Following Denver's success in trading Carmelo Anthony for a bevy of starter quality players and substantial financial savings, culminating a process that began in the summer, I believed this would serve as the new model for how to trade a franchise superstar.

When Vince Carter wanted a trade from the Raptors in 2004, Rob Babcock hastily traded him to the Nets and received three first round picks and three aging veterans, one of whom (Alonzo Mourning) refused to play for the team. The trade accomplished very little in terms of rebuilding the team around Chris Bosh. This was an example of how not to acquire appropriate value for your star player.

While the Jazz somewhat hastily completed this Deron Williams trade in their own right, acquiring Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and two first round picks is certainly not a bad return. Especially considering every indication given by Williams ever since the Ronnie Brewer giveaway a season ago indicates signing an extension with the Jazz was a longshot.

After a very public battle for Anthony with their local rival, where said superstar demonstrated a reluctance to join the franchise, the Nets desperately needed to make a significant move that would change the trajectory of their franchise on the court and also its perception around the NBA.

The Nets also struck out badly during the 2010 offseason, striking out on their pursuit of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer and Rudy Gay, amongst others. The failure to acquire one of the super free agents led the team to sign several middling role players, most erroneously a $35 million contract over five seasons to Travis Outlaw.

In Williams, the Nets acquire a point guard who is at the top of that elite heap at the position. Choosing between Williams, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook has become more about personal preference than any type of objective exercise.

He probably isn't the most dominant point guard at this very moment (I would say Paul or Rose), but the way he is built suggests the kind of durability that will allow him to play into his 30s like a Jason Kidd, if he remains committed to his fitness.

He will turn 27 this July, which coincides with when he becomes eligible to sign an extension with the club (pending the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement).

Williams averages 20.2 points, 9.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds per 36 minutes and has vastly improved his ability to draw fouls this season, getting to the line 6.3 times per 36. His assist rate has dropped a little bit this season, but his usage has increased as he has been forced to score a little bit more given the relative decline of his supporting cast following the Boozer departure.

Despite the usage increase and the consensus around NBA coaching staffs that the Jazz only go as Williams goes, he has nudged up his TS% to 58.7%. This only trails Paul amongst the group of point guards listed above. His PER this season ranks him fifth behind Paul, Westbrook, Steve Nash and Rose (in that order), but the difference between the five is not statistically significant.

Williams has been unable to get the Jazz over the hump in the playoffs, but his best teammate is not typically the third or even fourth best player on the floor and he is not quite good enough to overcome that gap. Being able to overcome that gap is something we rarely see, regardless of a player's station.

Point guards are capable of helping a team overachieve and become greater than the sum of their parts, but point guards typically have needed other great players to become title contenders. Williams makes his teammates better, but not in an extraordinary way as we have seen from Nash and Paul at times in their careers.

The Nets, therefore, must and will go all-in with ensuring their ability to acquire Dwight Howard. Howard is eligible for free agency in 2012 and there are an infinitude of questions that need to be answered in regards to the new CBA about New Jersey's ability to sign him outright, or if a trade similar to this one and the Anthony deal would have to be brokered. New Jersey's main remaining trade chip for something that ambitious will be Brook Lopez, who has seen his stock decline dramatically this season, but is fully capable of a rebound (literally and figuratively).

If it continues to look like Howard's future is in either Orlando or Los Angeles, the Nets can keep the Williams and Lopez combo in tact and then look to absorbing an already signed wing with their cap space. Whenever we think about wing players who can be somewhat easily acquired, Danny Granger and Andre Iguodala pop to mind and both would be excellent fits as the wing anchor.

The Nets move forward in the interim with Williams, Lopez, Kris Humphries and Anthony Morrow as a starting five. While substituting out Harris for Williams should result in a more productive brand of basketball, the talent level around Williams has probably declined from where it was with the Jazz and making the playoffs in 11-12 is far from a certainty.

This is where the big risk resides for the Nets, as they have no guarantee for an extension. If the Nets show no promise (either on the floor or to acquire Howard), they risk renting him for a year and a half after trading away the store to get him.

There may be some feelings of regret from the Knicks on Wednesday morning that they could have used their Anthony trade package for Williams, while keeping either Danilo Gallinari or Timofey Mozgov and then signed Anthony outright in the summer to be one year ahead of schedule. The veracity of that sentiment is inconsequential, at least in the mind of Mikhail Prokhorov. 

Ultimately, this is an excellent first move by the Nets to return to relevance. The Eastern Conference just got stronger and the budding rivalry between the Knicks and Nets has increased one full notch and it will reach a boiling point if New York is able to acquire Chris Paul in 2012.

If any franchise needed LeBron James it was the Nets, because only he was capable of turning them around on the court and also in terms of becoming relevant. Williams is a very good player, but he won't transform the Nets overnight in either area.

Grade for Nets: A-

The Jazz have lost both their franchise player and longtime head coach, Jerry Sloan, in a matter of weeks. This is reminiscent of what happened to the Warriors in the 94-95 season when a personal dispute between Don Nelson and Chris Webber led to a trade of one then the departure of the other. The pattern was in reverse this time, but at least the Jazz are acquiring something that approaches equal value in Harris, Favors and two first round picks instead of Tom Gugliotta and three first round picks from the Bullets.

Trading Williams now doesn't sit well on an emotional level, because he's too good to give up on without pause and without feeling like you did everything to build around him and keep him in the long-term. But the lessons learned by the Cavaliers and Raptors is that you cannot prop up a substandard supporting cast around a superstar, pray for the best and expect results. Cleveland had to do what they did with LeBron James because he was so uniquely good that it could have worked, but the Jazz are breaking up a seventh or eighth seed and not a team that has won the most regular season games in the past two years.

Favors has undoubtedly had a disappointing rookie season overall and it is difficult to confidently project what his career will look like, but he is 19, 6-10, very athletic and very skilled. He was the third overall pick under a year ago and has every chance of becoming one of the better bigs in the Western Conference. The demeanor of Favors suggests secondary star, while his skills have primary star potential; this is the quandary of Derrick Favors.

But out of all the assets traded from the Tri-State area to the Rockies this week, Favors is the most valuable.

For Utah, I would then put New Jersey's lottery pick significantly ahead of Harris, because the unknown of youth and upside that can come with it serves the Jazz far more than Harris could. The Jazz had New York's lottery pick a year ago and went with Gordon Hayward; this time around the front office needs to be more ambitious in their pursuit of star upside.

I would think Harris holds more value to the Jazz as a trade piece than as a player they would want to keep. The Blazers and Mavericks have each expressed a strong interest in Harris, so flipping him to one of those teams would net several more assets that will help expedite the rebuild process around Favors as the first block.

Trading Al Jefferson away would also be prudent for Utah, if they have enough hours between now and 3:00 PM Thursday to negotiate.

I would have preferred to see the Jazz drag out this process another few hours to see if the Nets could improve their offer by bringing other teams to the negotiations, but they received the closest thing to fair value they could (all things considered).

Grade for Jazz: B+

The Warriors are financial bystanders in this trade, not improving their team in any way that matters on the floor. This is a new ownership group for Golden State, but it appears to be business as usual.

Joe Lacob wanted a second round pick in 2012 and now he has one, so I guess this makes up for selling their pick pre-sale in 2010? There are a lot more Chris Tafts in the second round than Landry Fields, so the probability of drafting a rotation player in the 30s remains low.

This also closes the book on Brandan Wright's injury-plagued career with the Warriors and the Jason Richardson to Charlotte trade that was believed to be a potential precursor for Kevin Garnett at the time.

Grade for Warriors: C