[Xiao Yao You]

Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor made Knicks president Donnie Walsh aware for the first time that it could have been Deron Wiliams wearing the Knicks jersey and not Anthony if those days and dealings had gone differently. As O’Connor told Walsh approximately an hour before the game and would later repeat in an interview with NBA Confidential, he targeted the Nets’ and Knicks’ assets and decided to play the waiting game. Somebody would lose in the Anthony sweepstakes, and that team would immediately hear from O’Connor to discuss a marvelous Plan B.

Why not offer him before as a plan A? Knicks would have preferred Williams running the pick and roll with Amare to Carmelo and Amare fighting over shots certainly. Just plain stupid.

New Jersey played that role in the end, jumping at the chance to give the Jazz the same package they’d presented to the Nuggets in order to land Williams after Anthony went to New York and signed a three-year, $65 million extension. O’Connor said other teams had inquired about the All-Star point guard in the days leading up to the deal, but not the Knicks or the Nets. New Jersey general manager Billy King said the possibility was first raised after Anthony was traded. “(O’Connor) called me just to say sorry about (not getting) Melo,” King said by phone on Wednesday. “We talked about that, and he made another proposal not including Deron. I countered with something including Deron. He said, let me think about it, then he countered another way, then said, ‘let me talk to the owner and let’s talk in the morning.’ He calls in the morning and says, ‘we’ve got a deal.’”

He countered once. Done deal. Amazing! If the Nuggets had done that they would have gotten a lot less than they did by dragging it out.