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Update: Carmelo Meets With Nets, Knicks Make Final Offer
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 20, 2011
Modified Feb 20, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 20, 2011
Modified Feb 20, 2011
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After several attempts to meet with Carmelo Anthony face-to-face, a team of Nets representatives, including owner Mikhail Prokhorov and minority owner Jay-Z, finally sat down with Anthony yesterday in L.A. during the All-Star weekend. And despite a 40-minute pitch on their future, which includes a much-hyped move to Brooklyn in two years, sources say that Anthony was non-committal about signing a contract extension with the Nets, leaving the Knicks the favorites to acquire him before the trade deadline next Thursday. But at what cost?
Update: According to MSNBC, the Knicks have made their "final offer" to the Denver Nuggets: Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Eddy Curry and a draft pick for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman and Shelden Williams. Sources say the ball is now in the Nuggets' court, and a resolution could come as soon as this afternoon. If the deal goes through, the Knicks projected starting five would be Billups, Landry Fields, Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Timofey Mozgov.
Because the Nets resumed their pursuit of Anthony this week, the Knicks have been pressured into upping their offer to the Nuggets, including three of their starters (Wilson Chandler, Danillo Gallinari and Raymond Felton) in their proposed deal. Besides gutting the core of the team who went 28-26 in the first half of the season, the deal seems to have fractured the team internally; and if you want to know why, look no further than this truly terrifying report from YahooSports:
The thin veil of secrecy has torn away now, the pretenses gone and Isiah Thomas has left the shadows and moved into the light again. Once more, he is the New York Knicks’ top basketball executive
Thomas is driving everything through owner James Dolan - the trade for Carmelo Anthony, the departure of Donnie Walsh and perhaps even the eventual hiring of the New York Knicks’ next president and general manager, multiple league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
“Isiah is calling the shots for New York,” said one front-office executive with knowledge of the Anthony trade talks. “It’s a disgrace. Donnie should walk."
...
Dolan has overruled Walsh in these trade talks and undermined his authority. Walsh has never wanted to give away Raymond Felton for an aging Chauncey Billups and throw Danilo Gallinari into the package, too. This is all Isiah, all his influence.
Thomas doesn’t believe Dolan is inclined to give him his job back, but it almost doesn’t matter anymore. In a moment of truth for this Knicks franchise, in the biggest trade they’ve tried to make in years, Isiah Thomas, the coach of Florida International University, has emerged as the de facto GM.
Eventually, Anthony will likely end up with the Knicks, and Thomas plans to take full credit with Dolan for delivering him. He’s worn out Dolan with the idea that Walsh is too old to recruit the biggest stars to New York, that he can’t connect with them. This is complete nonsense. What sells New York isn’t the GM, but cap space, the Garden and a magnificent teammate and leader like Amar’e Stoudemire. Thomas is forever selling revisionist history and out-and-out lies to an audience of one: Dolan.
Thomas refused to deny that he was directly involved with the Anthony trade to ESPN: "I don't feel it is my place to comment about any of this stuff. I want the Knicks to do well and I definitely want Jim to do well." If, and when, the Knicks are able to pull the trigger on the Carmelo trade (which some sources say could come as early as tonight), Anthony will be joining a team in turbulence. But there is one hopeful report: CBS says that Jazz All-Star guard Deron Williams "has informed associates he looks to join Amare in New York in 2012."
Tagged
basketball
carmelo anthony
isiah thomas
knicks
nba
nets
trades
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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