Carmelo Anthony gave a familiar answer to a familiar question Saturday, insisting that the Knicks‘ losing won’t drive him out of New York, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday. The Knicks are off to a disastrous 5-24 start, but Anthony says he isn’t second-guessing his decision to re-sign with the team as a free agent last summer and won’t demand to be traded. “I won’t do that,” he said. “As long as I can go out there and play, I always feel like any game that I’m in, we have a chance to win the basketball game. So I would never start thinking like that.”
There’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Sixers will continue their strategy of winning by losing, especially if they can keep collecting draft picks, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Pompey defends the team’s two most recent deals, which brought Philadelphia more second-round picks but cost the team Alexey Shved and Brandon Davies. He notes that Shved had been unhappy because of decreased playing time, while Davies was likely to lose minutes to the now-healthy Jerami Grant and the newly signed Furkan Aldemir.
- Rajon Rondo wasn’t the only player the Mavericks coveted from the Celtics in Thursday’s blockbuster trade, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. After watching center Dwight Powell in draft workouts last season, Dallas was determined to get him on the roster. “He can shoot threes, he can rebound, he can defend,” said Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “He’s a stretch four in a lot of respects, a stretch five in a lot of respects, … and so that’s why he’s here. That’s why we wanted him.”
- He might be the only one who considers it “fun,” but Nets coach Lionel Hollins is embracing the challenge of trying to win with an injury-limited lineup, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Brook Lopez is expected to miss his eighth straight game Sunday against the Pistons with a strained lower back, while Deron Williams is out with a right calf strain. “We’re working hard, we’re playing together, we’re laying a foundation,” Hollins said. “We’re just [shooting] ourselves in the foot sometimes with poor decisions. We got to get better at that, more disciplined on defense in our schemes, but I’m happy with our effort.”