Carmelo Anthony is a member of the New York Knicks and that’s not going to change—at least not until this summer.
A source told Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears “there is ‘no chance’ the Knicks will deal Carmelo Anthony, who owns a contract opt-out this summer, before the trade deadline.”
Although it’s been said before, it’s worth saying again. The Knicks are bad. So bad, that Anthony is a flight risk this summer when he hits unrestricted free agency. Many would have New York cuts its losses now and move on, capitalize off his departure while there’s still time.
But anyone familiar with how the Knicks do business know that was never really an option. Unless Anthony requests a trade, he isn’t going anywhere. And he’s not going to request a trade, because he’s sensitive to public perception. It’s the same reason why he’s deflected any involvement in determining head coach Mike Woodson’s future.
From the New York Daily News‘ Frank Isola:
According to a team source, Dolan is obviously troubled by the Knicks’ 19-30 record and is contemplating removing head coach Mike Woodson. The Knick hierarchy is divided on whether Woodson has lost the locker room and the chairman of Madison Square Garden was wise to take the temperature of the franchise player. Dolan, though, also runs the risk of alienating Anthony if the public perception is that the All-Star forward, who is extremely sensitive to the notion that he is a “coach killer,” is at all responsible for running Woodson out of town.
Anthony seemed to suggest as much following Wednesday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers when he told reporters in response to the possibility of a coaching change or possible trades: “If something was to happen then it’s out of my hands.”
Anthony met with reporters before he was called into a meeting with Dolan.
“There may be players that have a problem with Woody and want to blame him but Carmelo isn’t one of them,” said a person close to Anthony. “If Carmelo has tuned out Woody or doesn’t want him as a coach, why did he score 62 points two weeks ago? Why was he player of the month in January?”
In less than three years time, Anthony has already shouldered blame for running both Mike D’Antoni and Jeremy Lin out of town and he won’t want to be responsible for Woodson’s departure. And he most definitely won’t want to be linked with the nonsense that comes with demanding a trade from the team he once demanded a trade to. That’s some soap opera-esque turn of events right there.
Enough criticism will be hurled Anthony’s way if he decides to leave this summer, but it won’t be nearly as bad as it would be should he exert his current leverage. If and when he leaves over the summer, some people might understand. He didn’t come to New York for this, for all this losing. He gave it a shot and it didn’t work out. If he attempted to leave now, words like “quitter” and “sellout” will gain more traction than they would later on.
Back to the matter at hand, though: Are the Knicks being naive?
Yes and no.
Owner James Dolan is a tyrant and abides by his own sick, twisted managerial code. He’s also known for overpaying superstars, not selling them, so trading Anthony will never be an option in his head.
This is one of the few time when we should agree, though. Dealing Anthony won’t replenish New York’s shallow draft-pick and tangible-asset pool enough. Not when he’s a flight risk for whatever team he’s traded to. The return would be lukewarm at best.
You also have to look at it through the eyes of everything that’s been done. Every decision the Knicks have made has been with Anthony in mind. They didn’t come all this way just to give up. They’re going to hope against hope they land another superstar before this summer or that Anthony’s sold on the idea of an all-out Rajon Rondo pursuit in 2015. That’s what they have left, the only cards they can play.
And they’re going to play them, even though it means they run the risk of losing Anthony for nothing this summer.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
