Jose Calderon is the Knicks’ new point guard, and perhaps the final impetus for Carmelo Anthony to decide against leaving New York for greener pastures.
Calderon has not yet spoken to Anthony but plans to soon. The 32-year-old playmaker wants to tell Anthony he can make the game easier for the Knicks superstar who failed to make any of the three all-NBA teams this season with Raymond Felton at the controls.
Anthony will meet with Chicago, Houston, Dallas and also the Lakers, where he owns a home, once free agency begins on July 1.
“He’s a great player, one of the best, I’d love to play with him,” Calderon said on a conference call Friday. “I’m hoping to talk to him for sure. I’d love to make everything easier for him and make the team successful and try to get as far as we can.’’
Calderon is the key piece from the Dallas six-player blockbuster to upgrade the forever inept Knicks point guard position. Knicks team president Phil Jackson added seven new players to the roster in a 30-hour span, including three second-round draft picks. But Calderon is the one who matters most, and Jackson said Anthony “saw the value’’ in the deal.
“I think I can help him to get the pressure off him and just give him the ball when he’s ready for it,” Calderon said. “That’s what I’ve been doing. I did it in Toronto with [Chris] Bosh or [DeMar] DeRozan, last year in Dallas with Dirk [Nowitzki], and I just try to help him every time. Because of my 3-point ability I can give him even more space. So that can be a great space for him.”
Great space and cap space that can be used in 2015 for one of Calderon’s best friends, Memphis center Marc Gasol, who becomes a free agent next summer and would fill the club’s glaring need in the pivot.
Calderon could be a magnet for both Gasols. Pau Gasol is also a free agent this summer, loves Jackson, the triangle and may need a change of scenery from Los Angeles. He probably would have to take a decided paycut, as the capped-out Knicks have just the $3.27 million taxpayer mini-midlevel exception.
Asked if he would try to recruit some of his “friends’’ on the free-agent market, Calderon said: “For sure, this is my team. I’m going to help to improve it as much as I can. Anybody that we can get here or would be interested, I’d be willing to talk to, to try to make them come to the Knicks. I think we are one of the best franchises ever. Everybody wants to play here. So hopefully we can get those guys in New York.”
Though he has never played in Jackson’s triangle offense, Calderon is excited to run it.
“It’s a great opportunity,’’ Calderon said. “My 3-point shot is my best shot. I can open the floor for other guys. I’ve always put the team first. I never really played it, but it’s still having to hit the open guy. At the end of the day, the good thing about it is more than anything it’s a team offense — try to find the right guy, try to put the guys in the right situation and look for where the weak spots are.’’
Jackson has called Calderon “a thoughtful point guard,” who may be charged with resuscitating the career of Andrea Bargnani, his buddy from his early Toronto days when Bargnani was more effective. Bargnani was crushed when Calderon was traded to Detroit in early 2013.
Last season, Bargnani suffered an elbow tear in late January that ended his year after struggling defensively and with his 3-point shot. Calderon and Bargnani have texted each other in recent days. Can he be “The Bargnani Whisperer?”
“I think I could help him,’’ Calderon said. “I know the injuries the last couple of years, he wasn’t able to show the potential he has. Sometimes when you’re No. 1 in the draft all the pressure is there, all the expectations are there. But he’s great. A 7-footer who can play the 4 and spread the floor for everybody.
“It’s about confidence, too, and I help with that. I played with him in Toronto for us, a lot of years. And he’s a good friend and for sure I [will] try to help him and put him in the right situation for him to be successful. He’s a guy who’s really going to be important for sure.”