As we discussed earlier today, the Knicks offseason conundrum is one of the more intriguing storylines of the summer. Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York posted a brief look today, including quotes from Carmelo Anthony and Jared Jeffries.
Anthony said he was willing to offer his take on an offseason strategy to the Knicks brass:
"I would like to stay out of it but in order for us to get better, if it's something that the front office needs my opinion on, I'm there for them. But that's why those guys get paid the big bucks," Anthony said.
Anthony's teammate Jeffries was on ESPN radio on Friday afternoon and when asked what he thought the team's biggest offseason need was, he said:
"I think if we can find a young, athletic three that can come in and kind of give Melo a break. I think this year, we relied so much on Melo at our three position, that if we can get a young, athletic three that can come in and give us some scoring, but also a lot of defense, that will be big for us.
"I feel like because Melo is so versatile, he can move to the four some. So if Amare does get tired, Melo can move to that position. But I feel like if Melo moves to the four, we had to go really small at our three. We go with Landry, we go with Shumpert. If we can find somebody, like a Kawhi Leonard [of the Spurs], a knock-down 3-point shooter at the three that can also play defense, for the right kind of price, because this year we have so little cap room, you bring him in and now you can move Melo to the four and still big at three position."
As Luke Adams outlined, New York has a very limited amount of salary cap flexibility so it is uncertain exactly how they would acquire the caliber of player that Jeffries seems to be talking about. Also without a first round pick, the Knicks front office will really have to get creative if they want to get past the first round next season.