If you were anticipating Carmelo Anthony to just pack it in this season, think again.
The New York Knicks star, coming off a horrible 2014-15 campaign, has a bright image of what people should anticipate from the Knicks this season. Beyond just making the playoffs, Carmelo thinks that this team can make a push for an NBA championship, just one season after winning a franchise-low 17 games.
Following from Ian Begley of ESPN.com.
“S—, we’re competing. People might not believe that, but we’re definitely competing for that,” Anthony said after training camp practice on Wednesday. “That’s always going to be the goal. Whether we get there or not depends on us and what we’re doing. That’s always our big-picture goal.”
“We think that our group, as we figure some things out, will be more competitive than maybe what people think,” Fisher said after the Knicks’ practice Wednesday morning. “Rebuilding doesn’t necessarily mean we’re not trying to win right now.”
The Westgate Las Vegas Sports SuperBook listed the Knicks’ over/under win total at 31.5 on Tuesdays and put New York’s odds for winning a title are 200:1, according to Westgate.
The Knicks could contend for a playoff spot and fight for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. It wouldn’t be that hard for them to do that but the difficult part is where Carmelo thinks this team can contend for a title.
In the Eastern Conference alone, the Knicks will have to compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks if they hope to reach the NBA Finals. If they somehow manage to get there then the Knicks will have to face one of the Western Conference powerhouse teams and the current favorites are the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers and even the Houston Rockets.
All of those teams are better than the Knicks on paper. But on the court, Carmelo, at age 31 coming off a bad knee injury, will have to put out his best performance of his career if he wants to make it to the finals and have one of the most historic comeback stories in NBA history.
