Carmelo Anthony gets it. He looks at the Knicks roster — which won 54 games and got to the second round of the playoffs — and realizes they don’t have enough. Not with the Heat still out there, with Indiana getting better, the Bulls getting Derrick Rose back, even the Brooklyn Nets getting better with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
The Knicks have basically kept the team together but added Andrea Bargnani. That should solve New York’s defensive issues.
‘Melo can opt out next summer. That may not be likely, but if he wants to win a title in New York and that means upgrading the talent. Which is why in a story about how Anthony could bolt the Knicks next summer, Marc Berman of the New York Post threw in this tidbit (as noted over at Eye on Basketball).
Um, Raymond Felton anyone? He’s not Rondo, but he’s not bad. That said Rondo, even coming off an ACL injury, would certainly be an upgrade and with the ball in his hand and not Anthony’s the offense would likely run more efficiently. Rondo also would be a defensive upgrade — and that is the side of the ball where New York has to improve.
The Knicks are handcuffed with their high salary under the current CBA – they are over the tax apron so they could offer one free agent $3.2 million a year and the rest got minimum deals. Rondo would have had to be a trade, but the Knicks roster is not flush with the kind of young talent a rebuilding Celtics team would want.
But ‘Melo is frustrated and wants to see a talent upgrade. I guess you just introduce him to Bargnani and hope for the best.