The very best players in the world — at least the healthy ones — descend upon New Orleans for the NBA All-Star Game this weekend. Some, like noted Knick Carmelo Anthony, expect to enter the free agent market this summer. So won’t that likely be a topic of conversation for the stars?
“We don’t have time to talk like that,” Anthony said Tuesday after a lengthy Knicks practice, their final such workout before the break. “You guys [media] are going to be there. We don’t have time to just sit down and relax.”
Yeah, too many probing questions like, “So what’s your favorite Justin Bieber song?” or “Eggs. Scrambled or poached?” Believe it, players get that at the All-Star Game — when not being asked to give a shout out to fans in Mongolia.
So Anthony said players will do their regular All-Star duties and not plot future unions or recruit one another.
“I think All-Star weekend is just a time where you can relax, decompress, kind of reflect on the first half of the season and gear up for the second half of the season,” Anthony said, noting tales of recruiting “as always, as always” are blown out of proportion. “As far as recruiting and things like that, that never happens.”
But yes, the stars do chat. Just not about joining forces. Or if they have, it really has not done the Knicks a whole heckuva lot of good. A quick gander at the All-Stars shows rosters are not overpopulated by Knicks.
“A lot of guys — especially the people I call friends, the people I talk to — it’s more making sure I’m all right, making sure I’m keeping my head up, making sure I’m staying positive,” said Anthony who takes his 27.1-point, second-best NBA scoring average against Sacramento in the Knicks’ pre-All-Star finale Wednesday at the Garden. “It’s not, ‘Whatcha gonna do?’ or ‘You should do this or you should do that.’ It’s more just being there during this time.”
Despite the Knicks being mired at 20-31, despite a position that is on the outside looking into the playoffs, despite all of the injuries, despite the trade or coach firing rumors and demoralizing stuff that has been the Knicks’ season, Anthony said he still is upbeat.
“Without a doubt,” Anthony said. “My head is always up. I always remain confident and remain positive. And I’ve got to do that for my teammates and make sure they see that and hopefully they can feed off that.”
Well, the outsider might suggest that’s a tough assignment, staying up amid the Knicks season. But one place where hope always can be found is in the Eastern Conference where mediocrity reigns. Even with all of the negatives, the Knicks are within striking distance of eighth place entering Wednesday.
Wednesday is sort of straight out of Bizarro World: pretty much a must game. In February. Against the Kings.
“We got to win,” Anthony said. “We got to win tomorrow. We have to win. There’s nothing more than that. We have to win.”
But the Knicks, who expect J.R. Smith to play Wednesday, albeit in a mask to protect a small fracture in his left cheekbone suffered Sunday at Oklahoma City, know they must start winning the games they should win. The Kings will be playing the second game of a back-to-back, having played Tuesday in Cleveland where they entered 17-34.
“We have no room for error and Sacramento’s the next team that we have to play,” said coach Mike Woodson, who was spared the usual “So what’s up with your job?” grilling Tuesday in Greenburgh at the team practice facility. “It’s an important game as we go into the All-Star break because it still keeps us in the hunt in terms of where we’re trying to get.”