Carmelo Anthony, one of the most coveted players this summer in the 2014 NBA free agency, recently his intentions clear when he decided to stay with the New York Knicks. It was obviously not about winning an NBA championship, at least at this point in his career, because if it were, then he would have chosen the Chicago Bulls or even the Dallas Mavericks for that matter. But he stayed with that Knicks and that means its very unlikley for Anthony to win it all this year and he himself knows it. Moreover, Anthony, who looked rather slim in his latest Instagram post, Bleacher Report noted, seemed to have paid attention to avoid injuries due to aging joints and is working on his agility on the court.
In an interview with Raul Alzaga of PrimeraHora.com, here is what Melo had to say as translated by NBC Sports, "I do not expect to win a championship this year. That's something that takes time and everything has to be in sync, from management to players. We have much work to do, but something that drives me. I know we can start creating the foundation of what we do. It's the start of a good process. Next year we will have enough money to spend within the salary cap. But this year it is important to take the necessary steps towards those who will in the next year. I want to concentrate on building what we want from this year."
Knox Stradler for KPopStarz said that there was one point in the free agency where many speculated that Anthony might have been looking to team up with LeBron James when he suddenly became pretty quiet, as if waiting for James to make his move. But no one really knows for sure if Melo was really lobbying for a partnership with LeBron before he decided to sign with New York.
But aside from the fact that it's very unlikely for the Knicks to win a championship this year, Anthony is also right about one thing - the Knicks will have more money to spend on quality pieces next year when Amare Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani's huge contracts will come off the books. They already managed to dump Tyson Chandler's huge contract along with Raymond Felton's excess baggage via a sign and trade deal with the Dallas Mavericks which means that the team is already heading in the right direction salary cap wise.
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