Is Carmelo Anthony resigned to the prospect of heading to training camp with the Knicks? David Pick tweets that he has begun interacting with some of his teammates on social media. Anthony has been sending encouraging texts to Kristaps Porzingis, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Willy Hernangomez and following their progress in the EuroBasket competition.
Anthony and his representatives have made it clear throughout the summer that his first choice is a trade to the Rockets, where he could join forces with James Harden and Chris Paul on one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Knicks management has expressed a willingness to move Anthony, but won’t take on the three years and $61MM remaining on Ryan Anderson‘s contract. Houston hasn’t found another team to help facilitate the deal, and with camp just 17 days away, Anthony appears to be preparing to remain in New York for a while.
There’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics‘ offseason moves gave Jae Crowder reason to think he wouldn’t be in Boston much longer, writes A. Sherrod Brown of CSNNE. Crowder, part of the package sent to Cleveland in the Kyrie Irving deal, was the Celtics’ starting small forward in all 72 games he played last season. However, he watched the team draft Jayson Tatum in June and sign free agent Gordon Hayward a few days later. “There was some concern because you have a lot of wing players stacked up,” Crowder said. “And I made it clear to the organization that I was concerned about it and wanted some direction. They showed me what they wanted to do and I respected it.”
- Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin thinks the Celtics are facing an adjustment period and might not see the benefits right away from their offseason maneuvering, relays Kevin Spain of USA Today. Although Boston picked up two All-Stars in Irving and Hayward, Griffin believes the loss of Crowder and Isaiah Thomas will be difficult to overcome, along with Avery Bradley, who was traded to the Pistons to free up cap room to sign Hayward. “Losing Bradley, Crowder and Isaiah is losing a lot of grit and overachievers that identified that team,” Griffin stated. “So they’ve had so much change. I think they’re going to be better in the long term, but I think in the short term you can make the argument that they’re going to be worse.”
- Former Sports Illustrated writer Luke Winn will join the Raptors as director of prospect strategy, the team tweeted.
You mean draft Brown in 2016 and draft Tatum in 2017.
^^
If the Celtics young guys can provide defense and step up in their new roles, this season, they should be better. Otherwise, I’d agree they could potentially be slightly worse this year, and then better than previously next year
I still think moving Bradley was the wrong decision, especially now that with Irving controlled cost wise they could’ve afforded him, but hindsight is 20/20. I wonder if they think Smart is worth the $$ and will grow into a much better player.
Agree. Moving Bradley could come back to hurt Celts but Ainge had little choice when the salary cap came in lower than they expected his contract matched what the C’s needed to sign Hayward.
Melo will play the year in NY and then decline his option next year, bet on it.
And I’m sure the Knicks are being on it as well.
*betting.
They also needed Morris’s grit and defense along with Aaron Baynes up front and they still have Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier who are excellent defenders in the back court. They still need one more big who can rebound and play D. Ziznic probably would have been that guy.
I was deluded into thinking the same thing about Zizic but in all likelihood he’s going to turn out to be another tall slow Eastern Euro who’d rather play above the key than on the blocks …
Gosh darn it why do my posts always pop up twice? Reading them the first time is enough of a horror ….
Anthony is never leaving New York.
Boston lost momentum. Knicks worry about picking up too much.
What does a “Director of Prospect Strategy” do, exactly?
Watches slamdunk videos on youtube. Torture
Hey Mr. Griffin, the Celtics may need some time to “get acquainted” but your Cavaliers might need to find themselves a point guard for the first Hal of the year ….