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New York Knicks Making Wrong Move by Not Trading Carmelo Anthony
The New York Knicks are running out of time to bite the bullet.
As relayed by the New York Post's Marc Berman, Carmelo Anthony recently said the following during an interview with ESPN:
“I don’t think I’ll be traded. When is the trade deadline. [Thursday]? I don’t think there’s no way possible I’ll be traded. I don’t think they’re even considering it. If they feel they want to get rid of me, we’d already have had that conversation already. I don’t think that. I know for a fact I’m not being traded and I know for a fact I’m not going in there saying I want to be traded.”
Well, that's dumb.
Sorry, but I'm not going to mince my words on this topic. 'Melo choosing not to request a trade is fine, but the Knicks refusing to even consider dealing him is lunacy at its finest.
That would be par for the course when discussing a franchise that just continues sinking toward the ground as it pursues a championship, a goal that has remained elusive for over four decades. But one would assume the Knicks want to, you know, get off the schneid.
Trying to remain patient with the Anthony experiment won't help. It's time to look for trade options.
This season has been an unmitigated disaster, an NBA version of Murphy's Law if there ever was one. The Knicks enter the All-Star break with a 20-32 record, and they're outside the playoff picture even in a historically weak Eastern Conference.
Should they turn things around during the second half of the season, they'll still be nothing more than sacrificial lambs, awaiting slaughter at the hands of the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers. At best, they'll get up to No. 6 in the standings and have a shot at facing the powerhouses in the second round.
That's going to leave a bitter taste in 'Melo's mouth as he enters the decision-making portion of the year, and the future plan isn't going to change that.
Other than Tim Hardaway Jr. and Iman Shumpert, not many players are imbued with upside. There aren't going to be many breakouts, which means Steve Mills will be looking elsewhere for help.
But where?
The draft? Definitely not, as the Knicks won't have a pick in the 2014 NBA draft, only have a first-round selection and zero second-round picks in 2015 and then come up empty in 2016. The best-case scenario involves hitting the jackpot in 2015 and waiting a little while before a rookie becomes a championship-caliber contributor.
How about free agency?
In order to have any cap space this offseason, Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire would both have to opt out of their contracts, then Anthony would have to take a significant pay cut. And good luck getting STAT to turn up his nose at $23.4 million dollars when he probably couldn't sign a multi-year deal for that much combined money at this stage of his career.
The Knicks will be left building up their roster through minimum deals and the various exceptions afforded to them by the CBA. Things open up in 2015-16, when ShamSports.com reveals the franchise only has $13,389,155 committed.
But the Knicks still have to attract free agents.
In the past, they've been able to rely on deep pockets and the allure of playing in the Big Apple. However, with Dolan sitting in an office, an unmistakable stench of losing swirling around the organization and plenty of teams in better shape to compete for a title, what gives Anthony any assurance that the Knicks can draw in premier players? Nothing.
A plan to sign free agents is not a guarantee.