isiah’s quickness. If you’re in the NBA, you’re gifted one way or another.

Thomas says in the piece that he’s terrible at public relations, and this is another example. But the guy can evaluate talent. The Knicks drafted pretty well under his tenure — David Lee, Wilson Chandler, Trevor Ariza, Channing Frye — and he helped the Raptors settle on Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudemire and Tracy McGrady. I doubt he would accept such a role, but Thomas would make a great VP of player personnel.

The article is really about Isiah’s exile, and Reiter mentions Thomas’ abilities in the area of player evaluation as a possible way back into the league:

In 2009, ESPN used the Estimated Wins Added stat, developed by respected basketball mind John Hollinger, to judge 20 years worth of general managers. Isiah was ranked the second-best evaluator of talent…

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Isiah, who can’t seem to stay out of his own way, PR-wise. He has talents that could be useful to NBA teams, but there is so much baggage and ego that goes along with him that it just makes it easier for teams to go another direction. However, Knicks owner James Dolan does like him, so there’s always a chance that he could end up in New York again.

Just don’t let him participate in any trade discussions.

Maybe these new-look Knicks will make some noise in the playoffs after all. Two days after losing to the worst team in the league, the Knicks went down to Miami and beat the Heat in their own building, 91-86.

LeBron James (27 points) missed an open three with a few ticks left that would have tied the game. Chauncey Billups (16 points) was big down the stretch, with five points, two steals and one would-be assist in the last 2:36. Carmelo posted 29 points and nine rebounds in just his third game with the Knicks.

Maybe the most surprising thing about the Knicks is the job they did on the defensive end of the court. After giving up 34 points in the first quarter, they only allowed 52 points over the final three quarters, and the Heat average 102.2 points per game. Miami shot just 43% from the field and turned the ball over 18 times. Amare Stoudemire (16 points, 10 rebounds) made a key block on LeBron James’ driving layup attempt with 0:07 remaining as the Knicks were hanging on to a one-point lead.

The loss to the Cavs should obviously temper the Knicks’ enthusiasm over this win. Still, to beat the Heat in Miami in Carmelo’s third game? That’s impressive.

Here are a few pictures from Carmelo Anthony’s debut last night at Madison Square Garden.

New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony steps out on the court for warm ups before the game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Carmelo Anthony's first game ever as a Knick at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 23, 2011. UPI/John Angelillo

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In his first game as a Knick, Carmelo Anthony posted 27 points (on 10-of-25 shooting), 10 rebounds and one assist in a 114-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday Night at Madison Square Garden.

Considering they had about a day to get used to each other, the fact that the Knicks won the game at all is probably enough. But it was surprising that Carmelo felt it necessary to hoist 25 shots in his first game as a Knick when Amare Stoudemire only saw 13 attempts (he is averaging 19.3 attempts on the season). Stoudemire’s attempts and attitude is something to watch going forward — Carmelo is not known for his ability to set up his teammates. It should be noted that Anthony helped to put the game away with some very efficient play in the fourth quarter.

Chauncey Billups was more giving in his debut, dishing out eight assists to go along with 21 points (12-for-12 from the FT line) and six rebounds. Toney Douglas (10-of-12 from the field, 23 points) was the difference in the game. He absolutely torched Keyon Dooling, who has a reputation for being a pretty good defender.

ESPN’s John Hollinger answers this question with an emphatic “yes.” In his trade grades column, he gave the Knicks a D+ in this deal.

The worst part, of course, is that this deal proves that no matter how many advantages New York gains from its magnetic appeal to potential free agents, owner James Dolan will screw them up. Leaning on the genius of Isiah Thomas — because it worked out so well for the first time — he fell hook, line and sinker for every bluff thrown his way by the Nuggets and Melo’s people. (Yes, Melo’s people participated — Anthony needed to make sure he got a lucrative contract extension under the current salary rules before being traded.)

New York still gets its Melo-Stoudemire nucleus, but now lacks the supporting pieces to do anything important with that core. And by extending Melo now, they agree to lock him up at such an expensive price that, in concert with Stoudemire’s deal, it likely precludes making a run at Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard in 2012.

The Knicks were bid up by the Nets, who never really had a chance at acquiring Carmelo in the first place. It would have been worth all of this to acquire a Top 5 player like LeBron James or Dwight Howard, but Carmelo is in the second or third tier of NBA stars and by acquiring and extending him now, they’re going to be paying a premium for his services for the next three or four years. His contract could make things especially tough if there’s a hard(er) cap.

This series is sponsored by Miller High Life – The Official Beer Of You. Find out how you can get sponsored by Miller High Life.

In case you haven’t heard, Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Knicks last night. If you haven’t heard, count yourself lucky (and completely oblivious), because all of this “Melodrama” got old a full month ago. A quick search at Twitter shows just how sick everyone was of the speculation.

You see, Carmelo didn’t ask to be traded. Or maybe he did, we don’t really know. He wouldn’t admit to the press that he asked for a trade, instead putting the onus on the Nuggets for wanting to trade him away. After what happened to LeBron’s image last summer, he didn’t want to be painted as the bad guy, but his act has worn thin. Everyone knows he wants to play for the Knicks. He wants to play in New York so badly that he doesn’t care that his new team had to give up the farm to get him. He just wants to be a Knick. Oh, and he wants a three-year, $65 million extension too. Let’s not forget about that.

There was another team pursuing him — the New Jersey Nets. But New Jersey (who will soon move to Carmelo’s hometown of Brooklyn) wasn’t good enough for this guy. The Nuggets and Nets worked out a trade, but the only thing holding up the deal was Carmelo’s unwillingness to sign the aforementioned extension. Who can blame the Nets? Why would they trade for him if he’s just going to leave after the season?

All of this drama would be enough to keep High Life from sponsoring Carmelo. But he recently took his hat off to himself — seriously — for playing through all this speculation. Here’s the mind-bending quote from FanHouse:

“I think it takes a strong-willed person, a strong-minded person, to deal with the stuff that I deal with and still go out there and go to work every day and perform on a nightly basis,” the Denver forward said about trade rumors that have swirled all season as the Feb. 24 trade deadline approaches. “I take my hat off to myself for dealing with all this stuff that’s going on and still be able to go out there and play at the high level that I can play at. I really don’t think an average person can walk in my shoes. I don’t think that.”

Somehow, in Carmelo’s World, he was the victim of circumstance. Not his team of eight years, the Denver Nuggets, who had no leverage and were forced into making a suspect deal because he was only willing to play for the Knicks.

Fortunately for the Common Man living the High Life, this NBA nightmare is now over. We can all go back to our lives and not be inundated with Carmelo rumors on SportsCenter.

Because it’s painful to watch a guy who refuses to live the High Life.

Once the dust settles and the Carmelo trade becomes final, the Knicks are looking at a starting five of Chauncey Billups, Landry Fields, Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and probably Ronny Turiaf at center. The Knicks will be solid at point guard through power forward, but Turiaf is at best an average center who gets by on hustle and hard work. Per 82games, he does tend to outplay his counterpart (15.0 vs. 13.3 PER) which is a good sign because his minutes are going to jump.

Turiaf is going to need to play well for the Knicks to do anything in the postseason because the team is now very thin in the frontcourt. They lost two 6-10 or taller players (Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov) and are likely to lose 6-11 Anthony Randolph as well. In return, 6-9 Shelden Williams is the only bona fide power forward or center they’ll acquire, and he hasn’t done much in his 4+ year career to indicate that he can play significant minutes on a good playoff team.

This lack of frontcourt depth could be a problem because both the Celtics (Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett) and the Magic (Dwight Howard) have big men who are adept at scoring on the block. The Celtics are less of a concern at center because Doc Rivers usually uses Glen Davis to finish games instead of O’Neal (or Kendrick Perkins, for that matter).

Against the Heat or Bulls, the Knicks should fare better. Chris Bosh is not terribly good on the block and the Heat prefer to play Joel Anthony at center. Joakim Noah is a great defensive center, but his post up game is limited, so Turiaf (or Stoudemire, in a pinch) shouldn’t be overmatched on the block.

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Michael Wilbon, ESPN: Even with all the analysis of the Knicks we’ll be indulging in for the next few weeks, the club is so much better off post-Carmelo than pre-Carmelo. Goodness, if anything the Knicks should probably be criticized for not simply getting down to business and making this deal six or eight weeks ago. The team could have played 20 games with Billups-Fields-Anthony-Stoudemire already. If the Knicks hadn’t goofed around until nearly the trade deadline, they probably could have made a deal that excluded Mozgov. But they let the New Jersey Nets set the terms, which likely pushed Denver’s price higher. Still, after a lot of false starts the Knicks appear to be actually on the road to contention — how serious we’ll find out soon enough. Miami’s all-new cast needed close to 30 games to figure out how to play with one another. Stoudemire, Anthony and Billups do have different skill sets and don’t have to examine everything they’ve done for years the way LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had to do. Then again, James and Wade are adept passers; Stoudemire and Anthony are not, which is why Billups, intimidated by nothing and calm in the face of all kinds of NBA drama, is better off running the point with this group than Felton, whose shoulders have no stripes.

Dave Krieger, Denver Post: As excited as NBA officials may be about the resurrection of the Knicks in the league’s biggest market, they cannot ignore the dire straits in which smaller-market teams find themselves as the old labor agreement expires. Denver joins an unfortunate club that already included Cleveland and Toronto. Three of the game’s biggest stars — Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Bosh — abandoned these markets for brighter lights in the last eight months.

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: The Knicks get Carmelo Anthony even after giving away all the leverage they had in this thing, and what feels like half their roster. The player only wanted to come to New York, only wanted to get his huge contract extension here, didn’t want to go to Jersey or anywhere else. The Knicks – meaning Walsh – always had the Nuggets where they wanted them, and should have been able to make this deal with Wilson Chandler and Eddy Curry’s big, fat expiring contract and some other junk thrown in. Instead they give up Raymond Felton and Danilo Gallinari and Chandler and Timofey Mozgov, too. If the trade deadline were next Thursday instead of this Thursday, Denver could have gotten James Dolan to throw in Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier, too. Clearly Dolan still has Isiah Thomas as his muse, apparently because all the good ones were taken.

William C. Rhoden, New York Times: Nearly all of the burden of proof rests on Anthony’s shoulders. He asked for this situation and now he has it. If he knows the Knicks’ history, Anthony knows that with the possible exception of Bernard King, no New York City player has ever come back as a Knick and turned the place upside down — in a positive way. He will have something to prove to the legions of fans who consider him a one-dimensional player who lacks the skills and the drive to play defense or make his teammates better. Anthony is not the answer, but he is unquestionably a building block. He led Syracuse to a national championship and was a vital component for the United States when it won an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. He could be a winner on a properly outfitted team, something the Knicks, with Stoudemire, are becoming. And now that the Knicks have two star players in place, a player like Chris Paul is much more likely to leave cash-strapped New Orleans for well-heeled New York.

J.A. Adande, ESPN: The Nuggets did well for themselves … which is more than the Cleveland Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors could say when LeBron James and Chris Bosh bolted for South Beach. The Cavs and Raptors made last-minute sign-and-trade deals for picks and trade exceptions, but those are just possibilities and cap space. The Nuggets have more tangible assets. They have three players averaging at least 16 points per game in Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari and a 7-footer in Timofey Mozgov. They got a first-round pick and two second-round picks. I know the Nuggets were attracted to all of the first-round picks the New Jersey Nets offered, but I’d rather have the known in proven players than the unknown in picks of undetermined order. Plus that $3 million, in addition to the $13.2 million in luxury tax payments they’re no longer on the hook for, plus whatever cut they’ll receive from the taxpaying teams. This is the reward the Nuggets get for holding out until the end, for refusing to yield to pressure from around the league and a weary NBA media and fandom to just put this to a halt. This whole process dragged on longer and had more false endings than “The Return of the King.” But the Nuggets benefited from the early start, getting the initial lowball offers out of the way before Thanksgiving, learning what the minimum was and working from there.

ESPN has the details of the trade.

As a part of the deal, the Knicks will send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Nuggets, who would get additional picks and cash, league sources told Broussard. Along with Anthony, New York would acquire Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman, the sources said.

New York will send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota as part of the deal in exchange for Corey Brewer, a league source told Broussard.

As Chris Broussard noted earlier in the day, Wilson Chandler was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, and the Knicks would have had to give up their rights to the swingman if they were going to try to sign Anthony as a free agent. So if Chandler were expendable, and we count the swap of Billups and Felton as a wash (at least in the short term), then this becomes Carmelo Anthony and Denver’s spare parts for Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a (likely late) first round pick and a pair of second rounders. The Knicks were going to get the better end of the deal all along since Carmelo made it clear that he only wanted to sign the extension if it meant he could play in New York. Still, the Nuggets improved their position and turned a bad situation into at least three starter-caliber players.

Look for Denver to move Felton before Thursday’s deadline for another piece to the rebuilding puzzle, signifying a changing of the guard at the point. The electric Ty Lawson will take over. It would have been nice if Denver had been able to acquire Landry Fields, but Arron Afflalo is a very similar player, and Mozgov has some upside as a young big. There are already rumors swirling that one or more of these former Knicks may be headed to the Nets for picks.

New York will start Billups, Fields, Anthony, Stoudemire and probably Ronny Turiaf going forward. I don’t expect a deep playoff run in the stacked Eastern Conference as the players get acclimated to one another, but they could spring an upset in the first round.