Oh, what could have been.
Ahead of the Knicks’ loss to the Rockets on Monday night, Carmelo Anthony—who left the game with back spasms—admitted that Dwight Howard, who didn’t even play, tried really hard to get him to sign in Houston. Not to spoil the end of this story, but it didn’t work. Anthony remained with the Knicks, somewhat loyally and, therefore, foolishly. Still, he had nothing but good things to say about Howard and the Rockets, per the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
Carmelo Anthony said he has no regrets about turning down the Rockets this summer, but acknowledged he took “a long, deep look at it’’ after Dwight Howard sold him hard.
…
“All that stuff was intriguing, all that stuff I took a real good look at,’’ Anthony said at the Knicks morning shootaround at Toyota Center. “The weather, the tax situation, things that come along with being here in Houston. I took a deep look at it.’’
The Rockets placed behind the runner-up Bulls in the Melo Sweepstakes, and some reports suggested even the moribund Lakers piqued his curiosity more than living in Texas. Entering free agency, Anthony said in a video interview with Vice Sports that moving his young son, Kiyan, to a different spot in the country would be a potential deterrent.
But one persistent center known as “Superman’’ kept the Rockets in the hunt. They were able to open cap space for a max deal by trading Omer Asik and having a tentative deal in place for Jeremy Lin.
“We had some great dialogue back and forth,’’ Anthony said of his discussions with Howard. “I talked to him. We talked about some things. Ultimately it came down to what I really felt and really wanted at that moment. We had some contact and conversations. He tried. He tried extremely hard. It didn’t have anything to do with Dwight or James [Harden]. It came down to my own personal decision.’’
Bet you the Rockets seem like an even more intriguing destination now, even with Howard watching from the sidelines. Their offense borders on broken, but their shot selection isn’t outdated like the Knicks’. Their defense has also spent ample time atop the league, unlike the Knicks’ points-prevention prowess, which is associated with words and phrases such as “turnstile,” “porous,” “nonexistent” and “sloppy shitfest.”
There’s no telling how different things would be for the Rockets if Anthony didn’t follow his heart and routing-number fetish. They wouldn’t have signed Trevor Ariza and probably would have kept Chandler Parsons, making for an all-time offense. Defensively, though, they might have been screwed. Ariza has been a boon for their defensive stock. Would James Harden still be periodically trying on that end of the floor if he was playing beside Anthony instead of Ariza?
No matter what, though, the Rockets would have been an intriguing superpower. A formidable superpower. That’s what Anthony missed out on by staying in New York. And though no team—not the Bulls, not the Lakers, not the Rockets—has done enough to make him wholly regret his choice, the Knicks, in all their fantastic futility, are doing everything in their power to ensure he second guesses his decision.
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.
