Carmelo Anthony

(NBAE/Getty Images)
Several sources told Yahoo! Sports that Carmelo Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, has recently begun informing teams that the All-Star forward is interested in signing a contract extension with only the New York Knicks. The stance has weakened the Denver Nuggets’ leverage in trying to deal Anthony, not only to other teams, but also the Knicks.

The sources said the Knicks don’t feel pressed to present a substantial trade offer to the Nuggets because they think they can also sign Anthony after the season if he opts out of his contract, as expected.

“If you’re New York, you just sit and wait until the offseason,” one general manager said. “That’s where it’s likely to go. Why give up assets to get him now when you can wait and get him next season?”

Said another source: “If ’Melo is telling the world he wants to go [to New York], why fight so hard to get him? [Knicks president] Donnie Walsh knows this.”

Though there’s less than three weeks before the Feb. 24 trade deadline, a deal for Anthony isn’t imminent. Sources said the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks still have interest in Anthony despite knowing he doesn’t plan to re-sign with them.

“Don’t blame ’Melo. He’s been up front about wanting to go to New York since the summer,” one source close to the talks said. “They better trade him to New York or end up with nothing.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ap_2ztNJrM6Gls0Koxcb5Vi8vLYF?slug=mc-afterthebuzzer020411

CrushAlot wrote:Several sources told Yahoo! Sports that Carmelo Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, has recently begun informing teams that the All-Star forward is interested in signing a contract extension with only the New York Knicks. The stance has weakened the Denver Nuggets’ leverage in trying to deal Anthony, not only to other teams, but also the Knicks.

about time his agents did something right.

knicks1248 wrote:

“They better trade him to New York or end up with nothing.”

Allanfan20 wrote:

abs wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

“They better trade him to New York or end up with nothing.”

randolph/1st round pick, chandler, curry, 3 mil cash very fair ...we need melo this yr stat can go back to being # 1a/2 option and let gallo continue to develop into #3...still need a back up pg badly...i like hinrich from wizards...hope mozgov is ready to step into bigger role..if not address center in off season..

Why would you handcuff yourself like that? You'd be trading a potential good big man, a first round pick for Melo, when he can be playing with it all after this Summer. All we have to do this year is make the playoffs, and that's easier said than done obviously. I'm perfectly fine just waiting, in which case, we'd just be losing Chandler.

Everyone wants NYC as long as they arent losing money.

Alot can happen between the trade deadline and the new CBA.

Finestrg wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

abs wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

“They better trade him to New York or end up with nothing.”

randolph/1st round pick, chandler, curry, 3 mil cash very fair ...we need melo this yr stat can go back to being # 1a/2 option and let gallo continue to develop into #3...still need a back up pg badly...i like hinrich from wizards...hope mozgov is ready to step into bigger role..if not address center in off season..

Why would you handcuff yourself like that? You'd be trading a potential good big man, a first round pick for Melo, when he can be playing with it all after this Summer. All we have to do this year is make the playoffs, and that's easier said than done obviously. I'm perfectly fine just waiting, in which case, we'd just be losing Chandler.

I don't think we should be looking at it like this..Here's the deal with just sitting on our hands and waiting it out:

(1) We could absolutely use the guy THIS YEAR..We're all still talking playoffs for this season, right? Bottom line for me on this: no matter how much we really have to subtract (obviously the less the better), Carmelo Anthony makes us better and gives us a better chance to both make the playoffs this year and possibly even advance. Not only that, he gives us legit star power next to Amar'e and puts us in a very good position moving forward. Not may teams can boast about having two stars on their team the caliber of Amar'e AND Melo...Miami, Boston, the Lakers and who else??? Teams like Chicago and Atlanta are close but I'm not ready to put them in that class yet..I'm still very much of the opinion that if there's a chance to make a sensible deal to get this guy by the deadline we should do it. The team ahs been scuffling lately and could certainly us a boost.

(2) We also run the risk of turning Melo off if we decide to either lowball Denver or offer nothing at all (which thankfully doesn't look to be the case -- rumor had it that a recent offer involving Chandler and a 1st round pick was rejected, so at least we're attempting to deal in good faith & stay involved here). The man clearly wants his cake and wants to eat it too --- he wants the Knicks and the money under the current CBA terms. I don't blame him..This isn't the exact same situation with all the top FAs last summer -- those guys were only set to lose 1 year worst case scenario (I believe most if not all of them got the 6th year anyway, either by reuping with their own teams or working out minor trades with their former teams, trades most don't realize were even made). Point is now Melo could not only lose the 6th year but also lose a ton of money as rumor has it the new CBA won't be nearly as lucrative for players (then again, we're also hearing rumblings that certain pending FAs could be grandfathered in under the old rules, so who really knows). What if we don't up the ante a little and then Melo turns around and says, 'OK, F it..Let's go play with Dirk in Dallas. Sorry STAT.' Mark Cuban is a very passionate man and I bet very persuasive as well -- he'll pull out all the stops to keep him there once he trades for him, you can bank on that..Plus that Dallas team would be pretty damn good -- who wouldn't want to play alongside Dirk Nowitzki on a good team with a fiery, passionate & competitve owner who cares like a Mark Cuban? Ask yourself, are you prepared to take that risk if you're the Knicks? Melo needs to view this as, 'hey, the Knicks are doing everything they can to get me there; it's Denver that's being unreasonable.' As long as Melo feels like that, I think we'll be OK. Just MHO..

Exactly. People should be willing to at least give up one of Gallo, Chandler, or Fields (but not two). We'd be losing Chandler anyway to FA if we try and sign Melo in the summer, but this way we can (a) resign Chandler if he's the one we prefer to keep, (b) acquire Melo and have him in hand, instead of worrying about a strong playoff run by Denver, or a rental team scooping him up, or a 3rd team clearing space by the summer that we aren't accounting for (much like Miami w/ LeBron), or the new CBA restricting us from signing Melo because of new cap rules or a possible franchise tag.

If the price is reasonable, you get Melo now. You don't waffle on the deal just cause there's the potential of keeping AR and a future 1st in the summer. Moreover, we'd likely have to S&T with Denver in the summer anyway, so we'd be losing that pick and/or AR anyway.

abs wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

“They better trade him to New York or end up with nothing.”

randolph/1st round pick, chandler, curry, 3 mil cash very fair ...we need melo this yr stat can go back to being # 1a/2 option and let gallo continue to develop into #3...still need a back up pg badly...i like hinrich from wizards...hope mozgov is ready to step into bigger role..if not address center in off season..

Yep. I might add another 1st round or two seond rounds to spice up the deal (we can always go buy more picks), but overall it is a fair deal. If we can get Melo while keeping Fields, Gallo, and Timmy M, this team would be set for the next 5 years.