LAS VEGAS — The Carmelo Brick Road still is pointing to New York.
With LeBron James taking his greatness from South Beach to Northeast Ohio, the Eastern Conference became a different place — one new Knicks coach Derek Fisher believes is winnable as long as Anthony re-commits to New York.
Knicks president Phil Jackson expects to hear a positive outcome this weekend, especially after the Lakers moved on and the Bulls seemed to go onto a Plan B by working on a deal to sign Pau Gasol, according to Yahoo Sports. That will end the Bulls chance of getting Anthony via cap space but Chicago still could attempt to woo Jackson into a sign-and-trade, but that is unlikely.
Anthony’s decision didn’t come on a Friday that belonged to King James rocking the sports world in divorcing himself from Heat president Pat Riley and joining the Cavaliers.
The Knicks remain prohibitive front-runners despite the theory Anthony may change his mind and try to join the Bulls because they would then be stamped as Eastern Conference favorites if he signs.
Nevertheless, Anthony would need to ask Jackson for a sign-and-trade. Before Gasol entered the picture, Anthony could have accepted the modest cap space the Bulls could open – which would have resulted in a 4-year, $73 million offer. No more.
Now that the Lakers are out of the picture, Anthony can’t even threaten to leave the Knicks with no compensation.
The Lakers, who had maximum cap space, conceded in the Melopalooza — not that they ever got past third place. Los Angeles used its cap space Friday to inherit two former Knicks, trading for Jeremy Lin and re-signing Jordan Hill.
Meanwhile, James’ Cavaliers have now become the 3 ½-1 favorite to win it all, according to several Vegas sports books.
Fisher, however, said no one should sleep on the Knicks.
After making his head-coaching debut in a 76-64 victory over the Mavericks in a summer league game at Cox Pavilion, Fisher said: “I don’t know if it’s just about LeBron going to Cleveland. Before even taking this job, I thought the Knicks would have a chance to compete in the Eastern Conference. A lot of people think we need to change players and guys can’t play anymore. That’s just not my belief.
“LeBron’s still in the East,’’ Fisher added. “It still makes my job difficult and have to play him four times a year and in the playoffs, as well. Anytime guys at that level, LeBron or a Carmelo, they shift the league when they make decisions.
“There probably will be some dominoes start to fall around the league now that [LeBron has] made his decision.”
One domino should be Anthony. The Post reported the delay, in the Knicks’ eyes, was waiting to make sure he couldn’t team up with James somewhere — even New York. Jackson said he believes he has made a strong connection with Anthony and has five offers on the table, including a five-year, $129 million max offer.
A Melo confidant says Anthony wants to return to the Knicks, but also wanted Gasol to come along with him, which is now all but dead. Anthony was genuinely worried about this season’s fortunes but he could decide to get an opt-out after two or three years.
The Knicks were always at a major competitive disadvantage with Gasol, only able to offer him the $3.27 million mid-level exception. Gasol wrote on Twitter he is close to a decision and the Bulls and Spurs were deemed front-runners.
The Knicks could have done a sign-and-trade or had the full $5.3 million mid-level for Gasol if they ship out Amar’e Stoudemire or Andrea Bargnani. Now that the Sixers didn’t get Lin, they have cap space for Stoudemire, but also want Iman Shumpert in a deal. Jackson has been speaking with the Sixers.
With all the pieces so fluid, Jackson declined to speak to the media Friday on James or Anthony.
“I’m going to talk about that later,’’ Jackson said. “I’m not going to talk about it now.’’
Fisher said he hasn’t gotten official confirmation from Anthony.
“I haven’t heard anything different,’’ Fisher said. “We talked all this week it’s not our decision. He’s got professional goals. We’ve expressed how excited we’d be to have him back. Until that happens we have to keep focusing on what we can control.
“You always have to be optimistic and remain positive as long as you know you’ve done everything you can possibly do. Everyone from our perspective has expressed directly and indirectly how we feel about having Carmelo back here. But he’s an adult. He’s allowed to do what’s best for his family. Whatever decision he makes we’ll respect it. Hopefully we’ll hear something soon so we that we can move forward with our business.’’