Carmelo Anthony certainly took his time when it came to making a decision in free agency. The guard took visits to multiple teams, having all kinds of recruiting pitches thrown his way. While the veteran certainly wanted to be on a winning team, he also wanted the money he felt he deserved. After admitting that the decision came down between the Chicago and the New York Knicks, Anthony noted that the offseason moves by Phil Jackson gave him the confidence to stay in the Big Apple.
Anthony is making his first comments since signing a five-year, $124 million contract to remain with the New York Knicks. He admitted that decision did not come easy, but that it was his faith in Jackson that ultimately led him to stay with New York for the long-term.
"It was overwhelming," Anthony said, via ESPNNewYork.com. "It was stressful in the final days, one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. I was flip-flopping. It was hard. It was Chicago, but then after I met with L.A., it was L.A. But it came back to Chicago -- and was pretty much always Chicago or New York. That's a situation where I could have walked in now to an opportunity to compete for the next however many years."
Jackson was making several moves during the start of free agency while he awaited the decision of Anthony. It can be assumed most moves were done to win over the guard. Jackson immediately traded Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton for point guard Jose Calderon amongst other players. That relieved salary cap space and got the team a solid starting point guard. They also drafted Cleanthony Early. Now, the team is hoping to pull off deals for either Amar'e Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani, JR Smith or Tim Hardaway Jr.
Anthony has confidence Jackson understands how to build a championship roster. With limited salary cap space, the only moves the Knicks can really make are via a trade and while they could really use a second star on the team, that will not happen until 2015 when they big contracts off the books and can make more moves than this year.
"I want to win. I don't care about the money," Anthony said. "I believe Phil will do what he has to do to take care of that. I don't think we're that far away. People use 'rebuilding' too loosely. It's a matter of me believing in the organization, believing in Phil. I wanted to go somewhere where I can end my career. I feel like we have a brand-new team. It's a new beginning. It's excited."
