As Carmelo Anthony Makes Rounds, Knicks Hope to Be Final Stop
When Phil Jackson spoke before the N.B.A. draft last week, he was asked whether he hoped to have a second meeting with Carmelo Anthony before Anthony decided on his future. Jackson, the Knicks ' president, offered one of his wry smiles. His response was something of a riddle.
'No,' he said. 'First or last, probably the best of all those equations, right?'
It was vintage Jackson, and it took some unpacking. The gist was that he seemed satisfied with where things stood with Anthony, who was preparing to embark on a four-city, four-team tour as he weighed his options in free agency. On Thursday, Anthony met with the final of those four suitors, the Los Angeles Lakers, before he reconnected with a new friend: Jackson.
As it turned out, Jackson not only wanted to be the first to make his pitch to Anthony. He also wanted to be the last, although there were multiple reports that the Lakers' Kobe Bryant was expected to meet with Anthony after Anthony's get-together with Jackson. There were many meetings in Los Angeles on Thursday, and many of them involved Anthony.
It remained unclear when Anthony would make a decision, although the Knicks still have the advantage of potentially offering him the most lucrative contract: $129 million over five seasons. Jackson has said that he would prefer for Anthony to accept less money for the sake of giving the team financial flexibility moving forward, but there are only so many players on the planet with Anthony's offensive skills, and he could be a cornerstone for the team for years.
While awaiting Anthony's decision, the Knicks on Thursday made at least one addition to their team. Kurt Rambis, a former head coach of the Lakers who also worked under Jackson as an assistant, agreed to join Coach Derek Fisher's staff as associate head coach, according to a person briefed on the negotiations. The person requested anonymity because the team had not yet made a formal announcement. ESPN was the first to report that Rambis was joining the Knicks' coaching staff.
Rambis, 56, became the first member of Fisher's staff and is expected to be with the team next week in Las Vegas for summer league play. Rambis, who won four championships as a player with the Lakers, has a strong knowledge of the triangle offense and will provide some much-needed coaching experience. Fisher, who recently retired as a player, has never been a coach.
The Knicks also announced their roster for the summer league, which is scheduled to begin July 11. The roster includes several players who spent time with the team last season, including Tim Hardaway Jr., Jeremy Tyler and Cole Aldrich, who is a free agent and whose inclusion came as something of a surprise. In addition, Cleanthony Early and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, both of whom were drafted by the Knicks last week, are expected to be with the team.
As Anthony concluded his whirlwind recruiting tour, several players agreed to new deals with their old teams, among them the Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry and the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki even posted a message on Twitter: 'MFFL,' short for Mavs Fan For Life.
More uncertain was the status of the Miami Heat's so-called Big Three - LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, all of whom are free agents. Many teams are awaiting their decisions before they make more moves, and Anthony's weeklong approach is having a similar cooling effect. Teams have only so much money to spend, and if Plan A entails handing a cartoon-size check to James or Anthony, Plan B must wait.
Anthony met with the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday before traveling to Texas on Wednesday for back-to-back visits with the Houston Rockets and the Mavericks. The meetings seemed to get progressively shorter. After spending most of the day with the Bulls, Anthony's face-to-face meeting with Mark Cuban, the Mavericks' owner, lasted only about two hours, according to various reports.
'What I can tell you is that we made this purely a business meeting,' Cuban said in a statement on his Cyber Dust app. 'No tours. No banners. All basketball and business.'
Anthony has a home in Los Angeles and is a close friend of Bryant's. The two have played together on Olympic teams, and the Lakers have ample space under the salary cap. But like the Knicks, the Lakers are rebuilding, and the pairing of two offense-minded players like Bryant and Anthony would probably not solve their problems.
The day also featured an odd bit of symmetry. Jackson, who coached the Lakers to five titles, knows Bryant well and thinks highly of him. And while Jackson has expressed confidence about the future of the Knicks with or without Anthony, he would like to keep him. If anybody has the power to prevent that from happening, it might be Bryant.
'Kobe's a persuasive guy,' Jackson said last week, 'no doubt about it.'
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