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Anthony Reportedly Advised Free Agent Not To Sign With Knicks

December 16th, 2017 at 6:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Carmelo Anthony, who returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time tonight since a September trade to the Thunder, was open about his plans to leave New York throughout the summer, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.

While the Knicks and his agents were working out Anthony’s future, he isolated himself from the process, spending the offseason in intense workouts and star-studded pickup games that featured some of the NBA’s top players.

Privately, Anthony was telling friends that he didn’t plan to return to New York, even though he was under contract for this season. He also delivered that message to at least one unidentified free agent who was part of the pickup games, Begley relays, recommending that he not sign with the Knicks on the assumption that Anthony would be there.

Anthony was still stinging from the year-long feud with former team president Phil Jackson, who launched a public crusade to get his star player to waive his no-trade clause. Jackson called Anthony a poor fit for the triangle offense and insinuated that the franchise would be in better shape without his hefty salary taking up cap room.

The Knicks made several attempts to unload Anthony before the deal with the Thunder came together, according to Begley. Anthony’s representatives negotiated a buyout agreement that owner James Dolan rejected, trade scenarios with the Rockets dragged through most of the summer and the Knicks discussed Anthony with the Trail Blazers and several other teams.

With Jackson now gone, much of the animosity between Anthony and the Knicks seems to have subsided. Former teammates remain supportive, especially Kristaps Porzingis, who has inherited Anthony’s role as the franchise player.

“He was trying to do the right things to win, but it was just not clicking,” Porzingis said. “It was not the right pieces around him to make that happen. I’m grateful that I had a player like that on my team that I could learn from. Not only on-the-court stuff, but also off the court, a lot. So I can’t say a bad thing about Melo.”

Community Shootaround: Carmelo Anthony’s MSG Return

December 16th, 2017 at 11:00am CST by marksuleymanov

Carmelo Anthony will play his first game at Madison Square Garden since he was traded to the Thunder in September, ending a near seven-year stint with the Knicks. To add to the drama, the Thunder enters MSG one night after defeating the Sixers 119-117 in triple overtime, a game in which Anthony played a season-high 47 minutes.

Anthony’s tenure with the Knicks included historic scoring performances, playoff appearances, and a tumultuous conclusion. Despite everything, Anthony admits that he misses New York, given how long he donned a Knicks uniform and his roots in the city.

“How could I not miss New York?” Anthony said (via ESPN’s Royce Young). “I became entrenched into not just the Knicks, but the city as a whole. Those are my roots, the people there, I became one of them. I’ve embraced New York City, I embraced the culture, embraced everything about the city, so yeah, definitely.”

In an ironic twist, Oklahoma City and New York both enter Saturday night’s contest holding eighth place in their respective conferences — but the Knicks have the better record (15-13 vs. 14-14). The Thunder acquired Anthony and Paul George before training camp, joining the reigning Most Valuable Player, Russell Westbrook, with two All-Stars. However, the Knicks, led by Kristaps Porzingis, have surprised many with their strong start.

Anthony said that if he stayed with the Knicks — something he discussed as a possibility with several former teammates during the offseason — the team would likely be playing just as well. Anthony spent most of the summer at a Manhattan gym building the legend of Hoodie Melo, an internet phenomenon of a rejuvenated Anthony playing pickup games in a hooded sweatshirt. ESPN’s Ian Begley writes that that gym overlooking the Hudson River was Anthony’s safe haven while trade negotiations were ongoing.

Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated compiled a list of memorable return games, including LeBron James‘ first game in Cleveland with the Heat, Shaquille O’Neal‘s first game in Los Angeles with the Heat, and even Anthony’s first game in Denver with the Knicks. All of those games were memorable and Saturday’s return will likely make lists for years to come. For now, Anthony remains focused on the Thunder as he embraces Saturday night’s pageantry.

“It’s always a show. Coming back to the Garden is always a show,” Anthony said. “Of course I want to win. I want to win for many reasons. I want to win because I’m on the opposite team now. I want to win because we have a chance to sweep this road trip. And then I just want to win. It’ll be fun to win back in the Garden now that I’m on another team and knowing the things we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to create and where we’re trying to go as a team.”

It’s time for your input: Did Carmelo Anthony make the right decision to force his way out of New York? Would he, the Knicks or both be better off if he had stayed? Do you consider Anthony’s career with the Knicks a success despite the inconsistency and messy breakup?

Emotional Week Could Bring Closure For Thunder

December 15th, 2017 at 5:32pm CST by Austin Kent

It’s been an emotional week for the Thunder and that’s only going to continue through the weekend as Carmelo Anthony makes his return to New York for a battle with the Knicks. As Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports writes, the week could help give the new-look Oklahoma City squad much-needed closure.

“We can focus on what’s ahead of us. We can focus on being [the] Thunder. It’s no more Pacers. It’s no more Knicks,” Anthony’s newest superstar teammate Paul George said, having narrowly defeated his own former squad in his first game back in Indiana on Wednesday. “We can focus on what we have to do, to get better as a team and get better as Thunder players. That story, that chapter, and that book is over with.”

One difference between Anthony’s exit and George’s exit is that there was somewhat of an understanding between all parties that his tenure in the Big Apple had run its course. George’s hasty departure, the trade request that triggered his deal to the Thunder, left plenty of Pacers fans betrayed.

“At the end of the day, it’s business to me. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not ecstatic to be going back and playing there,” Anthony, who has averaged 17.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for the Thunder, said. “Like I said, I got a different feeling with New York. A different relationship, different bond with the city, with the fans, with the people. It’s a little bit special for me.”

December 15 Opens Up Trade Possibilities For OKC

December 15th, 2017 at 10:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have made some interesting trades over the years between December 15 and the deadline, and they could be in position to do so again this season, writes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Horne suggests that Oklahoma City won’t want to break up its core unless things continue to go south, adding that the team could instead explore trade additions to help complement its Big Three.

Paul George Ready To Move On; Is OKC Running Out Of Time?

December 14th, 2017 at 3:08pm CST by Austin Kent

It was an emotional night for both Paul George and Pacers fans as the Thunder arrived in Indiana. Now, with the contest in the rearview mirror, George is ready to move on. As Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes, the All-Star is happy that the “circus” is over.

While George struggled in his return to the city in which he launched his career, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan thinks that his forward handled it well, showing incredible poise.

George shot 3-14 from the field in the Thunder’s narrow victory Wednesday night, the latest inconsistent offensive showing in a season that has, to this point, been full of them.

“I understood I was going to be coming into it, so it wasn’t a surprise,” George said. “My [Thunder] teammates did a great job of helping me battle this one tonight. Just kept everything within that rectangle out there.”

It was always possible that the NBA’s latest big three experiment could take time to bear fruit. Now 27 games into the 2017/18 season, however, Royce Young of ESPN asks, if the Thunder are running out of time.

Revisiting The Paul George Trade

December 13th, 2017 at 6:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Paul George is back in Indiana tonight for the first time since the blockbuster trade that sent him to Oklahoma City. The deal was supposed to signal the start of a rebuilding process for the Pacers and the creation of a title contender in Oklahoma City, but things haven’t worked out that way. Indiana enters tonight’s game 16-11 and in fifth place in the East, while the Thunder are a disappointing 12-14 and stuck in ninth place in the West.

George was shipped to OKC in early July in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, who are both putting up career-best numbers in Indiana. Oladipo is scoring 24.5 points per game, while Sabonis is averaging 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds, both more than double his totals from last season.

Meeting with reporters today, George expressed joy in seeing the Pacers playing so well and said the reason he had his agent tell the team he was unlikely to re-sign after this season is so it could start preparing right away, according to Matthew VanTryon and Jim Ayello of The Indianapolis Star.

“When we reached out to the front office, to tell them our plans, our future plans, it was to help them along the way,” George said. “And it was bad at first, so to speak, that maybe this trade wasn’t going to pan out. But it obviously did. They got two great, young pieces.”

We rounded up a few more reactions as writers revisited the July deal:

The Pacers should receive an apology for the initial negative reaction to the trade, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. The general feeling was that Indiana didn’t get enough in return for George, with Cavaliers owner Dan Snyder saying, “I will say [the Pacers] could’ve done better,” and the Oklahoma City police department tweeting about the theft of George. Deveney adds that the deal turned out to be better than some other offers the Pacers received, including Gary Harris and draft choices from the Nuggets, and Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley and some non-lottery picks from the Celtics.
The Thunder had to take the gamble when a star like George became available, contends Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. Even if Oladipo turns out to be an All-Star, he wasn’t a good fit with Westbrook during his lone season with the Thunder, Tramel writes, with some observers contending he was out of shape and others saying he couldn’t adjust to Westbrook’s ball dominance. George can be a dominant player on both ends, and his acquisition may have been what inspired Westbrook to agree to a five-year extension in September.
The Pacers should be elated with the results of the deal, according to a consensus of writers on an NBA.com Blogtable. Indiana could be headed for a playoff spot, while George may be joining the Lakers next summer — if not earlier.

Latest On Thunder's Sluggish Start To Season

December 12th, 2017 at 10:19am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder were one of a handful of teams in the Western Conference whose splashy offseason additions were supposed to vault them to another level in 2017/18. Conference rivals like the Rockets and Timberwolves have seen their summer moves pay dividends so far, but the Thunder continue to struggle, having played sub-.500 ball through nearly a third of the season so far. As Royce Young of ESPN details, Monday’s loss to the Hornets represented the latest frustrating result for Oklahoma City, with Carmelo Anthony leaving the locker room without talking to reporters.

“For the talent that we have, obviously this is not where we want to be,” Thunder forward Paul George said. “But we’re going to remain optimistic, though, about the future and what we can do. Once we can find a way to really do it night in and night out, it’s no panic mode, but we have to start playing better. It’s getting to a point where we can’t allow ourselves to be at this point. We can say we’re going to figure it out, we can say all that. But at some point it’s gotta stop.”

For his part, head coach Billy Donovan believes the Thunder are taking the right approach, and anticipates that will eventually show up on the scoreboard. “Everybody’s giving up something of themselves for the benefit of the team, and I think at some point that will pay dividends for us,” Donovan said.

The Thunder players are holding one another accountable for the team’s slow start, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. However, fellow Oklahoman scribe Berry Tramel suggests that Donovan has to take responsibility for the club’s underwhelming performance.

Bulls Notes: Payne, McDermott, Mirotic, Hoiberg

December 9th, 2017 at 9:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Doug McDermott‘s return to Chicago tonight as a member of the Knicks gave Bulls fans an unpleasant reminder of the Cameron Payne trade, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Payne appeared in just 11 games after being acquired from the Thunder in that five-player deal and hasn’t played at all this season as he recovers from offseason foot surgery.

Coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters tonight that an X-ray on Payne last week showed improvement, but he still isn’t able to run or cut and probably can’t play full-court games for at least six weeks. Cowley suggests it will take Payne at least a couple of weeks to get in shape after that, which pushes his return date back to sometime in mid-February.

“He came at a very difficult time last year with a veteran team, and just had his struggles,” Hoiberg said. “At the same time we’re competing for a playoff spot and it’s a tough time to come in and make an impact. For Cam, the big thing is to stay positive through this stretch, and to get him back and have some positive moments for us when we’re going down the stretch.’’

There’s more tonight from Chicago:

McDermott was surprised by the trade that sent him to Oklahoma City at last season’s deadline, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. He was in the middle of his most productive season, averaging 10.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, when the deal occurred. “It was hard leaving because of all the people I liked here,” he said. “But I wish them the best. It was a great organization to play for.”
Now that Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis have put aside hard feelings over their preseason altercation, they should expect to remain teammates for the rest the season, Johnson writes in a mailbag column. The Bulls found a “non-existent” trade market for both players after Mirotic threatened not to return to the team unless Portis was dealt. The Bulls also found no interest in Mirotic when they shopped him prior to last year’s deadline, and no other organization offered him a significant deal as a restricted free agent this summer.
Rumors about Hoiberg’s firing have persisted almost from the time he became the Bulls’ head coach, but he is safe for this season, Johnson adds in the same piece. The front office likes how he has handled a collection of young talent, and he has done better with assigning roles and holding players accountable for their performance. Hoiberg has two more seasons left on his contract.

Carmelo Anthony Accepts Smaller Role

December 8th, 2017 at 6:57pm CST by Austin Kent

The Thunder haven’t exactly hit the ground running since pairing Carmelo Anthony and Paul George with Russell Westbrook. Now Anthony, the elderstatesman of the trio, has started coming to terms with the fact that his days of being the undisputed No. 1 option may be behind him. “For the most part, it’s just accepting the fact that you’re not going to be the man every single night or have to be the man every single night,” Anthony told Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “So for me, I’ve accepted that.”

Jazz Coach Believes Thunder Will Be Fine

December 6th, 2017 at 12:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Snyder is among the believers that the Thunder’s mix of talent will eventually be successful, relays Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News. Early results have been disappointing in Oklahoma City after offseason trades teamed Paul George and Carmelo Anthony with Russell Westbrook, but OKC extended its winning streak to three games by beating Utah last night. “Any time you have a new teams it takes time to develop cohesiveness and an indentity,” Snyder said. “They’re a heckuva team. It’s a mistake to judge any team at this time of the year.”