Jazz, Nuggets better off w/o their superstars

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors were morality tales, cautionary lessons for other franchises to learn.  You do not let your Superstar walk.

Now, teams that traded away Superstars traditionally tanked for it, but the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets learned the lesson, heeded the caution, and got pretty good deals for losing their stars.

The Nuggets have had one of the best records in the NBA if you go back to the game after the trade happened.  Denver was able to pad their bench, and Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler were great teammates.  It's unfortunate for the Nuggets that the lockout happened and Chandler signed in China without an opt-out clause. 

But now how is Carmelo Anthony doing?  His Knicks first with the 7th-8th seed in the playoffs, a guaranteed first-round exit team if they even make the playoffs, and that's with Amare Stoudamire and Tyson Chandler on his team?  Why such a struggle for this B-grade Big 3?  Simple.  The Knicks have no bench.  Lose a guy to injury and you have no one to replace him.   Iman Shumpert, their first-round draft pick who raised eyebrows when he was selected, has been outstanding for them, but he's already missed three games.  Even with everyone healthy, they're not that good.  Toney Douglas's shot has been off, and like most Mike D'Antoni players, can't play defense.  Mike Bibby?  Jared Jeffries?  Yikes.

The Jazz meanwhile were expected to go through a down year, and based on the way they played their first two games, it was a fair assumption.  But coach Tyrone Corbin was able to put in his own system, and his preaching of unselfishness has his team echoing, "Amen!"  Al Jefferson has learned how to pass, Devin Harris has learned how to rotate, and Paul Millsap is using his lack of starting opening night as motivation to show the world he belongs as an NBA starter, maybe even an All-Star.  The unselfishness is contagious and when a guy has a bad night, Ty finds the right matchups to let the next guy excel.  Gordon Hayward was off against the Clippers; CJ Miles cam in and scored 19.  Josh Howard and Derrick Favors were injured.  More playing time for Alec Burks, Jeremy Evan and Enes Kanter, and each took advantage.

But Deron Williams and the Nets are one of the worst teams in the league, no question.  And with the second-best player (Brook Lopez) out until March, it's not going to get better.  The Nets gave up a lot to get D-Will (Favors, Harris, the pick that turned into Enes Kanter, and this summer's Golden State pick) but that meant nothing was left in the cupboard.  Even so, it's strange to see five ex-Jazz players do so poorly.  Do they remember nothing Sloan taught them?  Is Avery Johnson the problem?  Bottom line for Deron, he looked forlorn sitting on the bench when they played the Jazz, seeing how many good teammates there were on one team, maybe dreaming of the day when he was in the discussion about who the best point guard in the NBA is.