Welp … Carmelo Anthony confirmed what everyone already knew (the most delusional of Knicks fans excluded.) New York’s 41-year NBA championship drought will continue. From the Puerto-Rican newspaper Primera Hora:

“This is a new beginning for me in my life. Although I’m back with the same team after my contract extension, for me it’s a new opportunity for the team and for the city,“ Caremlo Anthony said during his visit to Puerto Rico this week.

“I do not expect to win a championship this year. That’s something that takes time and everything has to be in sync, from management to players. We have much work to do, but something that drives me. I know we can start creating the foundation of what we do. It’s the start of a good process.“

“Next year we will have enough money to spend within the salary cap. But this year it is important to take the necessary steps towards those who will in the next year. I want to concentrate on building what we want from this year.“

This is a very reasonable statement. Learning the triangle takes time, there's a fair amount of roster turnover and we don't have a second star.

Ira wrote:http://www.slamonline.com/nba/carmelo-anthony-expect-win-championship-year/

Welp … Carmelo Anthony confirmed what everyone already knew (the most delusional of Knicks fans excluded.) New York’s 41-year NBA championship drought will continue. From the Puerto-Rican newspaper Primera Hora:

“This is a new beginning for me in my life. Although I’m back with the same team after my contract extension, for me it’s a new opportunity for the team and for the city,“ Caremlo Anthony said during his visit to Puerto Rico this week.

“I do not expect to win a championship this year. That’s something that takes time and everything has to be in sync, from management to players. We have much work to do, but something that drives me. I know we can start creating the foundation of what we do. It’s the start of a good process.“

“Next year we will have enough money to spend within the salary cap. But this year it is important to take the necessary steps towards those who will in the next year. I want to concentrate on building what we want from this year.“

This is a very reasonable statement. Learning the triangle takes time, there's a fair amount of roster turnover and we don't have a second star.

I agree. Some are gonna jump all over Melo for saying this but I think he's just being realistic. If everything clicks however, we could win some games and be a playoff team which, of course, wouldn't be a bad thing...See what happens... We've waited this long -- I'm willing to wait another year or so if need be for the proper elements to all fall into place. Just nice to know there's good leadership, a system and a focus in place moving forward toward a 1st round pick/big-time cap space next off-season.

gunsnewing wrote:Good to see he's been coached up by Phil.

What kind of players and talent we can afford to put around him remains to be seem.

He is right winning is hard. You can't cut corners. You need championship talent

cut corners? by contrast, sometimes you need to make significant sacrifices financially and to your game to make room for others instead of putting an undue burden on the team. melo has swung and missed twice now. sacrifice is equated with getting played.

"better to get paid than get played." too bad getting paid often means losing.

gunsnewing wrote:Exactly had he signed for $115m it would've made all the difference. You could sign Marc Gasol or Milsap and a really good 3rd player. Although Melo and Gasol would make a for disable playoff team they are not sure fire championship contenders certaintly not sustainable when you are going up against Cleveland and the west. Going to draft really well. If and when we draft a Kobe he won't be ready until year 3-5. Melo will be 33-35 and declining. We could get lucky one year like Dallas did but real stars win in this league. We will see and judge 5yrs from now. We've been awful for 15 what's another 5?

fishmike wrote:

Vmart wrote:This guy has no respect for his current teammates. He needs to stop speaking, these type of statements only cause resentment. Gave him 125 million and you can't even buy his silence.

all he says is the guys who are good will be here and we need to work on those guys. Who is he disrespecting really? Amare and Bargs? Who else?

he has been disrespecting the knicks fanbase since forever, insulting their collective "intelligence," such as it is nowadays. but hey it looks like he is finally getting serious about losing weight and being in good condition.

gunsnewing wrote:Exactly had he signed for $115m it would've made all the difference. You could sign Marc Gasol or Milsap and a really good 3rd player. Although Melo and Gasol would make a for disable playoff team they are not sure fire championship contenders certaintly not sustainable when you are going up against Cleveland and the west. Going to draft really well. If and when we draft a Kobe he won't be ready until year 3-5. Melo will be 33-35 and declining. We could get lucky one year like Dallas did but real stars win in this league. We will see and judge 5yrs from now. We've been awful for 15 what's another 5?

Here's where so wrong, he could have sign for the vet min, and that doesnt guaranty he'll win a ring, or the star play may mesh well.

When he came here to begin with, Amare was nice and healthy avg 25 points(a 2nd star) oh waht a diffference a yr makes. If he took 15 mill to play with rose, you risk that guy getting injured, and your no closer to ring if your playing for free.

Taking less money gives you a little flexibilty, but hypothetically speaking if we had sign Paul george in june to be melo's side kick, how close would he be to a championship this year after taking a 10 million paycut.

dk7th wrote:

mreinman wrote:

dk7th wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Vmart wrote:This guy has no respect for his current teammates. He needs to stop speaking, these type of statements only cause resentment. Gave him 125 million and you can't even buy his silence.

all he says is the guys who are good will be here and we need to work on those guys. Who is he disrespecting really? Amare and Bargs? Who else?

he has been disrespecting the knicks fanbase since forever, insulting their collective "intelligence," such as it is nowadays. but hey it looks like he is finally getting serious about losing weight and being in good condition.

losing wait?

Now who is disrespecting who's intelligence?

ha ha i will correct it. shame on me!

Thisis reality, its a process, and I think Phil has even come out as much and said that this is expected to be a transition season. There's only about 5-6 teams out there that should expect to be able to make a finals appearance.

VDesai wrote:The offseason, where we hang on every word. Why didn't the report when me, or the 1 billion other people who follow basketball to some degree said the same thing about the Knicks?

Thisis reality, its a process, and I think Phil has even come out as much and said that this is expected to be a transition season. There's only about 5-6 teams out there that should expect to be able to make a finals appearance.

We are expect the Knicks to be somewhat competitive. But the statements that bothers me are the ones that pertain to the roster. Yes I get that the Knicks need a second star. What is to stop what is on this current team from stepping up. If Amare turns back the clock and becomes 20-8 again or JR Smith gets his head on straight and going for 18-20 a night. Or THJ getting better and taking his game to a higher level. This statement hurts the team concept, because sometimes stars are made, you don't necessarily have to get one from another team.