Knicks smart to pause Carmelo trade talk, but smarter to make it happen

The start of the NBA season is still three months away, plenty of time for the Knicks new front office to prove whether this iteration will be any different than the ones that have preceded it in nearly two decades of futility.

And there is still plenty of time for Carmelo Anthony’s fate to be decided.

The tension that had stretched to what felt like a breaking point has eased with the departure of Phil Jackson, who took with him the sniping at his star player and his insistence on chasing some small measure of credit that it was his system, not the stars, that earned him his titles as a coach.

Anthony maintained from the day he arrived in New York that he wanted to be here - actually maintained it even before then, forcing the Denver Nuggets to make the trade that landed him at Madison Square Garden. With each dig and needle from Jackson he calmly stood in front of the cameras and declared that he still wanted to win in New York.

But with Jackson gone, maybe shortly before he was fired, Anthony finally agreed that maybe he would rather be someplace else. He gave the Knicks permission to pursue a trade, agreeing he would waive his no-trade clause for a move to Houston or Cleveland where he could not only play with a contending team, but also unite with one of his long-time friends - Chris Paul in Houston or LeBron James in Cleveland.

Now, there is a pause.

After 18 months of trying to force Anthony out of town, after weeks of working on a deal once Anthony finally agreed to go, the Knicks pulled back from the talks. There was no explanation in the move, first reported by ESPN Thursday night. 

There is a simple explanation if you want to believe that common sense has arrived at the Garden, although it might hard to convince you - or Anthony - of that. But with Scott Perry coming to an agreement on a five-year deal with the Knicks to take over as general manager Thursday and Steve Mills ascending to team president, taking a moment to back off of the talks and let Perry assess the offers, consider the possibilities, makes sense.

It’s encouraging if Perry, with a long and well-respected resume, gets to make the decisions now. And the Knicks certainly should show him some respect since they already paid out, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick, a compensation package of cash and a 2019 second round pick (the best of the three second rounders they have). When Mills was general manager and Jackson was the president, executives from other teams shook their heads at what they perceived as a divided front office with two factions not working in unison. It didn’t help that Jackson was rarely available to even speak with executives from other teams.

But what’s not so encouraging is that, according to the ESPN report, the Knicks want to bring Anthony in and discuss his thoughts on possibly remaining in New York. 

Could it work? Sure, without Jackson tying the team to the triangle offense and without the distractions off the court, Anthony could play well and help the team. He is still the leading scorer from last year’s squad at 22.4 points per game and also led the team in minutes per game. And perhaps even more important, he provided cover for a growing Kristaps Porzingis on and off the court. 

When Anthony didn’t play the Knicks were 0-10 without him in Porzingis’ rookie season and then 2-6 last year. Anthony opened up shots for the 7-foot-3 future face of the franchise on the court, but just as important, he deflected shots at him off the court. With the chaos constantly accompanying the Knicks, it was Anthony who provided the nightly explanations, who faced the cameras every night and often allowed Porzingis to slip out without a word. 

Trading your best player and not getting an equal return is the sort of move that permeated Jackson’s tenure in New York. Try to scroll through your memory of a trade he got the best of and you might come up with Pablo Prigioni netting a second round pick?

And you could reason that holding onto Anthony right now, when the Knicks have been unable to find a way to move him to the Rockets as they have attempted to expand the deal to three and four teams, is a smart move. If they can’t get what they want for him, they could let it play out with Jeff Hornacek finding a way to feature him and then revisit these deals at the trade deadline when teams might see Anthony as the missing piece in a championship run. The more time that passes, his contract also becomes less of a factor. He also can opt out of his final year and become a free agent next summer - like Paul and James.

It could be an injury that creates a necessity for him - although the downside for the Knicks is if something happened to Anthony. And the Knicks also have the window now that Anthony has permitted them to make a deal. Maybe that doesn’t change, but perhaps it does and the Knicks could find themselves in the same bind they were in the last 18 months.

It’s hard to believe that the Knicks really want to start over with Anthony in a Knicks uniform after the comments Jackson has made and even Mills’ assertion upon signing Tim Hardaway Jr. that, “he will fit right into the core of players that make up a roster emphasizing youth, athleticism, accountability and unselfishness.”

Does that sound like a team president who wants to go through two more years of Carmelo Anthony? Or does it sound like a new head of the organization, stepping back and letting the new face take his place in negotiations?

The Knicks, with many of the same faces in place in the front office, with the ownership that has overseen the shuffling chairs and constant failures still at the top, had better hope it’s the second option. It’s time for a change - and not just by moving Carmelo Anthony.

Email: popper@northjersey.com