Carmelo Anthony Trade Would Make Rip Hamilton & Troy Murphy Fantasy-Relevant

The never-ending ‘Melo’ saga could be end up being the biggest trade in NBA history. Without even including the draft picks, it has been reported that up to 17 players could be exchanged between the Nets, Nuggets and Pistons. The deal could be official by Monday Jan 10. Here is the breakdown of the key players, followed by the fantasy implications for each of them:

To the Nets: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, and Richard Hamilton

To the Nuggets: Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Anthony Morrow, Stephen Graham and two first-round draft picks

To the Pistons: Troy Murphy

Fantasy Implications:

Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups are the biggest fantasy players involved and should continue to provide productive stat lines as members of the New Jersey Nets.

Billups actually gets a slight bump in stats as the move to the Eastern Conference equals a drop in the caliber of point guards that he would face on a nightly basis. He will be matched up against the top Eastern Conference point guards – Derrick Rose (Bulls) and Rajon Rondon (Celtics) only a couple of times, but he would have far fewer games against the barrage of star Western Conference point guards – Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tony Parker, Steve Nash and Russell Westbrook .

Billups has been vocal about his preference to remain in Denver even if it means closing out his career during the rebuilding process. While it is clear that a move to New Jersey would not be welcomed, Billups is a professional and he should continue to produce, wherever he ends up.

Carmelo Anthony should also benefit from the easier schedule, where only a handful of Eastern Conference teams could consider defense to be their strength. Bringing Billups over will ease the transition for Melo and with Brook Lopez commanding a lot of the defense’s attention, the former Syracuse Orangemen should continue to put up big scoring numbers. His rebounds could take hit due to rebound-machine, Kris Humphries grabbing all the boards, but his overall fantasy value will remain high.

Both Troy Murphy and Rip Hamilton will benefit tremendously from the trade.

Troy Murphy has been in the doghouse of Nets coach Avery Johnson for the entire season and a move to the Pistons will allow him to return to fantasy-relevancy. The Pistons are stacked with big man role players, but Murphy should still be able to provide rebounds and threes on a nightly basis, provided he leaves his injury bug in New Jersey.

After a decade of averaging at least 17 points per game, Rip Hamilton has been coming off the bench this season, playing just 26 minutes and scoring under 13.6 points per game. If the trade went through, Hamilton would start at shooting guard, considering that the Nets’ two previous SG starters Stephen Graham and Anthony Morrow, would be sent to Denver. Although his glory days are long gone, Rip can still score and has been averaging a career-high 1.2 three-pointers per game this season.

Devin Harris will once again be joining a team in the rebuilding phase (traded from Dallas to New Jersey in 2008), and will continue to provide points, assists, and steals. His biggest detriment is his health (or lack thereof), as Harris has not eclipsed 70 games since the 2006-07 season. Denver also possesses one of the top backup point guards in Ty Lawson, so even when healthy, look for a drop in Devin’s minutes.

Derrick Favors should get even more of an opportunity to develop in Denver. He would no longer have to battle for power forward minutes with overachieving Kris Humphries.  Sheldon Williams would be out of Denver, Kenyon Martin would be injured, and Al Harrington would continue coming off the bench.

Sharpshooting Anthony Morrow would likely start at small forward if traded to Denver. Still, his fantasy value is limited to points and threes and has not been very durable through his first three seasons in the NBA.

Written by Win My Fantasy League Senior Writer Justin Hasan (J-Has)