Carmelo Anthony: Analyzing the Trade One Year Later

On Feb. 21, 2011, many Knicks fans thought their prayers had finally been answered.

New York received Carmelo Anthony in a blockbuster trade that included a dozen players.

Many thought the move, along with the signing of Amare Stoudemire in the offseason, would once again put the Knicks among the NBA's elite.

Since the trade was made, New York has been anything but elite. The Knicks are 30-31 since the time of the deal and Denver is 36-22.

Why have the Knicks struggled so much since acquiring one of the best players in the game? Why have the Nuggets excelled after getting rid of such a dominant scorer?

Let's try to dissect the trade that went down exactly one year ago...

The Trade

Knicks receive: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter, Corey Brewer

Nuggets receive: Danillo Gallinari, Raymond Felton. Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, Knicks 2014 first-round pick

Timberwolves receive: Eddie Curry, Anthony Randolph

The Nuggets

Denver has certainly been the better team since the trade was made. The Nuggets somehow improved after trading their best player.

They became the league's best offense at 107.5 points per game. They made it to the postseason as the fifth seed in the Western Conference before being bounced by the Thunder in five games.

This season, the Nuggets are 18-15 and currently have the eighth best record in the West. Denver is still the best offensive team in the NBA, but they are at the bottom of the league in defense.

Gallinari has been the best piece the Nuggets received in the deal. He was averaging 17 points per game this season before going down with an ankle injury.

Felton has since been traded and Wilson Chandler played in China this year after signing a contract with the Zhejiang Lions during the lockout.

The trade has helped the Nuggets become one of the more consistent teams in the league. It has also left them without a legitimate superstar.

Gallinari is a good player, but he's no Carmelo Anthony.

Denver's play in the regular season has made some think twice about the notion that a team needs a star player to succeed. However, the Nuggets regular season success did not translate to the playoffs last year.

The Western Conference is seemingly wide open this season. If Denver is able to hold onto its playoff spot, it will be interesting to see if their new approach can work in the postseason.

The Knicks

New York hasn't performed up to expectations since completing the trade. They are under .500 and Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony have not meshed as many had hoped. The Knicks were swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the Celtics last season.

Stoudemire's play as seen a precipitous drop since the arrival of Anthony and the team has struggled at times offensively.

The Knicks were just 8-15 this season until the emergence of Jeremy Lin, and people were wondering if the two stars could ever play well together.

Now, the Knicks have a point guard and it's time to see how good they can be.

Last season, Anthony and Stoudemire couldn't have been expected to click right away. That's too much to expect for two guys who started playing together in the middle of the season with no practice time.

At the beginning of this season, Anthony struggled through injuries and was expected to be a distributor, a role he had never taken on before.

With a legitimate player to run the offense in Lin, the Knicks finally have the pieces in place to be one of the best teams in the East.

If New York can't put it together this season, it might be time to admit the experiment did not work out.