Carmelo Anthony wants another face-to-face meeting with Knicks president Phil Jackson after the season, according to Fred Kerber of The New York Post. Anthony is seeking clarity on his future in New York after the team reportedly discussed trading him to the Celtics, Cavaliers or Clippers before last week’s deadline. Any of those deals would have required Anthony to waive his no-trade clause.
Anthony wants to address the rest of this season before discussing his next move. “I don’t think right now,” he said. “Right now we’ve got to sit down and kind of finish these games and go back down to the drawing board after this season.”
There’s more news out of New York:
- Anthony wasn’t notified before Brandon Jennings was waived on Monday, but said he understands not being part of every personnel decision, Kerber relays in the same piece. Jennings had requested the move and agreed to a buyout so he could join a contender. He signed with the Wizards earlier today. “As players we don’t really know what happens behind closed doors unless they bring it to us,” Anthony said. “That wasn’t something that they brought to us.”
- Derrick Rose‘s desire to play for a winner will affect his decisions in free agency this summer, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Rose plans to address that topic with Knicks management during his exit meeting. “We had extremely high expectations for this team,” Rose said. “The reality is, I can’t get mad at it. If anything it’s a learning experience. I have to learn from it.’’ Rose can sign an extension with New York before the start of free agency July 1st, but the team has been disappointed with his performance since last summer’s trade with Chicago and may not want to make a long-term commitment.
- Coach Jeff Hornacek has incorporated Jackson’s triangle offense more frequently as the season wears on, and big man Kristaps Porzingis believes that’s the right approach, Berman writes in a separate story. “We should’ve been playing it from the beginning of the season,’’ Porzingis said. “We’re a little behind. I don’t know when we can finally start using it properly and making an impact.”
6:10pm: Jennings will receive $1.2MM for the rest of the season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. However, because the Knicks will save half of any amount over $875K, Jennings will wind up with a net of about $1MM, notes cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link).
5:45pm: Former Knicks guard Brandon Jennings has cleared waivers and signed with the Wizards, the team announced. As expected, rookie guard Danuel House was waived to clear a roster spot.
Washington is Jennings’ fourth team in the past two seasons. He signed a free agent deal with the Knicks last summer and averaged 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds over 58 games before agreeing to a buyout on Monday. He is expected to be the new backup to John Wall in Washington.
“Brandon gives us playmaking ability and experience at the guard position while adding another scoring option as well,” said Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld. “His presence, along with the recent acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic and the continued progression of Ian Mahinmi, will help our team as we continue our push towards the playoffs.”
- Speaking of Jennings, his teammate with the Knicks, Kristaps Porzingis, told reporters on Tuesday that being waived by New York was probably a good thing for Jennings. “He’s a great veteran, great guy,” Porzingis said, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “But he wasn’t, you could tell that he wasn’t himself lately so that’s probably the best thing for him. Because he loves basketball, he loves playing basketball (and) he wasn’t happy here.”
- The Knicks have elected to bring back the triangle offense, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. The club will use the remaining months of the season to determine which players best fit the system. Head coach Jeff Hornacek tells Ian Begley of ESPN that it will be a part of this summer’s player evaluations, too.
Some members of the Knicks organization view Jrue Holiday as a free agent target for the club this summer, league sources tell Ian Begley of ESPN.com. As Begley points out, team president Phil Jackson displayed interest in trading for Holiday earlier in his tenure in New York, so it makes sense that the veteran point guard would be on the Knicks’ radar in the offseason.
After missing the start of the season due to a personal matter, Holiday has appeared in 45 games for the Pelicans in 2016/17, averaging 15.9 PPG and 7.4 APG to go along with a .457/.374/.705 shooting line. The 26-year-old is in the final year of his current contract, putting him in line to hit the open market this summer.
Although there are a number of big-name free agent point guards set to hit the market in July, many of those players – such as Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry – are viewed as highly likely to re-sign with their current teams. That could leave a player like Holiday as one of the top options left on the board, though New Orleans is expected to make a strong effort to lock him up. Holiday acknowledged last week that the Pelicans view him as a part of their future along with Anthony Davis and newly-acquired DeMarcus Cousins.
The Knicks have a free-agent-to-be point guard of their own on the roster, with Derrick Rose on an expiring deal. Earlier in the season, it appeared that there might be mutual interest between Rose and the Knicks in a contract extension, but the odds of Rose remaining in New York long-term seem to have declined since then.
Here are a few more Knicks notes:
- On Monday, head coach Jeff Hornacek “firmly denied” that the Knicks had moved into tank mode, as Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “Who says we’re trying to lose?” Hornacek said. “As a team we’re not thinking about losing. We’re still trying to win. Brandon [Jennings] being waived doesn’t mean [not] trying to win games. We feel Ron Baker can fill right in. It’s a different dynamic. He can control things and provide defense.”
- According to Berman, the Knicks recognized that Jennings was “unhappy” with his role in New York and that he would have been upset if his playing time had been reduced down the stretch. A source tells Berman that the Knicks felt the veteran guard was “no longer a fit” with the team, leading to his release. “Brandon wanted to play more minutes here,” Hornacek said. “With Derrick here, it made it awfully tough.”
- As Berman explains, even if the Knicks’ interest in re-signing Rose this summer is limited, the team may hang onto him until season’s end to keep his cap hold on the books, in case it can help accommodate a sign-and-trade.
Tyler Hansbrough has signed a contract with the D-League, Chris Reichert of The Step Back reports (Twitter link). Now 31 years old, Hansbrough played 44 games with the Hornets last season, receiving a career-worst 7.8 MPG. Hansbrough went unsigned as an unrestricted free agent over the offseason, but expressed interest in returning to Charlotte after 2015/16.
“Personally, when I was called, I felt like I went out there and helped the team in the ways that I could. I’d be glad to be back,” Hansbrough told Sam Perley of Hornets.com.
Other goings-on around the game…
- The Rockets are unlikely to sign Andrew Bogut, sources tell Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The Rockets would like to add Bogut as insurance in case of a Clint Capela or Nene Hilario injury, but the big man may be looking for a bigger role.
- The Pistons don’t appear to be interested in a reunion with Brandon Jennings, Rod Beards of The Detroit News relays. “With Ish here, I don’t think [Jennings] would be a fit. From Brandon’s standpoint, my guess is he wants to go somewhere he can play,” Van Gundy said. “In a contract year, especially, he needs to get playing time and get seen. I hope it works for him. I really like him and he’s able to land something good this summer.”
- The BIG3 announced five additional players will register for its draft pool: James White, Andre Owens, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Lawrence Moten, and Ndudi Ebi (press release). In April, BIG3 will hold a player combine for all players in the draft pool. While all five players have NBA experience, White most recently appeared in an NBA game- scoring 25 points over 57 games with the 2012/13 Knicks.
- The Cavaliers could be the winner of the Nerlens Noel trade if Bogut decides to join the defending champs, John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Rumors linked Bogut to Cleveland over the weekend, but it was reported today that the big man has “strong interest” in joining the Celtics.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post
The Knicks appear to be done with buyouts after parting ways with Brandon Jennings today. While there was some speculation about Derrick Rose being cut by the club, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN suggests the Knicks probably won’t complete any more buyouts unless “a player they like becomes available.” (Twitter link)
Despite Jeff Hornacek‘s words to the contrary, the Knicks appear to be in full-on tank mode at this point. Sporting a 24-35 record, the Knicks are four games behind Detroit for the eighth seed of the Eastern Conference.
More from The Garden…
- Hornacek has been a fan of Chasson Randle‘s game, Mike Vorkunov of the New York Times writes. The Knicks always viewed Jennings as a stopgap, Vorkunov writes, whose absence will now allow Randle to receive NBA minutes over the next several weeks. “We loved Chasson, his ability, how he can play,” Hornacek said. “He’s a smart player, knows how to play the game, shoot the ball. Chasson can play.”
- Frank Isola of the Daily News commended the team for cutting Jennings, as Brandon “was never going to be a part of the Knicks future.” Jennings wasn’t happy with the Knicks, as he’d begun to lose minutes to rookie Ron Baker. Isola speculates the reason Jennings was released before Sasha Vujacic was Vujacic’s willingness to run the triangle offense. Additionally, the Knicks attempted to trade Jennings prior to the deadline, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes, but no team was interested in giving up an asset for him.
- Isola is skeptical that the Knicks will cut Rose (link above). The Knicks still view themselves as a playoff-caliber team, and waiving Rose would be an admission of a “colossal mistake” from Phil Jackson. Had the Knicks dealt Rose for Ricky Rubio, Isola observes, Jackson essentially would have traded Rose, Jerian Grant, and Robin Lopez for Rubio. Isola suggested the team look to the future; “acquiring as many lottery balls as possible” rather than playing for the eighth seed. Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis‘ minutes should be limited, and Ndour appears to be a release candidate.
- In trade deadline negotiations, the Timberwolves wanted Mindaugas Kuzminskas in addition to Rose, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com. The Knicks and Wolves couldn’t get on the same page for a deadline swap, as we’d previously heard the Knicks insist Minnesota include Nemanja Bjelica alongside Rubio.
2:03pm: The Knicks have confirmed that Noah underwent a left knee arthroscopy today to remove a loose body (Twitter link). According to the team, Noah will be re-evaluated in three to four weeks, though I imagine the center would only try to get back on the court this season if the Knicks push for a playoff spot. They’re currently four games back of the No. 8 seed, with four teams to pass.
11:01am: Knicks center Joakim Noah is expected to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, which would sideline him for the remainder of the 2016/17 season, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Noah’s injury, which has kept him out of action for most of February, had been classified as hamstring soreness, but it seems his knee is an issue as well.
Noah, who turned 32 on Saturday, signed a four-year, $72MM contract with the Knicks last summer. New York received some criticism at the time for that deal, and it doesn’t look any better now than it did then. Noah has struggled to produce for his new team this season, averaging 5.0 PPG and 8.7 RPG in 46 games (all starts). As NBA.com’s advanced stats show, the Knicks have a -6.0 net rating with Noah on the court, compared to -2.5 when he’s on the bench.
Assuming Noah is indeed ruled out for the season, he’ll join Brandon Jennings in having played his last game for the Knicks this year. Unlike Jennings though, Noah won’t be released, since he still has three more years left on his contract.
11:50am: The Knicks have officially confirmed Jennings’ release and Randle’s new deal, tweeting a photo of the rookie guard signing his contract.
7:23am: The Knicks are set to cut ties with veteran guard Brandon Jennings, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). After waiving Jennings, the club will use its open roster spot to sign free agent guard Chasson Randle, Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter).
Randle, who went undrafted in 2015, appeared headed toward a roster spot with the Knicks in October, but was waived after suffering an orbital bone fracture. Randle subsequently joined New York’s D-League squad as an affiliate player, and a solid showing in Westchester earned him an audition with the Sixers, which in turn led to two 10-day contracts and a rest-of-season deal. However, he lost his roster spot last week when the club needed to clear a spot to complete its Nerlens Noel trade with Dallas.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Randle will ink a multiyear deal with the Knicks that features a partial guarantee for the 2017/18 season.
As for Jennings, the former 10th overall pick signed a one-year, $5MM contract with the Knicks last summer, and has averaged 8.6 PPG and 4.9 APG in 58 games for the club, with a .380/.340/.756 shooting line. Per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (via Twitter), Jennings recently informed the Knicks that he’d like to join a playoff team, so the Knicks will release him to potentially give him that opportunity.
If Jennings clears waivers, he’ll be free to sign with any team, but as Bobby Marks of The Vertical observes (via Twitter), that $5MM contract could be appealing to teams below the salary floor, since there’s only about $1.2MM left to pay on it. We identified the teams below the floor over the weekend, including the Jazz ($4.23MM below) and Wolves ($3.24MM below).