The Stankoniforous Files

CP3 talks about joining a potential Knicks trio. And given what just went down with LBJ, Wade, and Bosh we have to treat this as plausible now.

"We'll form our own Big 3," Paul allegedly said.

Now that is indeed important.  Stank-0 earlier posited about an Amar'e-Melo-Parker triumvirate, well the wrong PG was mentioned in that post. 

It seems that the Knicks are focusing on next summer when Melo and CP3 are both free agents.  It makes perfect sense in light of the Knicks not getting LeBron and having all that extra money laying around. 

Let's play with this scenario shall we?

This permanently shifts the power to the Eastern Conference. The West becomes an afterthought because the Lakers are still the best team out there and no one has proven they can step up and take them down.

The Knicks, Heat, Celtics, Magic, and Bulls are fighting each other for the next 3-4 seasons at minimum.  The East is starting to look tougher and tougher.  This might raise the ceiling on how many games you have to win the make the playoffs. 

That leaves three playoff spots to the lower tier East such as the Hawks, Bucks, Bobcats, Pacers, Pistons, and 76ers.  No more throwaway games because you can't afford to.

Now it might not swing the Knicks' way. At this point, they have Stat and a bunch of spare parts. What would be Melo and/or CP3's incentive to sign with NY?

This will bare some watching.  Have we entered into an era similar to the 80s, when players seems to collect on a few select teams?

h/t to Yardbarker