No deal? Melo circus on way
BARRING an 11th-hour deal, Carmelo Anthony will remain with the Knicks next week when the team holds their annual media day to tip off the start of training camp. So while the message is one of rebuilding and looking toward the future, the focus will stay on Carmelo’s uncertain status and the dysfunction that intensified during the Phil Jackson era. Or error. Take your pick.
In July, a source familiar with the negotiations between the Knicks and Houston Rockets told The Daily News that the teams had discussed parameters of a potential trade, and that the deal was on the “two-yard line.” To be this close and not hit paydirt is something only Giants head coach Ben McAdoo and Eli Manning can truly appreciate.
If Jackson doesn’t get fired, the deal likely would have been completed. But things got complicated quickly, much to the chagrin of Camp Melo.
The Knicks under new team president Steve Mills and new general manager Scott Perry are well within their right to wait for the best deal possible before finally sending Carmelo on his way. The problem, however, is that Carmelo has limited his trade list to one team, the Rockets. So, unless Houston can find someone to take Ryan Anderson’s contract (he’s owed over $60M over the next three seasons), Carmelo is stuck in limbo.
Anthony’s camp is cautiously optimistic that a deal will be struck before Monday, and trying not to think about the potential media circus that will take place if Carmelo is still with the Knicks. Two weeks ago, Carmelo’s wife, La La, said the family thought a trade would have been completed by now.
Mentally, Carmelo and his family have moved on to Houston. Reality is another story. Hopefully, Mills and Perry will have the right answers when they address the media on Friday because the Carmelo issue isn’t going away until he goes away.
But this is how the Knicks have always operated. The dysfunction starts on Day 1 and picks up speed once the season starts. Last year, Derrick Rose missed most of the preseason while attending a sexual assault trial in Los Angeles. This year, training camp could be hijacked by the uncertainty surrounding the team’s two best players, Carmelo and Kristaps Porzingis.
On Tuesday, the Knicks introduced Jarrett Jack and Michael Beasley to local media members because they’re both new additions and because Anthony and Porzingis were not available.
The former no longer wants to play for the Knicks while the latter isn’t too thrilled about the organization either, as evidenced by his keeping his word to stay as far away from the team as possible during the offseason.
Porzingis, who returned home to Latvia in late April, is expected to arrive in New York this weekend. The plan then calls for Porzingis to report at the Knicks training facility on Monday for the first time since blowing off his exit meeting. In other words, he is tentatively scheduled to arrive on Monday.
Other than text messages, the Knicks have had little-to-no contact with their future franchise star, although they did send Porzingis a not-so-subtle message by not renewing the contract of his favorite assistant coach, Josh Longstaff, who has since re-surfaced with the Atlanta Hawks. That move did not sit well with Porzingis, who is not a fan of head coach Jeff Hornacek or lead assistant Kurt Rambis. Things are about to get interesting. And we’re not even in October yet.
Porzingis elected to train back in his homeland while Anthony has stayed away from the Knicks practice facility, choosing instead to conduct private workouts that seem to always make their way to social media.
Those workouts are taking place under the watchful eye of Chris Brickley, who was let go by the Knicks after the season. That’s right — Carmelo, who wants to be an ex-Knick, is being trained by an ex-Knicks employee.
Brickley seems like a harmless guy who has connections and who has clearly perfected the art of selfpromotion. He constantly posts videos of NBA players, superstars and role players alike, working out with him. Rumor has it the ultimate private person Russell Westbrook had a representative give Brickley a cease-and-desist request to stop posting workouts of the league MVP.
This is yet another reason to love Russell Westbrook.
Carmelo, however, embraces the attention and has even started a fashion trend by wearing a hoodie during these workouts. Hoodie Melo actually became a thing this summer.
If Monday arrives and Carmelo is still a Knick, he’ll be in his uniform for photos and interviews. It will be an awkward way to start a new season and a new regime.
It’s not ideal. But it’s definitely how the hopelessly dysfunctional Knicks operate. Michael Beasley’s history suggests this is just another stop in a journeyman’s career. They’ll be impressive scoring outbursts with the Knicks, but ultimately too much inconsistency to warrant a long-term commitment.
Just don’t tell that to Beasley. Nearly a decade into his pro career, the 28-year-old hasn’t given up on achieving the stardom that once seemed inevitable for the former No. 2 overall pick.
“I still think I have a chance to be one of the best in the NBA,” said Beasley, who dropped 20 pounds in the offseason by shunning sugar and his beloved chicken fillet sandwich. “I’m your favorite player’s favorite player. And it’s not enough for me or for him to know that. I want the world to know that. So I’m still working hard to be the best ever. If you doubt it, if you don’t believe it, it will just make my story that much better.”
Some might call that delusional. Others would say it’s confidence. Either way, Beasley demonstrated during his first Knicks media session Tuesday that he’s not going to hold back for the sake of the organization’s lowered expectations. In that regard, Beasley picked up the slack left from the departure of Derrick Rose, who declared the Knicks a “super team” before Phil Jackson’s construct spiraled into the toilet bowl.
“If Tim Hardaway Jr., Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis and myself — those are four guys that can score 25 points per game. Then you add in Lance Thomas, Kyle O’Quinn and Joakim Noah, let’s not forget about that All Star,” Beasley said. “Do I see us better than a 30win team that (the bookmakers have dubbed us)? Listen, I don’t even go to Vegas. So yeah, I do. I think we’re in a position to be not only a playoff team but a five, sixseed team if we do it right.”
For the record, VegasInsiders.com lists the Knicks’ over/under at 32.5 wins — which would be better than the 31 victories they managed last season. Beasley last played for the Bucks last season, contributing 56 games (and averages of 9.4 points and 16.7 minutes to that playoff team). Still, he again failed to secure a long-term contract and is joining his sixth NBA team in six years, with a stint in China sandwiched in-between. AP
Early in his career, Beasley’s maturity — or lack thereof — was knocked because of a suspension for marijuana use and a stop in rehab. More recently, poor defense has held Beasley back from securing a lucrative commitment in the NBA. “I’m really getting tired of moving,” he said Tuesday. Beasley’s pact with the Knicks (one-year, $2.1 million deal) means he’s again renting a home rather than buying.
“I’ve come in and out of this league. Every year my (averages per 36 minutes) have been top of the league. And still everybody looks at me as a bust,” Beasley said. “I just want an opportunity to play more than 15 minutes. And you know if I play more than 15 minutes I’m going to score more than 15 points. And if I can do that for 82 games, that’s an All-Star level.” But what about the defense? “I am not as bad a defender as you say I am,” he said. “My help-side defense has been (shaky), I’ll give you that. But not a lot of people can score on me on the ball.”
Casting aside Beasley’s wobbly NBA history, there’s an important uncertainty as it relates to Beasley’s opportunity in New York. He plays the same position as Carmelo Anthony, while carrying similar attributes as a score-first forward with deficiencies on defense.
Beasley even said he patterned his game off Anthony, whose future with New York remains in limbo just a week ahead of training camp. Beasley was signed as scoring insurance in case the Knicks negotiate a trade that’s amenable to Anthony.
“Carmelo’s been like my mentor,” said Beasley, who, like Anthony, is a product of the D.C./Baltimore area. “If you watch my game, really watch my game, my jab series, all that, I’m literally just Carmelo on the left side of the floor. Like, I’ve known Carmelo since I was 13 years old, one of my best friends, one of the best players I’ve ever met.”
It’s hard to envision Beasley getting many minutes if Anthony returns, but Beasley said he anticipates teaming up with his mentor and making reality out of offseason fantasy.
“I’m actually looking forward to having a great year with Melo,” said Beasley. “And finally being in the playoffs.”