New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony hopes to make a decision on where he will play next season in the second week of July after taking several free-agent visits, a source told Yahoo Sports.

Anthony opted out of his contract with the Knicks recently to become an unrestricted free agent and can begin talking to teams July 1. A source said there is currently no frontrunner for Anthony's services, and he is expected to meet with the Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. There was no mention of the Miami Heat. Anthony hopes to visit the aforementioned teams in their respective cities during the opening days of free agency. At the moment, no other teams are expected to get a meeting.

The source said Anthony loves New York and playing for the Knicks, but there are still questions surrounding the franchise. The main variables: the direction of first-year Knicks president Phil Jackson and first-year coach Derek Fisher, and how long it will take the Knicks to become a winner again. Anthony yearns to be in a winning situation now and knows he would have to be patient if he stays with the Knicks, the source said.

The Knicks can offer Anthony the longest contract and the most money at five years and $130 million compared to the four years and about $96 million Anthony would earn if he were to leave for another team. Jackson has said that he asked Anthony to potentially take a pay cut on a new Knicks deal. But the source also said Jackson only talked to Anthony about the concept of taking a pay cut and that Jackson said he would be willing to offer a maximum contract if that is what it took to re-sign Anthony. The source added that Anthony, 30, viewed opting in to the final year of his contract for $23.3 million next season without signing an extension as risky at his age.

Jackson was evasive when asked by reporters Thursday night if he would be willing to complete a sign-and-trade with Anthony if he opts to go elsewhere. The source added that the Knicks and Anthony have had no discussions about the possibility of a sign-and-trade.

Anthony could visit the Rockets and the Mavericks on the same day, the source said. Anthony has an off-season home in Los Angeles, which could make it easy to visit the Lakers. The source emphasized that the plan is to get the visits completed quickly at the start of free agency.

Rookie wrote:Anthony viewed opting in as risky at his age...agree with that. We need to stay the course and let him walk. It is the most responsible thing to do for a franchise looking to rebuild. While getting assets back would be desireable, it is a long shot. Lets enjoy some cap flexibility and develop some young players and maintain our cap flexibility.

I honestly dont want harden, boozer, gibson or anyone else we'd take back in a S&T. The only player I really like is Randle. If we could get him from the Lakers for Melo, i'd be all over that.

CrushAlot wrote:

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony hopes to make a decision on where he will play next season in the second week of July after taking several free-agent visits, a source told Yahoo Sports.

Anthony opted out of his contract with the Knicks recently to become an unrestricted free agent and can begin talking to teams July 1. A source said there is currently no frontrunner for Anthony's services, and he is expected to meet with the Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks. There was no mention of the Miami Heat. Anthony hopes to visit the aforementioned teams in their respective cities during the opening days of free agency. At the moment, no other teams are expected to get a meeting.

The source said Anthony loves New York and playing for the Knicks, but there are still questions surrounding the franchise. The main variables: the direction of first-year Knicks president Phil Jackson and first-year coach Derek Fisher, and how long it will take the Knicks to become a winner again. Anthony yearns to be in a winning situation now and knows he would have to be patient if he stays with the Knicks, the source said.

The Knicks can offer Anthony the longest contract and the most money at five years and $130 million compared to the four years and about $96 million Anthony would earn if he were to leave for another team. Jackson has said that he asked Anthony to potentially take a pay cut on a new Knicks deal. But the source also said Jackson only talked to Anthony about the concept of taking a pay cut and that Jackson said he would be willing to offer a maximum contract if that is what it took to re-sign Anthony. The source added that Anthony, 30, viewed opting in to the final year of his contract for $23.3 million next season without signing an extension as risky at his age.

Jackson was evasive when asked by reporters Thursday night if he would be willing to complete a sign-and-trade with Anthony if he opts to go elsewhere. The source added that the Knicks and Anthony have had no discussions about the possibility of a sign-and-trade.

Anthony could visit the Rockets and the Mavericks on the same day, the source said. Anthony has an off-season home in Los Angeles, which could make it easy to visit the Lakers. The source emphasized that the plan is to get the visits completed quickly at the start of free agency.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source--carmelo-anthony-aiming-to-make-free-agent-decision-in-second-week-of-july-172349955.html

LMFAO

TeamBall wrote:Let's hope that source is full of sh**. And this is coming from someone who wants Melo back.

already a "misunderstanding" looms. seems to me that anthony is hearing what he wants to hear.

dk7th wrote:

TeamBall wrote:Let's hope that source is full of sh**. And this is coming from someone who wants Melo back.

already a "misunderstanding" looms. seems to me that anthony is hearing what he wants to hear.

TeamBall wrote:

dk7th wrote:

TeamBall wrote:Let's hope that source is full of sh**. And this is coming from someone who wants Melo back.

already a "misunderstanding" looms. seems to me that anthony is hearing what he wants to hear.

We didn't hear the conversation that took place. Phil very well could have said that.

no he could not have said that. the "source" is simply putting a wishful thinking spin on this on melo's behalf. jackson meanwhile has been just ambiguous enough to not let on much at all. it's called "demurring" or speaking obliquely. phil, like walsh, is great at it.

it's really a fascinating sociological phenomenon that unfolds with these things. reminds me of walsh saying a player is good at one price and bad at another.

TeamBall wrote:Let's hope that source is full of sh**. And this is coming from someone who wants Melo back.

We arent winning a title in the next couple of year without Melo, and please spare me the Lebron/Durant/CP3 bla bla bla guys are coming here. We couldnt even get Amare and Joe Johnson. We have too many decent players to have a tank season and we are still missing future picks anyway so taking lumps and drafting doesnt make sense either.

You see all these teams willing to give up players for nothing to get under the cap? Thats called buying low. Asik is a very good center who was aquired for a fart in the wind.

Just resign Melo and use Amare/Bargs/Shump epxiring deals to upgrade the talent. Yes that may mean taking on longer deals, but it doesnt matter. Take back some stupid contracts but get picks in return. So when Detroit wants to dump Josh Smith fine.. take Bargs and Shump but send me back a top 3 protected #1 in the deal. Same kind of deal for Amare. Yea... the salary situation becomes bloated, but you will have picks, a pipeline and in 3-4 years when Melo and Josh Smith and Hibbert (just another overpaid guy for example) are all gone THEN you have a nice young team with real picks and prospects you can add max guys too.

Thats what I would do. Resign Melo. Use the expirings to buy low. Take the next 3-4 years to see if we can put a squad together that can come out of this very weak East and start fresh after the next round of money guys expires. If we had all our picks I would think differently. We dont. We dont have one blue chip young guy to build around. We have some young guys who may or may not be rotation players, but we dont have one young guys who translates to all star yet. Lets get a couple of those and Im all for rebuilding.

Anthony said this past season that he would consider taking less money if it meant being part of a winning team. Jackson talked about that recently and again Thursday night.

"When I take his word, he's the one who opened that up, that it wasn't about the money," Jackson said. "So I challenged him on that, because I wanted our fans to see he's a team player, that he was going to do what's best to get our team ahead farther and faster.

"But you know, that's not going to be an issue. I think there's gonna be things happening in the league in the near future in the NBA that's gonna grow this league, and monetarily it's not going to be an issue for us to do it."

Jackson was asked if the Knicks will offer Anthony a maximum contract. They can pay Anthony up to $129.1 million over five seasons.

"We haven't come to that," Jackson said. "But the perception is we want Carmelo to be as interested in winning. When saying he's competitive and wants to be on a competitive team to also being able to demonstrate that if push comes to shove in a situation where he may have to take a little bit less and we're more competitive to bring in another player to help us bring this concept along."

WHo knows what was said but Money is not an issue because most FO personnel knows that the salary cap is about to explode in a few years. 5/$100M will probably be the deal.

How many people here would honestly walk away from more money in another good situation because their brand new boss promises things will get brighter? We ask and expect athletes to do things NONE of us would do.

Folks are under the assumption that if MElo walks there are other top tier talents just waiting to sign on under our cap space. Last time we got a broken Amare and couldnt entice Joe Johnson with a max deal.

To me the max FA thing only makes sense if you have at least one blue chip guy on a rookie contract. WE dont have anything like that. THAT would be my goal. Resign Melo, if its for max, its not my first choice but better than nada. Use Amare/Bargs/Shump to take on some bad contracts but get some picks back. Work on getting a guy or two with legit all star potential. We dont have that now. Get those guys. Then in a couple years you can let Melo and Josh Smith and Hibbert and Pau Gasol (all whatever hypotheticals) come off the books and use the cap space to add max guys NEXT to your young pipe line. Thats how you build a sustainable winner. Not the gutting the roster and hoping for a superfriends bailout when your talent cubbard is already bare. It doesnt make sense.

yellowboy90 wrote:

TeamBall wrote:Well THAT changes a lot. How soon would you say Yellowboy?

I think once the new TV deal is up for renewal which is next summer or the one after that I think.

In honest it kind of Phil like Phil is saying I'll pay you max but if you don't succeed don't blame me. The little less is the main part though. If Melo takes 5M less a year it will help sign those FAs sooner possibly.

or 5M less means we take back 5M less is assets in a trade. It's not easy to move a max deal w/o taking back more players then you send out