With Phil Jackson taking over as president of the New York Knicks, many believed he would be able to sell free agent forward Carmelo Anthony on a return to New York.
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Jackson tried to convince Anthony to opt in to his contract in order to make a play for major free agents in 2015 when Memphis Grizzlies’ center Marc Gasol, Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love, Portland Trail Blazers’s power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Charlotte Hornets’ big man Al Jefferson can all become free agents.
However, once Anthony opted out, Jackson focused his attention on moving pieces to acquire key players this offseason, but he is having trouble finding takers for big men Andrea Bargnani and Amar’e Stoudemire.
Anthony has since visited the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers (in that order) before speaking to the Knicks again. At different points the Bulls and Lakers ave appeared to be the favorites, but the Knicks remained confident in signing Anthony.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein via Tommy Beer of The Knicks Blog, the Knicks have once again lost confidence in keeping Anthony.
Marc Stein, on ESPN radio re: Melo situation: "Knicks went from confident, to freaked out, to confident, now they are back to freaked out."
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) July 11, 2014
The latest development is that the Bulls are still squarely in the mix because of head coach Tom Thibodeau. The Rockets and Mavericks are reportedly out of the mix.
Anthony put up 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 45.2% from the field, 40.2% from beyond the arc and 84.8% from the free throw line last season.