It was an ugly mess watching Carmelo Anthony force his way out of Denver last season.
But for Anthony, it was the right move. He looks at the ongoing lockout, the lost games, the limbo he would be in as a free agent and thinks how he handled everything worked out for the best.
That’s what he told Newsday.“I think I did the right thing,” Anthony told reporters Wednesday while promoting the release of his new Jordan Brand sneaker, Melo8, in Manhattan…
“For the average person out there who really thought I was just trying to get up and just leave for no reason, that really was a big key in my decision,” Anthony said about the lockout. “I knew free agency was coming, I knew it would be altered, I knew it’d be messed up, so imagine if I’d have stayed. I’d have been a free agent now in limbo.”
Anthony is right, for him this was the smart play and worked out like he hoped. No doubt.
But I’d still argue — as Donnie Walsh did at the time — that the Knicks would have been better off not blowing up their team to get him. Melo was going to come to New York anyway, if they had waited for him to go into limbo then signed him to a deal under the new labor rules they’d have some solid role players to put around their two stars (or pieces to trade to get what they need). Now they have to find good fits again, and it will not be easy under the new salary structure (whatever it is).
