Carmelo Anthony doesn’t want to discuss his plans for free agency, but said he had a “great” meeting Friday in Los Angeles with Knicks president Phil Jackson, new coach Derek Fisher and general manager Steve Mills.
At a promotional appearance in Manhattan Wednesday, Anthony told reporters, “It was a great meeting with Phil, it went well.’’
Anthony was also asked about the hiring of Fisher, but he kept it short. “I like what Phil is doing,’’ said Anthony.
The Post reported Knicks brass, including Fisher, were satisfied after the meeting with Anthony and like their odds of retaining him despite a Yahoo Sports report claiming he was “leaning’’ toward leaving and Houston and Chicago were at the top of his list.
Meanwhile, Rockets center Dwight Howard is beating the drum for Anthony. Howard said he hasn’t spoken to Anthony recently, but he hopes he will take a long look at Houston when he becomes a free agent. Howard won’t be doing the recruiting, but told USA Today, “It would be great to have him.”
“I think he just wants to win right now,” Howard said in a Q&A in Wednesday’s edition. “That’s his only goal. I’ve always been a Melo fan. One thing he said in an interview a long time ago, I think my first or second year in the league, I remember him saying that if he could play with one guy in the league, he would play with Dwight Howard, so you never know. You never know what could happen.”
During the season, Howard talked about Anthony’s impending free agency by saying endorsements and keeping up a player’s brand comes through winning, not from being in a big market such as New York. It appeared to be Howard’s way of sending Anthony a Texas-sized message.
“I haven’t spoken with Melo personally,” Howard said in the interview. “I know this is a time for him when he has to really just focus on what’s going to be best for him. And I really believe that in this point in Melo’s career, he just wants to win. He’s done everything — we both have that kind of same mentality to where all the individual accolades, we’ve got them. We’ve got a gold medal, he has been in tops in scoring for a while, but those are all individual things.”
The Rockets were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Trail Blazers, and general manager Daryl Morey has grand visions of opening up cap space to potentially sign Anthony. He’ll need to dispatch Omer Asik and former Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin and take on little salary in return. No easy task.
Dallas, which also covets Anthony, already has plenty of cap space and Dirk Nowitzki put the Mavericks’ hat in the ring over the weekend. The edge for Houston and Dallas in free-agent dealings is Texas has no state income tax.
Jackson, who is in Turkey to attend his son’s wedding, can offer Anthony a five-year, $129 million max deal. But Jackson doesn’t want to give Anthony the max because it will hurt the team’s 2015 and 2016 cap flexibility. Anthony has already said he’s willing to take a pay cut in order to sign another star or two.
The Post reported the Knicks and Rockets engaged in discussions on a deal for Asik near the trade deadline, with Iman Shumpert one of the pawns. It’s doubtful the Knicks would want to accelerate Anthony’s departure by doing a sign-and-trade with Houston.
Anthony is on record saying his decision will be based on winning titles, but it’s unclear if Houston is that close to a championship in the rugged Western Conference.
“Right now, I don’t know, but for Melo’s sake, I just hope he goes somewhere where he feels like he has a chance to win and be successful for the next four or five years of his career,” Howard said. “I don’t know what [Anthony] is going to do, but he wants to win.”