Sometimes, dinner can be the most important meal of the day.
That’s how it was for the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, when team president Phil Jackson and star free-agent-to-be Carmelo Anthony discussed the latter’s future while breaking bread, according to ESPN New York’s Ian Begley:
New York Knicks president Phil Jackson met with Carmelo Anthony on Tuesday night at a Manhattan restaurant to discuss the team’s coaching situation and the star forward’s pending free agency, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation.
The New York Post‘s Marc Berman provided additional details later on:
Sources said Jackson was seen arriving at American Cut at 8:30 p.m. and waited at the bar. Anthony arrived soon after to meet him, a witness said.
The duo was then seen heading through the dining room and into to the restaurant’s “ultra-private” Black Room in the back of the restaurant.
The room seats 16, but Jackson and Anthony were alone in the room, the source said, describing it as a place with marble tables and leather chairs. They met for two hours before leaving, the witness said.
A source said the duo was in “deep conversation” during their meeting.
There were so many issues on the table to discuss — Anthony’s July 1 free agency, the future plan to build a championship team with 2015 cap space and the potential hiring of Steve Kerr as head coach. And of course, paycuts and triangles.
Good to know that Jackson is exploiting his edge here. Since the Knicks are Anthony’s incumbent team and he’s technically still in their employ, they can have little powwows like these and start pitching their star earlier than everyone else, which is just as important as being able to offer him more money.
The timing could not have hurt either. Two teams expected to show interest in Anthony, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Clippers, were both going through some of their own stuff at the time.
Any chance the Clippers had of landing Anthony dissipated into nothingness after Donald Sterling once again revealed himself to be an unrepentant bigot. The only way Melo could join them is via trade. No way, no how Anthony exerts the leverage he would need to get there now. Not after Sterling went all Sterling.
The Bulls, meanwhile, were eliminated from playoff contention by the Washington Wizards Tuesday night. They fell in five games. While the Knicks couldn’t even make the playoffs, a premature postseason exit certainly doesn’t help the Bulls. Most it does is increase Chicago’s aggression in any Anthony pursuit.
That leaves the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, the latter of whom is still more likely to preserve free-agency funds for summer 2015. So, really, that leaves the Rockets, who must first shed Omer Asik’s and Jeremy Lin’s salaries before even thinking about offering Anthony a contract. They, along with the Bulls, are the Knicks’ biggest threats.
Regardless of how limited Anthony’s options are becoming, this is a meeting Jackson and the Knicks needed to have. Anthony needs time to let their plans marinate, to digest their future outlook. Jackson also made some leading comments just after the regular season, which suggest he expects Anthony to remain true to his word and take a pay cut.
Ballsy? After not making the playoffs, absolutely. But it was also savvy, and puts some of the pressure back on Melo himself while absolving the Knicks of some blame. Combine Jackson’s expectations with Mike Woodson’s dismissal, the team’s subsequent coaching search, the plan to implement system basketball and the approach to summer 2015, when the Knicks will be flush with enough cap space to chase superstar free agents, and this becomes an uber-important dinner.
Suck it, breakfast.
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.
