Knicks, Rockets working on Carmelo Anthony trade scenarios

http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york-knicks/post/_/id/66748/66748

The Knicks still prefer to trade Anthony and people who've spent time around Anthony recently came away with the impression that he still wants to be traded. So in a perfect world for both Anthony and the Knicks, Anthony will be traded at some point this season. Given that awkward predicament, Beasley may not spend a ton of time with Anthony in New York.​

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...-anthony-kristaps-porzingis-article-1.3507138

Barring an 11th-hour deal, Carmelo Anthony will remain with the Knicks next week when the team holds their annual media day to kick-off the start of training camp. So while the message is one of rebuilding and looking toward the future, the focus will stay on Carmelo's uncertain status and the dysfunction that intensified during the Phil Jackson era. Or error. Take your pick.

In July, a source familiar with the negotiations between the Knicks and Houston Rockets told The Daily News that the teams had discussed parameters of a potential trade and that the deal was on the "two-yard line." To be this close and not hit pay dirt is something only Giants head coach Ben McAdoo and Eli Manning can truly appreciate.

If Jackson doesn't get fired, the deal likely would have been completed. But things got complicated quickly, much to the chagrin of Camp Melo.

The Knicks under new team president Steve Mills and new general manager Scott Perry are well within their right to wait for the best deal possible before finally sending Carmelo on his way. The problem, however, is that Carmelo has limited his trade list to one team, the Rockets, and unless Houston can find someone to take Ryan Anderson's contract, Carmelo is stuck in limbo.

Anthony's camp is cautiously optimistic that a deal will be struck before Monday and trying not to think about the potential media circus that will take place if Carmelo is still with the Knicks. Two weeks ago, Carmelo's wife, La La, said the family thought a trade would have been completed by now.

Mentally, Carmelo and his family have moved onto Houston. Reality is another story. Hopefully, Mills and Perry will have the right answers when they address the media on Friday because the Carmelo issue isn't going away until he goes away.

But this is how the Knicks have always operated. The dysfunction starts on Day 1 and picks up speed once the season starts. Last year, Derrick Rose missed most of the preseason while attending a sexual assault trial in Los Angeles. This year, training camp could be hijacked by the uncertainty surrounding the team's two best players, Carmelo and Kristaps Porzingis.

On Tuesday, the Knicks introduced Jarrett Jack and Michael Beasley to local media members on Tuesday because they're both new additions and because Anthony and Porzingis were not available.

The former no longer wants to play for the Knicks while the latter isn't too thrilled about the organization either, as evidenced by Porzingis keeping his word to stay as far away from the team as possible during the offseason.

Porzingis, who returned home to Latvia in late April, is expected to arrive in New York this weekend. The plan then calls for Porzingis to report at the Knicks training facility on Monday for the first time since blowing off his exit meeting. In other words, he is tentatively scheduled to arrive on Monday.

Other than text messages, the Knicks have had little-to-no contact with their future franchise star, although they did send Porzingis a not-so-subtle message by not renewing the contract of his favorite assistant coach, Josh Longstaff, who has since re-surfaced with the Atlanta Hawks.

That move did not sit well with Porzingis, who is not a fan of head coach Jeff Hornacek or lead assistant Kurt Rambis. Things are about to get interesting. And we're not even in October yet.

Porzingis elected to train back in his homeland while Anthony has stayed away from the Knicks practice facility, choosing instead to conduct private workouts that seem to always make their way to social media.

Those workouts are taking place under the watchful eye of Chris Brickley, who was let go by the Knicks after the season. That's right, Carmelo who wants to be an ex-Knick and is being trained by an ex-Knicks employee.

Brickley seems like a harmless guy who has connections and who has clearly perfected the art of self-promotion. He constantly posts videos of NBA players, superstars and role players alike, working out with him. Rumor has it the ultimate private Russell Westbrook had a representative give Brickley a cease and desist request to stop posting workouts of the league MVP.

This is yet another reason to love Russell Westbrook.

Carmelo, however, embraces the attention and has even started a fashion trend by wearing a hoodie during these workouts. Hoodie Melo actually became a thing this summer.

If Monday arrives and Carmelo is still a Knick, he'll be in his uniform for photos and interviews. It will be an awkward way to start a new season and a new regime.

It's not ideal. But it's definitely how the hopelessly dysfunctional Knicks operate.

​