NBA New York Knicks

It is Time for the New York Knicks to Trade Carmelo Anthony

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By @DSchultz89

Carmelo Anthony NBA Knicks

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The New York Knicks are currently 5-20, a far cry from what both team president Phil Jackson and his superstar forward Carmelo Anthony were probably anticipating coming into this season.

The lowest point of the season occurred on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs. The Knicks were without Melo, but the Spurs were without Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan. The Spurs won the game 109-95, as the Knicks appeared lost on both offense and defense.

It was recently reported that Anthony and teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. got into an argument at the end of a game, and have never gotten along since Hardaway Jr. joined the team last season. It has also been rumored that Anthony had decided to leave New York and join the Chicago Bulls this summer, before ultimately changing his mind and electing to remain with the Knicks.

The Knicks really do not know what they want to be at this point. New head coach Derek Fisher has said repeatedly he wants to implement the triangle offense, something Jackson did so well during his time as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. However, that offense hinges on one’s team having a dominant big man, which Jackson had with Shaquille O’Neal in the early 2000s, and later on with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in his final days with the team.

To put it simply, the Knicks do not have that kind of player on their team, and this is why they have continually settled for isolation set pieces where they are content to have Anthony chuck up mid-range jump shots with a hand in his face. As a result, Anthony is currently averaging five points less per game than what he was last season. It is obvious he is frustrated with the way the team is performing and that if he knew they were going to be this bad, he would have jumped ship and joined the Bulls.

Given the massive five-year, $124 million extension he signed with the club over the summer, and the fact that he is 30 years old and the later stages of that contract could be very ugly as his production inevitably begins to slide a bit, I think it makes perfect sense for the Knicks to consider trading him and start the rebuilding process. After all, Anthony demanded a trade from the Denver Nuggets when he saw that they were headed in this direction back in 2010, and the Knicks appear to be in the same situation right now. Melo is still a household name in the NBA and the Knicks could definitely land some great young pieces and picks in return if they tried too. It has also been reported by numerous sources that Anthony would definitely entertain the notion of waiving the no-trade clause in his contract and accept going to another team.

All signs point to a split in the near future, and instead of seeing this train wreck play out further, the Knicks would be smart to begin entertaining offers for one of the league’s premier talents.

It will be a tough pill to swallow, but it will be even harder to climb out of this enormous hole they have put themselves in. Melo has had a very nice run with the Knicks and there is no shame in starting the second half of his career elsewhere.

You can sense that he would welcome this change of scenery, and that New York would welcome the opportunity to start over with a team loaded with young talent and hope for the future.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.

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