The NY Knicks have hired Derek Fisher and now they hope that Carmelo Anthony will re-sign as a free agent with the team and this summer Phil Jackson may look at trades involving players like Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Amar'e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert as the franchise tries to build a contender.
The Knicks hired Fisher after going for Steve Kerr and now they have a new head coach with zero coaching experience and Fisher is coming off of another playoff run with the Oklahoma City Thunder. According to ESPN.com, the deal Fisher signed is worth five million per season over five years and Jackson brought him in after going for Steve Kerr and instead of getting one of his championship point guards with zero experience, he grabbed the other one and now the focus moves to the summer and the offseason. ESPN.com reports that Anthony spoke with Jackson ahead of the move and said he would be open to playing for Fisher and now the team needs to find a way to get that deal done.
Anthony is the top priority for the team this offseason and he has the chance to opt out of his deal and sign with another team. According to SI.com, the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls are going after Anthony this offseason and they plan on trying to convince him to sign away from the Knicks. Both teams have very intriguing situations and at either destination Anthony would help create a new Big 3 and he could be the mixing piece of those puzzles. The Knicks had a terrible season and missed the playoffs and with the way the salary cap is rising, those teams feel they have a chance to compete with the Knicks.
The Knicks can sign Anthony to the longest deal and the biggest deal of those teams and that is one of the advantages they have. Anthony missed the playoffs for the first time in his career after going 37-45 last season and now the team has to find a way to bounce back and losing Melo would be very tough to overcome. The Rockets have Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik to move in any deals before they can get involved, while the Bulls will have to trade or use the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer to get in position to sign Anthony.
Phil Jackson has spoken about making trades and Raymond Felton could get moved and so could Tyson Chandler. The Knicks have a ton of money invested in Stoudemire and they would love to move him, but that will very tough as well. The Knicks started the season 3-13 and could not pull out of that hole and now Jackson and Fisher are in to try and turn the ship around. The Bulls desperately need scoring and they would love to add Anthony to a team that has Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose, while the Rockets want to put him alongside James Harden and Dwight Howard and that could be a very tough team to get past.
