Carmelo Anthony admits that he came close to signing with the Chicago Bulls after the team put on the hard sell during free agency. However, he opted to stay in New York in order to play with Phil Jackson and also take advantage of business opportunities. While he attempts to get into the investment industry, his main focus is basketball and the upcoming 2014 season which may or may not be a struggle for New York. After shedding a good amount of weight, Anthony is confident in the season ahead.
The New York Knicks have explored numerous trade options this offseason in order to put the best roster possible around Anthony after he decided to stay put with the Knicks. There was not much to entice Anthony to stay. The Knicks were not able to make many moves other than re-signing the small forward. They did trade Tyson Chandler for Jose Calderon, but moves for Amar'e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani to get their killer contracts off the books failed numerous times. Anthony admits he is happy with the New York roster and plans on finishing his career with the Knicks.
"I plan on ending my career here so it wasn't for me to go out there and try to strike a two-year deal and then have to go through this situation in two years," Anthony said, via ESPNNewYork.com. "I'm not doing that [free agency] ever again. I would never do that again. But I did it and I experienced it and it's behind me now."
Anthony signed a five-year deal in free agency with early termination available in 2018. He will have played 15 seasons in the league at that point so the veteran might stay true to that word. Anthony lost weight in the offseason to make sure he can play that long, but also to fit into Jackson's new triangle offense. According to the New York Post, Jackson wants Anthony to play small forward for the team since the Knicks have too many shooting guards on the roster to begin with.
The starting lineup could easily consist of Samuel Dalembert, Calderon, Anthony, Iman Shumpert and JR Smith as long as no other trades take place. Is that good enough to win the East?
