Carmelo Anthony decided not to join the Knicks in November as a free agent, but said he feels coach Tom Thibodeau has them on the right track.
Anthony, 36, will be a free agent again next summer, and no one would be surprised to connect with his former agent, Knicks president Leon Rose.
Anthony and the Trail Blazers will face the Knicks (10-13) in the empty garden on Saturday to make a morning at 1 p.m. Last month saw first-hand the Knicks ’spunk, when they rallied in Portland with a 25-point deficit to give the Blazers a last-minute scare.
“I think we all know what Thibs brings to the game, just its intensity and focus and attention to detail,” Anthony told Zoom Friday after a Blazers practice in the garden. “Any team that has been a coach plays the same way. They play a lot. They leave everything in the yard. They never give up. They never stopped smoking. Regardless of the outcome, you see it with this young team you have now. That’s how you see the impact it had at the beginning, especially during the first 20 games of the season “.
Although Anthony has a connection to two Knicks rookies, Obi Toppin of Brooklyn and Immanuel Quickley of the Baltimore area, he chose not to join Rose’s show. Anthony identifies with both Brooklyn and Baltimore.
Anthony once exploded with his Brooklyn native teammates, Toppin, at one of his Manhattan pick-up games a couple of years ago, after Toppin’s freshman year in Dayton, when he was still an unknown relative. .
“I think [Obi] once I came to my “black options,” Anthony said. “I think he was still in Dayton when he came and played in the races. He was awesome in the races. The guys were talking about him, trying to figure out who he was.And then when you look at him all year next year in Dayton, exactly what he did, we really put it all together, okay, that makes sense.
“But once I knew I was going to be in that selection, this was a place that I thought I needed him for, that is, New York. A great situation for him. Hometown man. But also the way in which what it plays and what it brings to the game. Once it starts to fully develop, I think this city will be happy. “
Anthony holds the scoring record in the new garden with 62 points against Charlotte in 2014. (The real garden scoring record is held by Elgin Baylor, who racked up 71 points in the old arena in 1960).
Anthony 62’s game is the night of gemstones from a seven-year stage that he otherwise went up and down, at a highlight of a war with former team president Phil Jackson.
“It was different, especially if I had to face the day-to-day and I just accepted it,” Anthony said, averaging 12.6 points for the Blazers, but shooting only 38.5 percent. “Never complain, come in and be professional and be there for my teammates and play ball. I was able to keep going on the track and block everything, yet try to find a way to find joy in this and that eye of the storm. “
Anthony seconded his friend LeBron James saying the impromptu All-Star game is not necessary, but he added a qualifier.
“I don’t think it’s right,” Anthony said. “I do not think we need it right now. I don’t really know the details that are happening with this, so if they think it’s the right thing to do, it’s the right thing to do. They know better, not me. “
Thibodeau, who has excited Julius Randle’s leadership ability from the OTAs, said he has not yet made Randle the official captain.
“He’s been the veteran leader, but I want a team of leaders,” he said. “It’s more about doing things right every day. You want veterans to lead by example and young people to lead. ”