The New York Knicks have Carmelo Anthony back in the big apple and now Phil Jackson may look at trades with players like Iman Shumpert, Andrea Bargnani, Amar'e Stoudemire, JR Smith and Shane Larkin heading into the season to break up the logjam on the roster and there is a chance a trade could happen this summer.
According to ESPN.com, the Knicks are open to making moves with Shumpert and Smith, as they have a glut of guards on the roster and the team also may look at trading Stoudemire if anyone will actually take on his contract. The team also may look at moving Bargnani, but his contract is bigger and that could be harder to move like Stoudemire. Larkin, Shumpert and Smith are the trio to keep an eye on, as the Knicks have a number of players in the backcourt and should move at least one of them this summer.
The Knicks stuck to their plan and signed back Carmelo Anthony this summer rather than go after names like LeBron James and Kevin Love and while it took a little while to get done, they kept Melo in the big apple. The Knicks had a tough season last year and started off just 3-13 and that was just too big of a hole to climb out of. The team flirted with trading for Kyle Lowry and Rajon Rondo, but neither of those trades got into deep discussions.
The move of LeBron James to Cleveland helps the Knicks a bit, as it takes Miami out of the alpha dog spot and even things out a bit. While Miami will still be good after signing Luol Deng and other players, teams like Washington, Chicago and Cleveland are moving in the right direction and now the four straight finals streak by Miami could be snapped. The Indiana Pacers expect to be good again despite losing Lance Stephenson, while the Toronto Raptors are coming off of the best season in franchise history.
The Knicks have made some moves already this season by trading Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Mavericks and that got the team a new point guard. The team likely will keep Jose Calderon from that deal, but there is a chance that Shane Larkin gets traded after being moved. The Knicks felt that was a good move because both Felton and Chandler were disappointments last season and their contracts were a sag on the salary cap. The moves enabled the team to keep Anthony and now they can try and position themselves as a place where someone like Marc Gasol can sign in 2015.
The Knicks also signed Jason Smith this offseason and he can help provide some depth after Chandler was moved. Smith comes in after having knee surgery last season and he averaged 9.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game while appearing in 31 games for the Pelicans last year. Smith has strong rebounding and shot clocking abilities and he also is a high percentage shooter from inside. The Knicks started 3-13 last season and missed the playoffs and now they are trying to build things back under Jackson over the next few years.
