The New York Knicks don’t appear any closer to resolving the Carmelo Anthony trade saga. They are, however, scouting Boston Celtics games, and Beantown’s head honcho, despite the sentiments of team president Danny Ainge, would welcome Melo’s arrival.
According to the Boston Globe‘s Gary Washburn:
A source indicated that Knicks president Phil Jackson has instructed management to move Anthony, who has a no-trade clause but included the Celtics as one of the teams for whom he’d waive the clause. Boston could become part of a potential three-team deal that would send Anthony to another club, perhaps the Clippers.
An NBA source said Celtics coach Brad Stevens would embrace coaching Anthony, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has rejected any deal. That hasn’t stopped the Knicks from scouting Celtics players just in case Boston is willing to become part of a trade.
If the Celtics are involved in a potential Antony deal, it’s probably as a third team that’s facilitating the transfer of picks, prospects and salary-cap relief. But the current rumors don’t jibe one bit with them joining the party.
The Celtics don’t want Anthony, for one, and that’s not going to change. They need to solve defensive problems, not add a ball-dominant scorer to the fold.
That complicates their involvement as a potential third team, because the possible Los Angeles Clippers deal would only land them the likes of a Wesley Johnson, J.J. Redick or Jamal Crawford, or a Lance Thomas-type if the Knicks are getting super desperate (read: stupid). And there isn’t a single combination of those players that moves the Celtics’ needle to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ standing.
Boston has recently taken ownership of the East’s No. 2 seed and needn’t facilitate trades just for the sake of doing something. Any move the Celtics make has to noticeably improve and deepen their team, and involving themselves in an Anthony trade, as it’s rumored to be structured now, doesn’t really track—unless they are super high on Redick, Johnson or Thomas (or whatever).
