MELO: SURGERY INEVITABLE
Melo: Surgery inevitable, but ‘I can’t sit out’ until then
Carmelo Anthony realizes surgery on his troublesome left knee is inevitable. But until that time arrives, he wants to play.
Even if it’s for a historically bad team.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure at some point, [surgery is] going to be my only option,” Anthony said Monday. “But until that time I can’t sit out. I can’t let my team down out there. I feel like if I can go out there and play some more and continue to play, then I’m going to do that. I’m pretty sure there will come a time where I have to make that decision to sit out and take the proper procedure and get what I need to be done.”
Anthony has missed six games since playing on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles against the Clippers — the Knicks lost, you don’t have to look it up. He had targeted a return in London Thursday when the Knicks face the Bucks. After practice Monday — a limited practice for him and Amar’e Stoudemire — Anthony said he simply did not know if he would be able to go.
“I want to play, period,” said Anthony, claiming he “feels better” physically but is not prepared to proclaim himself ready. “Sitting on the sideline is not my thing, not my cup of tea.”
See? He’s getting into the whole London thing already. He probably had crumpets on the flight over.
“I want to get out there in London especially and play,” he said. “I still have a couple more days to finish off my program and see where I’m at. If I’m not there Thursday, if the [medical] staff thinks I’m not there Thursday, then I won’t play. I still have a lot more tests to do [Tuesday], Wednesday, even Thursday, I won’t know until probably gametime on Thursday.”
And Anthony said it’s not just to play in London.
“I’m not just trying to go through this program just to play in London and then sit out. Once I’m back playing, I’m back playing,” Anthony said.
Anthony last week described the sensation in his knee like a “pebble in my shoe.” So almost certainly, surgery will be re quired eventually. He has had several exams on the knee and on Saturday, team president Phil Jackson called surgery “a last resort.”
Anthony feels that way as well, apparently. He insists he wants to play — despite the hideous 535 record that includes a mindboggling 25 defeats in the last 26 games.
“The easiest thing for me to do is just to call it quits and just give up and say I’m going to go take care of what I need to take care of right now,” Anthony said of trying to play and delay the inevitable date with the surgeon. “But I want to be out there with my teammates, regardless of what’s our record, regardless of how we’re struggling on the court.”
Anthony claimed again New York is where he wants to be and he will help in the freeagent recruiting this summer.
“I want to be a part of what’s going on,” he said. “This is my future. This is why I wanted to come back and to be part of that plan. I want to be part of the plan. If that’s me going out and reaching out to guys, talking to them and letting them know what we’re trying to build here in New York, I’m down for that. Until that time comes then I’m going to focus on what I need to focus on.
“It always helps when you feel wanted by other people. That’s part of free agency. So when I get a chance, I’m going to sit down with a lot of the people who’ll be part of the plan.”