http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/as_anthony_mulls_denver_stay_walsh_AhB6kyHA5qoOinW1o0bgWO

As Anthony mulls Denver stay, Walsh says great players love N.Y.

By MARC BERMAN

Last Updated: 2:55 AM, February 10, 2011

Knicks president Donnie Walsh, seemingly in response to Carmelo Anthony's remark he still would consider signing an extension in Denver, said he believes star players should want to play in New York, and Amar'e Stoudemire is living proof.

Walsh seemed to be sending Melo a message: New York is a helluva better spot than the Rocky Mountains.

"I know my own feeling," Walsh said at the Garden before the Knicks got blasted by the Clippers last night, 116-108. "I feel great players should really want to play here. It's a great place for good baskeball players, particularly right now. And I'm not thinking of any particular player."

Yeah, right. In intriguing remarks, Anthony said yesterday he would "take a real hard look" at the Nuggets' three-year, $65 million contract extension that's gathered dust since summer. Anthony hadn't aired that sentiment publicly in a while and never that strongly. He could be trying to scare the Knicks to up their offer and not wait until July, more posturing. The Knicks have the cap space to sign Anthony this summer.

Anthony would have until June 30 to sign the extension with Denver with knowledge of how the playoff run went.

Walsh used Stoudemire as an example of a star player becoming even bigger under the Broadway glare. It's been widely reported Anthony wants to be a Knick, though his celebrity wife LaLa Vazquez has pushed the move.

"He has [proven that], the way he's received by the city, the fans," Walsh said of Stoudemire. "He seems to be engaging the whole city. He seems to be enjoying it during the game. They're really supportive of everything he does. If you look at and see what's happened with Amar'e, any other person would look and say, wow. Which I'm sure they are."

The three-team deal discussed between the Knicks, Denver and Minnesota is on hold, with little progression, according to multiple sources.

The Denver Post reported yesterday there is a better than average chance the Nuggets don't trade Anthony, try for a title and see if they can do a sign-and-trade in July.

The Nuggets are trying to get other clubs involved -- not thrilled with obtaining just Wilson Chandler, a first-round pick, and cap space provided by Minnesota's Corey Brewer's expiring pact. It's a sweetheart deal for the Knicks, who would lose Chandler, Anthony Randolph and possibly rookie Andy Rautins. They also would give up the expiring contract of Eddy Curry and possibly Kelenna Azbuike, neither of whom have played.

Walsh said he would be fine if a deal cannot be reached by the Feb. 24 deadline, because of the young nucleus and cap space for 2011 and 2012.

"I'm never disappointed," Walsh said. "I don't raise my own expectations. I like what we have now. I know we can build into a team. I like the players we have. I'm not saying we're a great team. But we have the core of guys to go forward that could be part of a very good team. The fact we could do something right now is because we have the ability to do that because our cap is lower."

The Lakers emerged this week as a Carmelo contender, though if they are not willing to deal Andrew Bynum, a deal looks bleak. It still created a frenzy in La-La Land. One source told The Post the big headlines on the Knicks' three-team deal with Denver and Minnesota was designed by Denver to "flush out interest from other teams to make it seem something was close."

nixluva wrote:

TMS wrote:Melo wants a trade to go down before the deadline, it's pretty obvious he's pushing for the Knicks to make the move to trade for him.

Well games like tonight should make it more possible that the Knicks push even harder to make it happen. I think Walsh is gonna have very little patience if this team doesn't win the next game. Then we'll have to make darned sure not to fall below .500. It's just a borderline that I think this franchise doesn't want to tip toe around.

Actually, games like last night should give us all pause about adding Carmelo since it exposes, I think, we have a lot more wholes and warts than previously thought.

gr33d wrote:

TMS wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:i'm pretty sure that dolan is driving this whole melo thing. looking at the history of comments i don't think walsh even wants melo.

DW definitely wants Melo, otherwise he wouldn't have preserved the cap space to go after him after last summer... he just doesn't want to gut the team to get him.

Was just listening to the conversation on 1050 about Melo... They discussed LA, him staying and then NY.

We're not getting Melo for AR, Currys expiring and Chandler; it's simply not enough and I'm starting to agree.

seems to me the sticking point for DW is not wanting to give up Fields or Gallo in a Melo trade... personally i think that Wilson, AR & Curry package along with a 1st round pick will end up being the general framework of a deal if it goes down... maybe we end up adding some minor pieces like Bill Walker, cash considerations or 2nd round picks... maybe DW buys a pick from another team to add to the deal, he did say he thought he could get multiple 1st rounders if he had to a few weeks ago... from Melo's standpoint he might be thinking "you gotta be kidding me, you're hedging on trading for me because you're too scared to give up Landry Fields or Gallinari?"... who knows what's going on behind the scenes, maybe DEN doesn't even want any of our players they're just putting this stuff out there to get other teams to get involved... it's anyone's guess at this point.

gr33d wrote:

franco12 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

TMS wrote:Melo wants a trade to go down before the deadline, it's pretty obvious he's pushing for the Knicks to make the move to trade for him.

Well games like tonight should make it more possible that the Knicks push even harder to make it happen. I think Walsh is gonna have very little patience if this team doesn't win the next game. Then we'll have to make darned sure not to fall below .500. It's just a borderline that I think this franchise doesn't want to tip toe around.

Actually, games like last night should give us all pause about adding Carmelo since it exposes, I think, we have a lot more wholes and warts than previously thought.

Games like last night, highlight a few things for me.

This team plays terrible defense.

The team is Amare and 7 role players. Not bad role players, hell some of them put up nice averages. But they're far too up and down, in order for us to be a steady threat.

couldn't agree more gr33d... i don't expect us ever to be a strong defensive squad as long as we're running SSOL... i think our best bet to be successful w/this coach is by overloading the opposition with offensive threats & creating tough matchups in our favor... Melo won't be the cure all for all our issues, but he'll be a major help w/the consistent offense he would bring every night... guys like Wilson & Gallo are just too up & down to be relied upon to carry the load when Amare's not at his absolute best, & Felton makes some bad decisions when he tries to take on that mantle himself... this team clearly needs another star scoring presence to take the next step towards being a legitimate contender.

TMS wrote:

gr33d wrote:

TMS wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:i'm pretty sure that dolan is driving this whole melo thing. looking at the history of comments i don't think walsh even wants melo.

DW definitely wants Melo, otherwise he wouldn't have preserved the cap space to go after him after last summer... he just doesn't want to gut the team to get him.

Was just listening to the conversation on 1050 about Melo... They discussed LA, him staying and then NY.

We're not getting Melo for AR, Currys expiring and Chandler; it's simply not enough and I'm starting to agree.

seems to me the sticking point for DW is not wanting to give up Fields or Gallo in a Melo trade... personally i think that Wilson, AR & Curry package along with a 1st round pick will end up being the general framework of a deal if it goes down... maybe we end up adding some minor pieces like Bill Walker, cash considerations or 2nd round picks... maybe DW buys a pick from another team to add to the deal, he did say he thought he could get multiple 1st rounders if he had to a few weeks ago... from Melo's standpoint he might be thinking "you gotta be kidding me, you're hedging on trading for me because you're too scared to give up Landry Fields or Gallinari?"... who knows what's going on behind the scenes, maybe DEN doesn't even want any of our players they're just putting this stuff out there to get other teams to get involved... it's anyone's guess at this point.

I think he is probably thinking the same thing, and I'm not sure he cares as much about winning a championship as he does about getting paid and coming to NY.

Maybe Carmelo is going to make Lebron look good - at least he was willing to sacrifice.

NYKBocker wrote:One thing that I have noticed in the UK forums. I will clean up in poker against most in this site. People are just too impatient and way too emotional to make the right move.

don't even try it... any chick with cleavage would have u going all in with pocket 2-7

franco12 wrote:

TMS wrote:

gr33d wrote:

TMS wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:i'm pretty sure that dolan is driving this whole melo thing. looking at the history of comments i don't think walsh even wants melo.

DW definitely wants Melo, otherwise he wouldn't have preserved the cap space to go after him after last summer... he just doesn't want to gut the team to get him.

Was just listening to the conversation on 1050 about Melo... They discussed LA, him staying and then NY.

We're not getting Melo for AR, Currys expiring and Chandler; it's simply not enough and I'm starting to agree.

seems to me the sticking point for DW is not wanting to give up Fields or Gallo in a Melo trade... personally i think that Wilson, AR & Curry package along with a 1st round pick will end up being the general framework of a deal if it goes down... maybe we end up adding some minor pieces like Bill Walker, cash considerations or 2nd round picks... maybe DW buys a pick from another team to add to the deal, he did say he thought he could get multiple 1st rounders if he had to a few weeks ago... from Melo's standpoint he might be thinking "you gotta be kidding me, you're hedging on trading for me because you're too scared to give up Landry Fields or Gallinari?"... who knows what's going on behind the scenes, maybe DEN doesn't even want any of our players they're just putting this stuff out there to get other teams to get involved... it's anyone's guess at this point.

I think he is probably thinking the same thing, and I'm not sure he cares as much about winning a championship as he does about getting paid and coming to NY.

Maybe Carmelo is going to make Lebron look good - at least he was willing to sacrifice.

i think Melo has played this all on the up & up & hasn't tried to mislead any teams into thinking he'd be willing to play for them... that puts him way above how Lebron handled his ass kissing fest... can't fault a guy for wanting to get paid especially in this situation with a lockout & new CBA looming this summer.

i also think he cares a lot about winning a championship otherwise he would have been open to going to New Jersey to begin with... put urself in his shoes, u've done everything u possibly could do w/o openly saying to the media that it's NY or nothing, & yet the Knicks are hedging on trading for you because they're scared to give up a role player... as a superstar player who's putting it out there that you want no other team but NY, does that make you feel that NY wants u as badly as you want them? what if he already knows that CP3 wants to follow him to NY next summer? there could be all kinds of stuff going on that none of us know about... i think Melo's made it obvious that he wants to be a Knick maybe he just wants to feel like the Knicks really want him too?

Nalod wrote:Melo was not going to help interior defense last nite.

Media and fans running out of patience.

Its seems many treating this team like a perennial playoff contender who is faltering and needs an injection.

Maybe you can't rebuild cause once NY sniff some kind of success it loses its mind. We all crave a championship but its not that easy. Melo does not put us over the top.

enough already with the same old you can't rebuild in NY stuff we've been hearing it for the past 5 years already... Knick fans have been ridiculously patient, have stuck by their team & keep selling out the Garden even after years of dealing with Scott Layden & Isiah's bullcrap & empty promises... DW has been talking about the plan for 2010 ever since he got here, the entire premise to clearing cap space the past 2 years has been to get to this point where we could target 2 superstars to form the nucleus for a championship contending team... if DW had gone by your anti-starphuching line of thinking we'd still have David Lee playing C & Amare would be playing someplace else.

I wish the team would play well but I think they are showing signs of being tired of all this too.

The sooner it stops the better - DW should take a play out of the Nets book and say enough already. You keep him!!!

At that point hopefully the Knicks make the playoffs and get Nene or Tyson Chandler a shooter and a back-up point in the summer!