The NY Knicks have been terrible this season and with Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway arguing with each other, Phil Jackson may look at making some trades to try and turn things around and names like Iman Shumpert, Jose Calderon, Amar'e Stoudemire and JR Smith could be targets at the deadline, as the team hopes to clear space to chase Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love and Greg Monroe in 2015 free agency.
Chris Broussard from ESPN reported on some discord with the Knicks, as Carmelo Anthony and Hardaway got into it earlier in the week regarding play on the court. ESPN reports that Hardaway and other players feel that Anthony is playing selfish basketball and that he is not playing defense hard enough on a consistent basis. The Knicks are playing terribly and that is one reason for the frustration, but the selfish play argument has dogged Anthony for years and now it has bounced out to the forefront.
The report said that the two nearly came to blows, but that did not eventually happen and while there is "friction", Derek Fisher downplayed the issues in his response to the report. Phil Jackson knew that this season would be a struggle for the Knicks, as the triangle was being implemented as the team was still being built, but no one expected it to be this bad this soon. Anthony is the center piece and now the team is working on trying to improve moving forward in the future and that will include trades and free agent deals.
Jackson has money coming off of the books into next summer and that makes Rajon Rondo and Greg Monroe potential targets. Kevin Love is another name to watch and while this is very unlikely, some have wondered if Love will opt out of his deal and hit the market this summer. The Cavs obviously will want to keep Love, but he has the right to opt out of his deal and teams like the Lakers and Knicks would chase him if he does.
The Knicks have been one of the worst teams in the league and they have been very inconsistent on both ends of the floor. The team is ranked 26th in scoring in the league and they are right in the middle of the pack on defense, while they are ranked 29th in rebounds per game. The team is 4-20 this season after starting 3-16 last season and now they are basically out of the playoff race completely in the east and it's only December.
Carmelo Anthony signed a five year deal with the team and so did Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher and while this year has been horrible, the team should have time to build. James Dolan can't be happy, but sometimes this is how rebuilding works. If the Knicks can add one or two prime free agents on the market next summer, they will be in good position to make a run. The team hopes Kevin Love opens up bidding, while Rajon Rondo, Marc Gasol and Greg Monroe will be targets. The tough part will be convincing those players that a quick turnaround is coming.