Carmelo Anthony Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Porzingis To Spend Summer In Latvia; Anthony May Resist Trade

April 16th, 2017 at 9:30am CST by Arthur Hill

Kristaps Porzingis, who made a statement about the Knicks organization by skipping his exit interview Friday, plans to spend most of the summer in his native Latvia, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Porzingis’ move was seen as a protest against the “unprofessionalism and routine chaos” that he has encountered during his two seasons with the team, Wojnarowski writes, noting that he may not return to the United States until just before the start of camp.

His stance appears to represent the prevalent feeling in the locker room. Many players are saying privately that they don’t want to be involved in summer tutoring sessions in the triangle offense that are planned at the Knicks’ practice facility. Wojnarowski describes the atmosphere as an “open rebellion” against team president Phil Jackson’s philosophy.

It also appears that Jackson’s statements on Friday urging Carmelo Anthony to accept a trade this summer have backfired. Wojnarowski writes that the Knicks plan to reopen trade talks before the draft in June, but Anthony has become more determined to spend two more years in New York and try to outlast Jackson. With the Knicks picking up Jackson’s option this week, both he and Anthony have two seasons left on their current contracts.

Jackson’s press conference was the latest addition to the chaos that has left Porzingis disillusioned. He developed a good working relationship with coach Derek Fisher as a rookie, Wojnarowski writes, but Fisher was fired midway through last season, partly because of a dispute with Jackson over the triangle and the best way to use Porzingis in the offense.

Jackson appointed Kurt Rambis as interim head coach and wanted to give him the job permanently, but opposition inside and outside the organization forced him to hire someone else. He chose Jeff Hornacek, who had recently been fired by the Suns and had little leverage to oppose the triangle or force out Rambis, who remains as an assistant.

NBPA Objects To Phil Jackson’s Statement

April 15th, 2017 at 9:20pm CST by Arthur Hill

Players union head Michele Roberts has issued a statement calling Phil Jackson’s comments about Carmelo Anthony in Friday’s press conference “inappropriate,” tweets Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated.

The union objected to Jackson saying that Anthony would be “better off somewhere else” next season. Anthony remains under contract with the Knicks for two more years, although he has an early termination option for 2018/19.

“We voiced with the Commissioner today our view on the inappropriate comments by Knicks President Phil Jackson,” Roberts’ statement read. “If players cannot, under threat of league discipline, speak openly about their desire to be employed elsewhere, we expect management to adhere to the same standards. The door swings both ways when it comes to demonstrating loyalty and respect.”

Latest On Carmelo Anthony

April 15th, 2017 at 9:13am CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks president Phil Jackson didn’t mince words when addressing his long-simmering dispute with Carmelo Anthony in a press conference Friday. Making his intentions clear to end their relationship, Jackson said, “I think the direction with our team, he’ll be better off somewhere else.”

The problem is that there’s no easy way for a break-up to occur. Anthony is under contract for $26,243,760 next season and $27,928,140 in 2018/19 with an early termination option. There is also a 15% trade kicker that must be paid by whatever team acquires him, along with a no-trade clause that Anthony can use to block any deal he doesn’t like.

With that in mind, several NBA writers have taken a look at where Anthony might wind up:

Anthony has three options for the offseason, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation. He can waive the no-trade clause and accept a deal, although Ziller says he shouldn’t feel obligated to do so just because Jackson wants him gone. He can submit a list of teams that he would agree to be traded to, which would presumably include joining friends LeBron James with the Cavaliers, Chris Paul with the Clippers or Dwyane Wade with the Bulls. Or he can make a stand and tell the Knicks that he won’t leave until his contract expires. Ziller favors the last option, noting that Anthony likes being in New York and has earned the power he obtained through the no-trade clause.
The Cavaliers, Clippers and Celtics, whom the Knicks reportedly contacted about moving Anthony before the February deadline, are listed as possible destinations by The New York Post, along with the Heat and Wizards.
Miami may have interest in Anthony, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel, who notes that team president Pat Riley pursued the Knicks star in free agency three years ago. With more than $25MM expected to be freed in cap space once the Chris Bosh situation is resolved, Miami could add Anthony with a simple trade, and Winderman suggests Justise Winslow as a possibility. However, that would leave the team unable to re-sign James Johnson and Dion Waiters.
The Bulls “will steer completely clear of whatever Carmelo does,” predicts Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. In a video posted on CSNChicago.com, Friedell suggests that if Anthony had come to Chicago three seasons ago, Tom Thibideau probably would have been kept as coach and current Knicks Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah would still be with the Bulls.

Kristaps Porzingis Reportedly Skipped Exit Meetings

April 14th, 2017 at 11:30pm CST by Milo Taibi

The Knicks‘ season may be over, but the team’s PR struggles continued with Phil Jackson‘s press conference this afternoon. Following an unusual presser, in which Jackson asserted Carmelo Anthony would “be better off somewhere else,” Ian Begley of ESPN reported frustration from Kristaps Porzingis. Per Begley, Porzingis skipped exit meetings with the Knicks following this season, citing what he perceived to be “dysfunction and drama surrounding the organization.”

“Porzingis, according to team sources, is frustrated with the Knicks’ lack of direction,” Begley reports. Jackson’s remarks at Friday’s press conference involved Porzingis as well as Anthony; claiming the 21-year-old is not ready ot become the face of the franchise (Twitter link).

In the past, Porzingis hasn’t shied away from criticizing team management. At the end of March, Porzingis told Fred Kerber of the New York Post that his team didn’t do it from the beginning the right way…We didn’t have real fundamentals as a team.”

For what it’s worth, Jackson acknowledged the volatile reputation the Knicks have gathered in recent years.

“I think there’s disconnect sometimes with this team and I think there was some rebelliousness with this team that created some of the discord during the year. And I think has to stop and that will stop,” Jackson said.

Phil Jackson: Carmelo ‘Better Off Somewhere Else’

April 14th, 2017 at 1:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks president Phil Jackson offered his strongest indication yet of an upcoming separation with Carmelo Anthony, tweets Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders. “We’ve not been able to win with him on the court,” Jackson said at a press conference this afternoon. “… I think the direction with our team, he’ll be better off somewhere else.”

Jackson has met with Anthony to talk about the best way for them to move on, and how both sides could benefit from a trade (Twitter link). Jackson described their meeting as “cordial” and complimented Anthony for “holding it together” during a difficult season, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post.

Mutual dissatisfaction between Jackson and Anthony has been obvious for some time, and the Knicks reportedly contacted the Clippers, Cavaliers and Celtics before the February deadline in an attempt to find a taker. At that time, Anthony gave the Knicks a list of teams that he would agree to join (Twitter link).

Anthony received a no-trade clause as part of his latest contract and would have to give his consent for any deal to take place. Responding to a question today from a reporter, Jackson indicated that Anthony might be happier playing for a title contender, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.com.

Some other highlights from today’s press conference:

Jackson believes the Knicks never developed the chemistry they needed to win close games (Twitter link) and accepts responsibility for a disappointing season (Twitter link). “I never took a jump shot, never made a substitution, but the buck stops here,” he said.
Jackson said he had a good exit meeting with Derrick Rose and likes the free agent point guard’s attitude about “redeeming himself” in New York (Twitter link). Rose, who was acquired from the Bulls in a trade last summer, told Jackson he wants to stay in New York (Twitter link).
Jackson complimented first-year coach Jeff Hornacek and said he is comfortable with him keeping the job (Twitter link). Jackson acknowledged some “disconnect” between players and coaches.
Jackson doesn’t believe the deterioration of his relationship with Anthony will prevent other free agents from considering the Knicks (Twitter link).
He says the triangle offense hasn’t worked in New York because it has “faced resistance” from players (Twitter link).
Jackson says 21-year-old Kristaps Porzingis is too young to be made the face of the franchise (Twitter link).
He declined to comment on the February incident that saw former Knick Charles Oakley arrested and removed from Madison Square Garden after a confrontation with team owner James Dolan. Jackson said he tries not to think about it.

Knicks Notes: Chemistry, Rose, Oakley

April 13th, 2017 at 10:08pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Many factors contributed to the Knicks’ disappointing season, though team chemistry belongs near the top of the list, Ian Begley of ESPN.com notes. Earlier in the season, Rose went missing for a game and he addressed his teammates on the following night, apologizing for putting them in a bad spot. Begley hears from a source that after Rose concluded, no one said a word and the scribe believes it’s a testament to the team’s lack of cohesiveness.

Here’s more from New York:

Prior to Derrick Rose‘s latest injury, the Knicks were still considering him as an option had they missed out on bigger free agent targets, such as Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague, Begley writes in the same piece. Coach Jeff Hornacek recently said the team won’t close the door on a Rose return.
Rose would be happy to get another shot with the Knicks, but he’s excited to hit free agency for the first time in his career, Lonnae O’Neal of The Undefeated passes along. “I would love to stay here,” Rose said of New York. “I love my teammates, I love the coaches, I love the front office. But this will be the first time that I will hit free agency, so I want to take advantage of everything and just see what the free agency system is all about.”
Charles Oakley has been arraigned in court on charges stemming from his ejection from Madison Square Garden earlier this season, ESPN.com relays. Oakley has maintained his innocence and declared that he’ll fight the charges.
Carmelo Anthony is reportedly leaning toward waiving his no-trade clause this summer. Unless he and Phil Jackson can reconcile, New York will look to deal him.

Carmelo Wants “Commitment To Win” From Knicks

April 13th, 2017 at 10:54am CST by Luke Adams

With the Knicks’ 2016/17 season in the books, the focus in New York will shift to Carmelo Anthony‘s future with the franchise, and Anthony spoke to reporters on Wednesday about his current situation. The star forward is prepared to have his exit meeting on Thursday with Phil Jackson, GM Steve Mills, and head coach Jeff Hornacek, and suggests he’d like a “commitment to win” from the Knicks, as Ian Begley of ESPN.com and Marc Berman of The New York Post detail.

“I would love to be back, but there’s some things I’d love to see different — the mentality, a winning mentality, being committed to that,” Anthony said. “I want to win. Hopefully everybody else does. I wanted to win. They know that when I signed my contract a couple of years ago. That’s still my mindset. If that’s not the direction they want to go in — it’s communication. Just communicate.”

Anthony still wields a no-trade clause this summer, and while he has said all along that he’d love to remain in New York, his post-game comments on Wednesday indicate that if the Knicks want to rebuild around Kristaps Porzingis and the team’s other younger players, that will be something he takes into consideration as he decides whether to waive that NTC. Anthony’s comments suggest that he recognizes the Knicks would probably be open to a deal if he is.

“It’s all on me,” Anthony said. “I have a lot of thinking and reflecting to do. It’s all on me at this point. I’m pretty sure the organization has an idea and thought of what they want to do and how they want do it. At this point it’s all on me.”

Anthony clarified that he remains uncertain about what his future holds, and that hearing what the Knicks have in mind for him going forward will likely have an impact on his decision. As Begley details, Anthony also admitted that it was “hard to trust” Jackson after the Knicks president criticized him publicly earlier this season.

“If somebody was talking bad about you indirectly at your job, what would you do? You would feel a certain way,” Anthony said. “You would want that person to come straightforward with you. And I feel the same way. I’m always open. I’m a very honest person. I know the business and I know the game and I know how it works. So if it’s something that you want to get across, a message that you want to get across, I’ve always been open.”

A report earlier today indicated that the Knicks and Jackson each picked up their side of Jackson’s mutual option, locking him up as the team’s president for two more years. It remains to be seen whether that will reduce Anthony’s odds of sticking with the franchise.

Phil Jackson, Knicks Exercised Mutual Option

April 13th, 2017 at 8:05am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks and team president Phil Jackson “quietly” picked up their respective sides of Jackson’s mutual option for the next two years this spring, according to Ramona Shelburne and Ian Begley of ESPN.com. The option would have allowed either side to exit the contract this year, but now that it has been exercised by both sides, Jackson is locked in through the 2018/19 season. Sources tell ESPN that the mutual option was exercised “a while ago.”

As another disappointing season in New York neared its conclusion, there had been speculation that one side or the other would opt out of Jackson’s contract. A report in March suggested that some people close to Knicks owner James Dolan were urging him to make a change, despite his public commitment in February to retaining Jackson.

Meanwhile, Jackson just finished a turbulent 2016/17 season that saw him publicly clash with star forward Carmelo Anthony in the weeks and months leading up to the trade deadline. In Jackson’s three years as New York’s president, the team now has an 80-166 overall record. However, he has long insisted that the option was only inserted in his contract as a precautionary measure related to CBA talks, since he didn’t want to stick around through another lockout.

With Jackson poised to manage the Knicks’ roster through another season, he’ll have plenty of interesting decisions to make this summer, including potentially trading Anthony, deciding whether to attempt to bring back free agent point guard Derrick Rose, and determining which player to draft with the club’s lottery pick.

And-Ones: Fredette, Marbury, O. Johnson

April 10th, 2017 at 10:46pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Multiple teams offered Jimmer Fredette a 10-day deal after his season in the Chinese Basketball Association concluded, but he turned those deals down to stay home with his wife and newborn daughter, Ken Tingley of the Post Star reports. The guard played this season with the Shanghai Sharks and the team wants him back next season, though he has not made a decision on where he wants to play. Beijing has also made Fredette a contract offer for 2017/18, per Tingley.

As a result of his noteworthy college career and his year in the CBA, Fredette has become extremely popular in China. Tingley adds that the Communist government, which does not allow the free flow of information, previously contacted Fredette to make sure he wouldn’t use his social media popularity to share political views. Fredette told them that he was not political and that simply playing basketball was the goal.

Fredette showcased his scoring ability in his lone season in China, averaging 37.6 points per game on 47.4% shooting. He had a 73 point game and he won the league’s MVP award. He’s still eligible to play in the NBA’s postseason should a playoff team sign him.

Here’s more from around the league:

Stephon Marbury will play one more season in the CBA before becoming a coach in the league, Steve Popper of NorthJersey.com relays. The scribe adds that Marbury would like to eventually return to the NBA as a head coach .
Marbury said he admires the way Carmelo Anthony has handled the constant adversity with the Knicks, Popper adds in the same piece. “I think he’s handled it great,” the point guard said. “He understands. He knows. This is the biggest market in the world as far as in the NBA playing basketball. He understands if he wins what it will be like here. Sometimes you’ve got to go through the tough times and all of the dark times in order to get to the light.”
Orlando Johnson has signed with the Lebanese Basketball club Riyadi, according to E. Carchia of Sportando. Johnson was the No. 36 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft.

Jennings: Carmelo Trade Rumors Took Toll On Knicks

April 7th, 2017 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

Although he’s headed to the playoffs as a top-four seed with the Wizards, Brandon Jennings spent most of the season with the Knicks, and said on Thursday that he thinks the constant trade rumors and speculation surrounding Carmelo Anthony had an effect on his old team in the weeks and months leading up to the deadline.

“It definitely took a toll, I think, on the team. Because it wasn’t even about basketball anymore, it was more about what was going on with Melo,” Jennings said, according to Ian Begley of ESPN.com. “… I think it was just a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster for him this year with everything he had to deal with, which isn’t fair. For a player to wake up every day and you’re hearing trade rumors and you might be gone and this and that. It was like a two-week span where everybody was hitting your phone, (reading reports) about Melo leaving.”

The rumors surrounding Anthony began in earnest around mid-January, when Phil Jackson‘s longtime friend and confidant Charley Rosen published a column criticizing the Knicks forward. Although Rosen dismissed the notion that he was acting as Jackson’s mouthpiece, a handful of reports surfaced in the following weeks suggesting that the Knicks were reaching out to other teams to gauge their interest in the 10-time All-Star, in the hopes that he’d waive his no-trade clause.

Between mid-January and the trade deadline on February 23, the Knicks lost 12 of 17 games, though it’s a bit of a leap to assume that correlation equals causation — even before Rosen’s column was published, New York was off to a sluggish 18-22 start to the season.

Whether or not the constant trade talks had an impact on the Knicks’ on-court performance, Jennings says they weren’t fair to Anthony, as Begley details. In Jennings’ view, Carmelo had “a lot of pressure on him dealing with stuff with Phil.”

Anthony ultimately stayed put at the deadline, but the Knicks are expected to revisit trade possibilities in the summer, at which point Carmelo may be more open to accepting a deal.