Why the Melo Trade Was Good

Despite being swept by the Celtics, having few draft picks, and possibly minimal cap room, depending on where it get set, the Knicks are in a vastly better position than they were before the Melo trade. Yes, we need depth, a center, a point guard who isn't a member of AARP and some three-point shooting, but the presence of two super stars (yes, super stars) at the forward spots puts us in a position to be among the NBA's elite. According to John Hollinger's PER ranking, the following are the pairs of teammates to rank in the top 20 in the NBA:

Melo/Amare - Knicks
Wade/James - Heat
Durant/Westbrook - Thunder
Bryant/Gasol - Lakers
Duncan/Ginobli - Spurs

Expand it to the top 30, and the only other team with more than one is the Celtics, with Pierce and Garnett.

What do those teams have in common?

The one, two and three seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs. The only exception is Chicago, with the league's MVP at #9 and Carlos Boozer at #40.

They are all also still alive in the playoffs, except for the Spurs.

Our super stars have many issues (Amare doesn't rebound and neither play any defense), but their pairing is a start towards greatness. Maybe Gallo turns into Dirk 2.0 or Chandler into Melo 2.0, but we have the original now, and the Knicks future is only looking better for it.