Phil Jackson is about to head in to his first offseason as the man in charge of the New York Knicks. The most important order of business is to figure out the Carmelo Anthony situation. Ian Begley of ESPN reported that Jackson and Carmelo discussed the future over dinner. If the report is accurate, Jackson showed his hand and Carmelo is gone.
Jackson reportedly said he’d like Carmelo to remain with the Knicks, but asked him to take a pay cut. This is a genius move by the Zen Master. Carmelo is going to be a free agent for the first time in his career. It may be the only time his value will be near it’s peak when he’s getting wined and dined by multiple NBA teams.
Jackson asking Carmelo to take a pay cut shows he made a (weak) effort to keep him, while in the same breath, telling him they can’t afford him. In reality, it appears Jackson doesn’t want Carmelo at all. If he did, he’d make it happen.
Carmelo is likely leaving New York
So now what? Where does Carmelo go? Who does Phil go after to come to the Knicks? Those questions are hard to speculate at the moment, but there’s a couple scenarios that could be in the early stages of happening.
Rumors have been swirling for quite some time that Carmelo would be open to joining Derrick Rose in Chicago with the Bulls. Would this leave an opening in New York for a guy like Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love? The All-Star power foward has connections to Jackson, dating back to his college days at UCLA. Every general manager has to start by getting “his guy,” and Jackson needs that, especially when Carmelo leaves. Like Carmelo, rumors from “within Love’s circles” have New York as preferred destination for Love. Something tells me if Jackson wanted a guy like Love that bad, he’d find a way to do it. They’d have to work out a trade, but we’ve seen crazier things happen.
The Los Angeles Lakers also seem to be planning for a major spending spree. When was the last time both the Knicks and Lakers were doing that at the same time? It’s something to keep an eye on, specifically once the 2014 NBA draft lottery results are announced on May 20th.
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