Carmelo Anthony offered another qualified endorsement of the Knicks today in his exit interview with reporters, saying “I want to come back. I want to come back. But I also want to win,” as Newsday’s Al Iannazzone notes via Twitter. There’s more from ‘Melo amid our look at the latest from the aftermath of a disappointing season for the Knicks:
- Anthony said that he doesn’t know if he “can afford another season of losing,” and added that he’s “not at the point in my career where I want to rebuild,” as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News and Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com pass along via Twitter.
- The Knicks star said at the All-Star break that he’d take a discount to re-sign with the Knicks under the right circumstances, and he reiterated today that money isn’t his priority, Isola tweets.
- Anthony would endorse Mike Woodson if the Knicks consult him about the coach’s future, as Marc Berman of the New York Post observes.
- A source tells Berman that Knicks president Phil Jackson doesn’t intend to “clean house” and make sweeping changes to the team’s front office personnel, as the Post scribe writes in a separate piece. Jackson has brought former Bulls scout Clarence Gaines Jr. aboard to help him, but Gaines has no official role with the team yet, Berman notes.
- Kenyon Martin‘s one-year contract is up, but he’d like to remain with the Knicks, as Berman observes in the same piece in which he covered the front office news. “I’ve got a lot of basketball left and I hope it will be here,’’ Martin said.