WHERE AM I GOING? Peter Vecsey says Carmelo Anthony will not be a member of the Nuggets after the Feb. 24 trade deadline, but he will be a member of either the Knicks or Nets. (Getty Images)
Mercifully, this chapter shall come to a close in no later than nine shopping days. Either way, it says here, Carmelo Anthony gets left locally on the stoop of either the Nets or the Knicks.
Contrary to what anonymous team officials allegedly are telling reporters, Anthony definitely will not be employed by the Nuggets after the Feb. 24 trade deadline.
True, players can be dealt any time once their team’s season ends, but pitting the Knicks and Nets against each other in a bidding war will never be more advantageous than it is now. The closer Anthony gets to free agency, the less leverage, if any at all, the Nuggets own.
Don’t believe for a second owner Josh Kroenke will take a chance on Anthony reconsidering the $65 million extension if he’s still a member of the Nuggets after the deadline, as he recently indicated. If Anthony were serious about re-upping for an additional three seasons, a commitment needed to be made long before trade negotiations went as far as they have.
So, which suitor is it going to be, Knicks or Nets? I’m not even sure his employer or Anthony’s tattoo artist knows for sure.
You already know what I think (notice, no alleged sources; tea leaf reading does the trick for me) is going to happen. Contingent on ‘Melo becoming a Net, Tetley wants to be brought on as a consultant.
Here’s the habitual hitch: We all know the Nets have far more to offer than the Knicks for Rocky Mountain redirect, but they lose their value somewhat should Anthony decline to sign a pre-nup prior to the NBA conference call.
I’m convinced Anthony would autograph a Nets’ extension. Others fervently disagree. If they’re correct, why invest so many months negotiating with the Nuggets? Somebody in the Nets’ hierarchy had to have decoded ‘Melo’s feelings on the matter long before now.
Nonetheless, if Anthony is dead set on joining the Knicks, his elementary recourse is to refuse to autograph a Nets’ extension . . . and the Nuggets will be forced to settle for whatever they can.
Then again, if Anthony caught Saturday’s Knicks-Nets atrocity, given those choices, he’ll go back to Syracuse.
Should the Knicks get their man, part of the deal is to send Eddy Curry’s expiring contract and Anthony Randolph to the Timberwolves, who would move forward Corey Brewer and a No. 1 pick this June — Utah’s or Memphis’ — to the Nuggets.
Should the Nets get Anthony, the Knicks will move Randolph to the Timberwolves for the worst of the above first-rounders.
At 27-26 — visiting Atlanta tomorrow night for their final pre-break effort — the Knicks began the week a scant 4 ½ games away from being out of the playoffs (Charlotte in the No. 9 spot). More important, they’re about to blow the street credibility they had built.
So, the incentive to make a move — major, minor, mortuarial — is considerably more urgent than across the river, where the Nets are simply trying to stay buoyant until Brooklyn.
The Nets began the week in 12th place, 8 ½ games away from sniffing the playoffs. Is this season salvageable? Sure, if Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd rejoin Nets coach Avery Johnson in New Jersey.
Still, the back-page buzz the team generated from this entire episode — starting with Mikhail Prokhorov’s détente of defiance — has brought back the franchise to the outskirts of relevancy for the first time since its back-to-back Finals forays.
As far as whether the new import (Anthony or other) actually fits in the Mike D’Antoni Diorama, you know, minor details like chemistry and complementary skills, well, see me when I get back from the All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
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This just in: Several Knicks players and coaches anticipate having trouble focusing on the Hawks in the wake of the Justin Bieber Grammy snub.
While on the subject, how great was it to see Lady GaGa emerge from an egg fertilized by Shawn Kemp?
The Nuggets, incidentally, had lost six of their last nine before visiting Houston last night. Don’t look now, but the Grizzlies are starting to scare people since they finally came out of hibernation. Down 17 in the third quarter Sunday at the Drop Box to the aforementioned Nug gets, Memphis won the balance, 47-22, for its 11th victory in the last 14 games.
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In O.J. Mayo‘s suspended-contamina tion, Tony Allen and Sam Young are consis tently bringing appreci able energy and tough ness to the table; they’re a better team without him. Of course, we won’t know if the Grizzlies are for real until the Lakers inventory their roster over the next nine days and select who’s most appealing.
Had Byron Scott continued his winning ways against the Wizards, he would’ve maintained his inside track to replace Phil Jackson. Unfortunately, Cleveland got clobbered by Washington at the Hock Shop, as the Wizards earned their first road win (1-25) of the season.
As a reward, Flip Saunders ordered poker and pistols reinstated on team charters and the locker room.
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Column castigator Frank Drucker reports: “Michael Bloomberg just apologized for making fun of the ghost of Ned Irish.”
Saturday was Abe Lincoln‘s 202nd birthday. Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre while watching a production of Our American Cousin.
Saturday, after a loss to the Thunder and subsequent altercation with teammate Donte Greene, which member of the Kings gets thrown off the plane? DeMarcus Cousins.
I’m just saying.