SAY HELLO, CARMELO
Knicks have plenty of new faces to help Anthony start winning now
At least Carmelo Anthony is used to this turnover.
As Anthony arrives Monday in Las Vegas for the first of a five-day U.S. Olympic training camp, he’ll be surrounded by a host of new teammates. Only Anthony and Kevin Durant are back from the 2012 U.S. team that won gold in London.
It’s not unlike his situation with the Knicks. Anthony will welcome at least nine new teammates when Knicks training camp convenes this fall, likely at West Point.
In fact, the number of Knicks teammates Anthony has had since team president Phil Jackson took over on March 18, 2014 is astounding. With the nine new additions since June 22’s Derrick Rose trade, Anthony has been official roster mates with 46 players under Jackson — including two who never played a game, Lamar Odom and Wayne Ellington.
Jackson has twice managed to turn over the team entirely — save for Anthony. And Melo has a no-trade clause or he’d probably have been gone last February, too.
At the 2015 February trading deadline, Jackson traded Pablo Prigioni for Alexey Shved. That trade marked Anthony as the lone player remaining from when Jackson took over in March 2014.
From that February 2015 date to now, the roster was completely changed again when Jose Calderon was dealt away in the Rose trade — save for Anthony.
The good news for the Knicks regarding the massive roster trauma under Jackson is Anthony finally appears happy. No longer is there innuendo of wanting out this summer. There was speculation following his exit meeting with Jackson in mid-April that Anthony would ask for a new home by the time he convened in Vegas for the Olympics if Jackson struck out in free agency. That would’ve caused a circus-like distraction to Team USA’s quest — and Anthony’s quest to become the first USA player to win three Olympic basketball gold medals.
None of that exists now. Jackson has acknowledged his exit meeting with Anthony was intense, that his All-Star forward was concerned the timetable to win wasn’t in line with the final years of his prime. Anthony, according to Jackson, lobbied for a dynamic new point guard. Jackson landed Rose and a sweet domino effect ensued.
Now Anthony has three new prime players to join him and Kristaps Prozingis, who figures to make a big leap, in the starting five. Anthony has a fresh backcourt of Rose and Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah at center. Plus a potential scoring stud of a sixth man in Brandon Jennings, who will back up Rose at point guard.
In addition, the Knicks resigned defensive forward Lance Thomas as an important glue piece for the bench. Anthony and Thomas have grown close.
Anthony, who hasn’t made an All-NBA team the last three seasons, essentially has no excuses.
If he performs at a superstar level with knee surgery in the rearview mirror, the Knicks should be fine. He doesn’t have to be the team leader either. As Jackson acknowledged in a recent online piece, Anthony is not a fiery leader. “Anthony isn’t going to yell or throw chairs,’’ Jackson said. “His style is more subtle.”
If Rose stays healthy and plays at an All-Star level and Noah becomes the oncourt/ offcourt leader he has been for the Bulls, the Knicks should vie for fifth or fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. On paper, only four Eastern teams look better — Cleveland, Toronto, Boston and Indiana.
Anthony is making no noise about waiving his no-trade cause. His attention recently has been directed toward the country’s racial strife, not the makeup of the Knicks roster. marc.berman@nypost.com