Eastern Rumors: ‘Melo, Waiters, Pierce, Blatche

As Carmelo Anthony is set to visit with the Bulls today, two sources tell Marc Berman of the New York Post that Anthony’s wife is quite satisfied with living in New York and doesn’t want him to leave the Knicks. ‘Melo and Tom Thibodeau are in agreement that the Bulls shouldn’t trade Taj Gibson in any scenario, even as the Bulls attempt to clear salary to sign the Knicks star, Berman also writes. Many around the league reportedly see the Knicks as having the inside track to retain Anthony, though the Bulls appear to have the lead among teams looking to take him away from New York. Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • The Celtics have made contact with about 30 players in the hours since free agency began, with Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons among them, tweets Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
  • Cavs GM David Griffin said Friday that he sees No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins as “a big two-guard,” leading some executives to believe that the Cavs will look to trade Dion Waiters this summer, reports Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). This also explains Cleveland’s push to sign Trevor Ariza, Kennedy surmises (on Twitter).
  • The Clippers loom as the largest threat to sign Paul Pierce away from the Nets, but the Nets still seem optimistic about their chances of keeping him, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
  • Nets GM Billy King reached out to all of the team’s free agents except Andray Blatche, as King told reporters today, including Stefan Bondy of the New York Post (Twitter link). That signals Blatche’s imminent departure from Brooklyn, Bondy concludes.
  • Suitors believe they can pry restricted free agent Mike Scott from the Hawks with an offer sheet at the right amount, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
  • The Pistons are expected to meet with Anthony Morrow soon, according to Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News (Twitter link).
  • Head coach David Blatt and lead assistant Tyronn Lue helped sell Kyrie Irving on signing the $90MM extension with the Cavs in their overnight meeting, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

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