Whether we’ll see it during the season remains uncertain, but Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Chris Paul were all on the same team Monday. The three stars joined forces in a pickup game in New York, relays Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, who links to some video of the event. Other NBA players such as Russell Westbrook, Enes Kanter, JaVale McGee and Kenneth Faried were also involved, but the focus was on Anthony, Harden and Paul.
Anthony has made no secret of his desire to join the two All-Star guards in Houston, reportedly telling Knicks management that he will only waive his no-trade cause if he can join the Rockets. New York’s front office tried to accommodate him, but talks have slowed recently. The Rockets have been unable to find an additional team to facilitate a deal to the Knicks’ liking, and it appears Anthony may not be traded before training camps open in two weeks.
There’s more basketball news from New York City:
- ESPN’s Chris Herring examines whether Anthony should still be considered an elite player at age 33. He finished 64th in the network’s rankings of the top 100 NBA players that were released today, dropping 33 spots from a year ago. Anthony’s rating has been hurt by four straight non-playoff seasons, Herring explains, and the Knicks’ desire to trade him and build around Kristaps Porzingis.
- Knicks officials were very interested in today’s EuroBasket matchup that pitted Porzingis’ Latvia team against 18-year-old Luka Doncic and Slovenia, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. The Knicks have a large group of scouts and other representatives at the game and have a strong interest in Doncic, a 6’7″ forward who is considered among the top prospects for the 2018 draft.
- The Rockets sold for a record $2.2 billion last week, but the Knicks could easily top that if they ever hit the market, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN. One analyst has estimated the team’s worth at $3.5 billion.
- The Knicks are doing the right thing by rebuilding around young players, but there’s not much hope for the upcoming season, according to the staff at Basketball Insiders. In their season preview, all five writers forecast New York to finish fourth or fifth in the Atlantic Division.
- Earlier today, we passed along details on Charles Oakley‘s civil suit against James Dolan and MSG.
I saw the list. I disagree with Eric Gordon and Danilo Gallinari in front of Carmelo Anthony. Melo is a great spot up shooter, iso mid range scorer, and pick and pop option. New York’s failure to properly utilize him (or any other player they have) has made him seem far worse than what he could and should be.
Side Comment: Rookies shouldn’t be included in these lists. They haven’t played and the list should draw from last year’s production, not potential.
Danny Green, too
Totally agree. Those players named are in no way better than Melo and the rookies shouldn’t be ranked based off of speculation.
Don’t take ESPN seriously. They’re a bunch of clowns. I’d bet that while they had Melo 64th, they had Harden top 5 as well as Kyrie…lol whatever. Let them push their skip payless agenda and create all the stupidity they want. Just don’t walk into it, and you’ll be fine, and players like Melo will be fine
Sure enough, Dwyane Wade didn’t even make the list………………………………………totally ridiculous
The E used to stand for Eastern… Now the S stands for Superficial!
I’m a knicks fan and I just don’t get why they always trade for bad players, as I said before I am a fan, let’s all pray that they do better this year and LETS GO KNICKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Danilo and Danny Green ahead of Melo is ridiculous. Melo is not top 25 anymore, but top 40-45 would be reasonable.
Also, please someone, pony up the $3.5B to get rid of Dolan.
He’s not a premier build-around-me player anymore.
The second paragraph has been repeated almost daily and is not needed anymore. Talks have not “slowed recently”… they have been moribund for some time and up to Houston’s end from the start.
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Knicks want in the lottery, so that means Melo drops to 64th? Not a great system.
Melo at 64 is a joke. ESPN is just looking for clicks.
Or a controversial Melo reaction (which they got)