Former Knicks Regroup in Denver With Mixed Emotions 23  february  2011

The New York Times
There is always another side to a trade. For the four former Knicks — Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov — it came in the shadows of the elation and expectations of the Knicks’ acquisition of Carmelo Anthony, and also at their expense.
Felton and Chandler’s final public act as Knicks was ducking reporters and leaving through a side door at Monday’s practice. Mozgov and Gallinari addressed the news media, but the 3-team, 13-player deal had yet to be agreed upon.

The four players had stoked interest in the Knicks in different ways. Felton played aggressively and teamed with Amar’e Stoudemire as team captains and impactful free agents, helping nullify the disappointment when LeBron James bypassed the club in free agency on his way to Miami. Chandler was a holdover from Isiah Thomas’s regime and had grown into a consistent scorer. Gallinari was a fan favorite, an accurate shooter and a player who many believe has yet to reach his potential. The Knicks surprised Mozgov, a 7-footer, with a contract last summer, and he rewarded them by learning and improving. Each is 26 or younger.

“I’m not sad,” Gallinari said. “I don’t have any particular emotions now. When I first came there, three years ago, that’s the mentality that you have to approach the N.B.A. Anything can happen, so you can’t be mad at some trades. You’ve just got to live with it and do the best you can. They pay me to play basketball. That’s the only thing I’ve got to concentrate on and do.”

Felton said he was tired of talking about the trade, even though it had been official for only a few hours.

“I’m here where a team wants me,” Felton said. “The Denver Nuggets wanted me. New York didn’t, so that’s why things happened.”

Felton sent a message through his agent to Denver management asking that none of the incoming Knicks be traded before Thursday’s deadline. He wanted to show their worth together, he said.

“I’m happy to be here,” Felton said. “I don’t even want to hear about it or talk about the trade no more. We’ve done talked about it for three months straight and I don’t even want to talk about no trade. I’m a Denver Nugget now, and I’m happy to be here.”

The bounty of Knicks is a lot to give up and does not touch on the draft picks or the Minnesota portion of the deal, which will have far less of an impact with the dealings of Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph. The Knicks are banking that superstars win championships and that the addition of the proven Chauncey Billups will be an adequate transfer in ball handling from Felton.

The four arrived in Denver together in time to see the final half of Denver’s 120-107 win over Memphis. Denver improved to 33-25, while the Knicks are 28-26 entering Wednesday night’s game against Milwaukee.

Side by side, Felton, Gallinari, Chandler and Mozgov walked through the tunnel in the fourth quarter and were introduced to a Pepsi Center crowd that offered a standing ovation.

Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system should serve the four players well in Denver. The Nuggets score a league-high 107.6 points. The Knicks’ 106.2 average is second.

“It’s a similar way to play basketball for sure, so it’s not going to be tough for that,” Gallinari said.

Denver has the West’s seventh seed, and the new players arrive in a conference where teams do not make the playoffs by winning as many as they lose. Nuggets Coach George Karl is considering playing the new players in the same rotation to maintain fluidity. He added that Gallinari needed to be “challenged defensively.”

“We have similar philosophies,” Karl said. “They are going to have to get used to our terminology. You don’t want to make it too complicated. Playing hard, playing defense and playing together is much more important than the X’s and O’s of the next couple practices we have.”

Chandler said Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president, phoned him Monday. “That made it a little bit better,” said Chandler, whose involvement in such a trade had been speculated for months. “At least I didn’t hear it any other kind of way.”

Chandler expressed a deep interest in staying in New York before the trade. He will be a restricted free agent over the summer and may end being only a rental player here.

“It was tough the last couple days, but just to get started, I’m pretty excited, you know?” Chandler said.
Source http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/sports/basketball/24nug...