Keidel: Only Melo Would Turn Down A Chance To Play With LeBron
By Jason Keidel
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The Knicks have 24 hours, as their most ardent and famous fan would say, to Do the Right Thing.
Maybe Spike Lee loves the Knicks, but they don't love him back. And he can't possible adore the last 42 years of basketball doom. Like the rest of us, however, Lee had to embrace the return of Phil Jackson to New York. But despite the cachet Jackson has brought back to Gotham, he did one thing that has all of us scratching our heads.
He gave Carmelo Anthony a no-trade clause.
Other than hiring Isiah Thomas as head coach, GM, and Jim Dolan's sounding board, the worst move the Knicks have made since Y2K was trading for Anthony, re-signing him, and including that misguided NBA prenup that allows him to call all the shots until he retires.
I know what you're thinking. Jerome James. Eddy Curry. Frederic Weis. The Allan Houston extension. How has Carmelo, who has lit up the scoreboard, been anything but a beacon in the basketball dungeon of MSG?
Because Anthony has only offered the allure of unlimited success. He was once so sublime at scoring the basketball that it made you feel like a Larry O'Brien Trophy was a year or two, a player or two, away.
But there's never been anything in Melo's game to suggest he can carry a team anywhere near a title. He's George Gervin -- a fun player who can rack up points but can book the start of his offseason vacation for the same day every year because you know he won't go anywhere near the NBA Finals.
What about Syracuse?
Steve Alford. Pervis Ellison. Ed O'Bannon. Russ Smith -- they are all players who led their respective schools to the NCAA title, but never had the professional chops to win any chips.
Sure, Anthony is exponentially better than the aforementioned college stars. But max contract players are supposed to provide max results. And Melo has been to a conference championship round once in 12 years. Even Dwight Howard, the most dysfunctional star in the NBA solar system, has lead a team to the NBA Finals.
Now word is LeBron is calling for Carmelo. The Cavs went to the Finals last year, are sure to go this year, and will go next year, provided James remains in Ohio. And you can bet your bottom dollar -- or all $120 million the Knicks gave Melo -- that he won't OK a trade to Cleveland.
Why? Because he loves New York City? Maybe. He seems to have an authentic, native bond with the Big Apple, where he was born. But he was raised in Baltimore, and the whole Prodigal Son thing felt like a stretch, a ploy by Jim Dolan's PR minions. There's no doubt Anthony enjoys NYC, but getting paid was the priority, and no wallet is deeper than that of the Knicks.
Does he want to see this thing through with Kristaps Porzingis? Negative. Anthony frowned upon Porzingis the day he was drafted. But even if he now sees the rookie sensation through a more rosy prism, by the time Porzingis is ready to muscle his way to a title, Melo will be too deep into the back-nine of his career.
But more than anything, winning has never been the priority to Anthony. Unlike Kobe, LeBron, Larry, Magic, and Michael, Melo has never had that monolithic focus, the tireless, blue-collar ethic required to have your mail forwarded to the Finals. Surely he wants to win. He just doesn't need it.
This week, this axis in his All-Star-laden career is as much a referendum on his hunger than any other moment in his career. If the rumors about Cleveland are true, then he's being handed a free trip to June. And since he controls the location of his vocation, his home on Friday rests almost entirely upon his shoulders.
The Cavs are 38-14. They have won eight of their last 10. The Knicks are 23-32. They have lost nine of their last 10, including each of their last six.
If someone offered you a chance to leave an eternal loser to play with the best all-around player on the planet, whose bust will bulge from Springfield, who's already one of the 10 best players in history, who has been to five NBA Finals, won two, and is voraciously chasing one for his hometown, you'd sign in a second.
Seems like a pretty easy decision for an all-world talent with one epic void in his resume. And it will be an easy choice -- to stay home, to keep losing, and to get paid. At this point, to believe in Melo's championship desire is foolhardy, and your fault. He's spent the last 12 years showing you who he is. You just choose not to look.
No one questions Carmelo Anthony's talent. His temerity is another matter.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel