The New York Knicks are at a bit of a crossroads. The team has had to balance building around an older star in Carmelo Anthony while trying to add young players for a sustainable future.
With Anthony getting older and needing more postseason success to cement his legacy, it is no wonder that he would like the Knicks to go all out to add help and send the team into the playoffs next season. So it should not be a surprise that the star forward is asking to be involved in this summer’s personnel decisions.
The following from ESPN’s Ian Begley:
“I think you have to,” he said Wednesday night. “I think you have to have some type of input, whether it’s input or dialogue, whatever word that you want to use. I think you have to have that. I think at this point it needs to be some type of connection, some type of communication. Especially if we want to right this ship, there definitely needs to be some type of communication.”
Among notable decisions to be made by the Knicks is filling the head coaching position. Current interim head coach Kurt Rambis has been rumored to be kept on board, but he has not been very successful in his coaching tenure. If Melo has a voice on this decision, it would not be a shock to see Rambis gone and one of many well-known candidates hired instead.
Melo did give somewhat of a vote of confidence to Rambis, saying that he was thrust into a bad situation:
“I like Kurt. I thought he was kind of thrown into a tough situation with the firing of [Fisher] and kind of gathering the troops, getting guys to play and finish the season up,” Anthony said. “As far as what’s going to happen this summer, this offseason and next year, who’s going to be in that spot, I have no idea. I haven’t had any conversations with anybody about that. I’m pretty sure they’ll address that when the offseason comes.
“I would love to have some type of input when it comes to that. But like I said, nobody has had a conversation about that yet.”
That is not a ringing endorsement by any means, but at least Anthony is saying the right things.
The Knicks offseason will be an interesting one both in the process of filling the coaching vacancy as well as in free agent decisions. Team president Phil Jackson has not earned a lot of confidence from fans and the team has mostly been a disaster over the majority of the season after a surprisingly strong start.
In general, star players should have an input in team decisions, but the Knicks must be cautious in approaching their plans based on the thoughts of an out-of-his-prime star when they have the opportunity to build a young team around the likes of rookie Kristaps Porzingis. It is a delicate balance, but the Knicks should lean to one direction. That direction does not include Carmelo Anthony.
