LAS VEGAS — From the 111-degree desert heat, Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday the Knicks have made a much-needed “splash’’ this summer.
The Knicks have added Jason Kidd at point guard for the $3.09 million mini midlevel exception and agreed to a sign-and-trade for backup center Marcus Camby. Their deals to bring back 3-point bench bombers Steve Novak and J.R. Smith become official today. And they also will match the modest Rockets offer sheet to point guard icon Jeremy Lin as soon as today, when the moratorium period ends.
Maybe the Knicks will sign another shooting guard to go along with James White, who comes from the Italian League, to make up for the expected loss of Landry Fields to Toronto. But as is, Anthony thinks the Knicks did well.
“I feel good about the strides we made in the offseason,’’ Anthony said before practicing with the U.S. Olympic Team at UNLV. “We really made a splash in the offseason. Getting some free agents, signing guys we had we needed to get back. Now it’s matter of putting us all together.
“Everybody knows what Jason Kidd can bring,’’ Anthony added. “I still feel he has a lot left, or we wouldn’t have made that move. J.R., Novak, we got Camby. We made some great strides. Marcus and Tyson [Chandler] will be a great fit. He and Amar’e [Stoudemire] will be a great fit.’’
Maybe the Knicks did not close the talent gap with the Heat, but things could have gone a lot worse. If not for the union’s Bird-rights arbitration victory, Novak was a goner. Had Smith not shot horribly in the playoffs, perhaps a team would have outbid them. The most the Knicks could offer Smith — under CBA rules — was a 20 percent raise to $2.8 million and he agreed to terms at midnight yesterday on a two-year deal with the second year a player option.
Kidd also seemed awfully close to returning to Dallas.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen,’’ Anthony said. “With J.R., Novak, Jeremy, I didn’t know. That’s behind us now. We got all that in the past.’’
The Knicks’ bench looks deeper. The lone concern is at shooting guard — if Iman Shumpert (knee surgery) is unable to return at full strength in January. Cheap options are Ronnie Brewer and Sonny Weems, who became free agents yesterday after not getting their contract options renewed. Nets free-agent slasher Gerald Green also may be of interest. O.J. Mayo is still out there, but they would need a sign-and-trade to acquire him from the Grizzlies.
Chandler said Camby provides an upgrade.
“We match up better with everybody having him,’’ Chandler said. “One of the rough things last year with myself, when I went out of the game, we didn’t have rim protection. Having Camby now, that shot-blocker, crafty, it will really help us defensively.’’
Chandler sees himself and Camby, who can play power forward, as an occasional tandem down the stretch, two Defensive Player of the Year winners making stops.
“I was ecstatic,’’ Chandler said. “It’s a great pickup for us. Camby can play two positions. We can be on the floor at the same time and obviously having a backup, taking some of the load off.He’s probably a better shot-blocker than I am. He chases down shots. I’m more of a possession defender.’’
With Kidd getting minutes at point guard, Chandler sees coach Mike Woodson’s defense becoming sturdier. In what appeared a shot at his former club, the Mavericks, who broke up a championship team, Chandler said, “The biggest difference between successful teams in the league who continue to be successful, they keep their core guys and add people. Jason’s a great defender, too. We have some great minds now on the defensive end and vets. Those are huge additions.’’
Anthony could not find fault with any of general manager Glen Grunwald’s moves.
“To have guys on the team last year come back, J.R. and Novak, that was big for us,’’ Anthony said. “We wanted to keep that going.’’