Much the same as last season we see that a free-agent to be is stealing attention away from the NBA playoffs. Carmelo Anthony’s contract status with the New York Knicks is making headlines despite the moratorium on teams contacting him or otherwise tampering in any way. For this all we have the New York media to thank as their team didn’t make the playoffs and they still need to sell papers.
That aside, there is a dilemma brewing in Madison Square Garden and that is of course what to do with and how to handle the Carmelo Anthony situation. Anthony’s representatives have already made it clear that Carmelo wants to be courted in much the same manner as LeBron James and Dwight Howard were. Now I don’t know if this is an ego thing or an actual ploy to get the Knicks to pony up huge dollars in advance of any other teams pursuit; but it stinks of showmanship and grandeur.
One thing i’m fairly confident of is that Phil Jackson isn’t going to fall for any tricks or ploys from Carmelo’s camp. In so much as Jackson has seen the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant over his tenured career; I don’t imagine there is much he hasn’t already seen, heard of or experienced when it comes to player antics and contract shenanigans.
Before we get too far down the road of ‘what if’s’; there is one certainty that will become a factor and that is the recent announcement from the league that the salary cap will be raised by $5 million. This becomes significant as teams who may come courting Carmelo now immediately have $5 million more cap room to play with than they had last month.
This means that the first year on any new deal from any new club would actually be quite close in value to a max-deal that the Knicks could offer. All this really means is that teams who may be interested in procuring Anthony’s services have just seen their negotiating gap narrow slightly and the money leverage of the Knicks be diminished.
This really boils down to the Knicks having two options here and that is to let Anthony leave or keep him on a long term, near-max or max deal. I’m sure that James Dolan and Phil Jackson have had this discussion and they have likely come to a conclusion one way or another already. There is likely a salary number that they are prepared to offer Anthony that is not a max-deal in hopes of persuading him to stay with the promise to use remaining salary cap and luxury cap space to surround him with quality players.
Jackson has already laid the groundwork for this kind of contract presentation by sifting through the Carmelo sound bite archives and refreshing an interview from where Anthony stated he would take less money to re-sign in New York if the pieces were in place to make a title run.
Jackson the ever omnipresent zen master is playing this angle to perfection. On one hand he is letting the world know that the Knicks want Anthony back and that they view him as an integral part of the franchise’s goal of taking home a title. On the other hand, Jackson has set the table so that if Anthony bolts New York it will appear as though it was a deal for the dollars and that Anthony wasn’t committed to New York winning anyway so they are really better off without him.
Assuming Carmelo is posturing here and he really intends to resign with the Knicks all along then he might just alienate the franchise by being so keen on being wooed by the rest of the Association. If hard feelings and ones of betrayal are boiling in New York it could have an impact on not only the dollar figures presented but also on the decision to keep him at all.
If the Knicks decide to let Anthony go then they would be best served to work out a sign and trade deal with a new team. Although this is somewhat unlikely given the fact that Anthony can sign wherever he wants and is under to such pressure to facilitate a deal like this. Having said that if the preferred destination for Anthony is right up against the salary cap then this type of situation would be necessary; but then the Knicks might veto it by trying to stick it to Carmelo on the way out of town.
The most likely scenario has Anthony receiving a few contract offers; one from the Knicks is to be expected and the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets are rumoured to be interested as well. Both the Rockets and the Bulls would need to shed some significant salaries to be able to fit Anthony in but it would be somewhat doable. The Bulls have the best chance as they can amnesty Carlos Boozer and use those salary dollars plus the increased cap space to make a significant offer.
Other team may get involved in the fracas here too. The Charlotte Bobcats may see fit to guarantee a bunch of money on the heels of a playoff appearance. The Phoenix Suns may also gauge the Carmelo’s interest in playing in the desert; but that could be a bit of a stretch.
If Carmelo is true to his work about wanting to win a championship then he must know that his best options are the Rockets and the Bulls. The Knicks are not going to be competitive for at least another few years in the Eastern Conference whereas the Bulls and Rockets could put it all together and make title runs every year for the next four or five seasons.
If the 2014-15 NBA season were to start right now the Knicks are already committed to paying over $91 million in salaries and that doesn’t include another $3-$4 million in salaries that would have to be spent to fill out the roster. What this huge commitment represents are two massive contracts; one to Anthony and the other to Amare Stoudemire. Stoudemire is in the last year of his deal so at least $23 million would be coming off the books in 2015-16, but nonetheless there is absolutely no payroll flexibility to be had here.
Couple this financial burden with the fact that the Knicks have no draft picks this season and they have committed their 2016 first-rounder to Toronto as a part of the Andrea Bargnani deal. It is somewhat ironic and also piss-poor planning that the Knicks could lose Anthony in the same season as they guaranteed their first-round pick in exchange for him. You’d think that if the Knicks thought this through just a tiny little bit they would have seen the potential for Anthony’s departure and the need to rebuild, but apparently not.
Here’s the problem for New York, James Dolan and MSG Sports; the absolutely need a marquee player in that market. New York is a show-me-now town and the Knicks need to live up to that Broadway billing of having a star on stage every night. This will undoubtedly come into play when considering Anthony and his tenure with the franchise.
The right decision would of course to let Anthony walk. Say goodbye to Carmelo, thank him for his time with the club and behind the scenes quietly slap some high-fives. This of course is not what Phil Jackson was brought on board to do, Jackson is not a builder of franchises nor is he a draft pundit who scouts great talent. Jackson was brought in to New York to stabilize the front office and be the Pat Riley of the Knicks.
The A-move here would be to press the reset button on the franchise. Let Anthony’s salary come off the books followed by Stoudemire’s and use that $45-plus million bucks in 2016 to go after free-agents. Jackson must realize that they team he has now cannot win, they cannot win with Carmelo so why continue down that road. As painful as it might be for Knicks fans, for the betterment of the team long-term it should continue without the services of Carmelo Anthony.