The New York Knicks are gearing up for a critical free agency run this summer. In the midst of another disappointing season, Carmelo Anthony is making sure the front office feels the pressure to sign marquee players to help rebuild the franchise, so he sat down with Phil Jackson. Anthony felt good after he and the team president talked about the future of the franchise and his place in it.
Anthony has been talking a lot about free agency recently as the Knicks begin to set their focus on the summer. The franchise star has made it clear that he intends to do a lot of recruiting. The Knicks will enter the summer with $18 million to spend, but that could easily increase depending on the futures of certain players. Anthony is ready to go to work as he puts the ball in Jackson's corner.
"It's in their court. The ball is in their court," Anthony said. "They have an opportunity; we have an opportunity to do something this offseason. We gotta do something. It's there. It's kind of an even playing field, so you've just got to hit the ground running."
Jackson and Anthony met to talk about the plans for free agency this summer. The forward declined to say exactly what those plans were as the Knicks are expected to be involved in talks for Mike Conley, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Durant and Al Horford. Anthony would only say that he walked away feeling very good about the outlook of things considering the amount of pressure that is on Jackson to deliver this offseason.
"I thought it was good timing for us to sit down and talk," Anthony said. "... I won't go into the details of [questions he asked Jackson], but it was just good for me to get it out there, talk about it, get his response, get his feedback, and that was that."
One thing Jackson made sure to discuss was the trade rumors circulating around Anthony. The franchise star has made it clear that he is committed to the Knicks after signing a five-year, $124-million contract. Anthony holds a no-trade clause in his contract that he could opt to waive at any moment if he feels the Knicks are not making moves in the right direction. Jackson knows that Anthony could easily depart and he said it is up to the forward to determine that.
"That's entirely up to Carmelo," Jackson said. "He has it in his contract. So it's in his lap. But we like a lot of what he played at this year. I think he got disappointed at some point and things happened...So I'm trying to say keep with the program. We can come back. There's hope there, and he has to see that."
