The NY Knicks have Carmelo Anthony back and now Phil Jackson may look at trades with Amar'e Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert, JR Smith and Shane Larkin moving forward, as that could give the team enough cap space in the future to sign Marc Gasol, who has been a major target for New York and now Phil could try and work some of those deals heading into the end of the summer.
According to ESPN.com, the Knicks are open to trading Smith and Shumpert, as they have a glut of players at the guard position and they could be the first to move. ESPN writes that Shane Larking also could be a potential target, as he was acquired in the deal for Tyson Chandler with the Dallas Mavericks and the team also could move Amar'e Stoudemire if someone will take on his massive contract, but that seems unlikely.
The Knicks are not looking to move Tim Hardaway Jr. at this time unless the deal is very sweet and they likely will try and deal Smith or Shumpert. Jackson still has moves that he can make and moving Chandler was a big step, as he also got the Mavs to take the contract of Raymond Felton and that was big for the salary cap as well. Carmelo Anthony signed for just below the max and while he is still getting paid a ton of money, the Knicks at least have some flexibility to work with on the cap. The team is targeting Marc Gasol next summer in free agency according to the NY Post and he could be the main target for the Knicks as they push towards a championship.
The team missed out on his brother this past offseason and now they feel like they can afford to trade Shumpert or Larkin, as they have Jose Calderon from the Mavericks deal. The team realizes that they likely will have to trade Shumpert to get someone to take Smith or Stoudemire and earlier this offseason the Sixers looked like a potential option. Thaddeus Young has been targeted by the Wolves as a replacement for Kevin Love if that deal goes down and the Sixers could be interested in making a move if that trade happens.
Smith previously won sixth man of the year but he has not been the same player and while Shumpert is the best prospect for the team past Hardaway, he has constantly been on the trade block. Shumpert needs to develop his offensive game more and while Jackson likes him, there is a chance he will be traded. The team brought back Carmelo Anthony and now has some other options to sign for the end of the bench as well.
Last season the Knicks were terrible and went 37-45 after starting off 3-13 and they missed the playoffs in the very weak eastern conference. The team should be in the mix this season even with LeBron James heading to the Cavs and they need to improve in all phases of the game. The defense was solid while ranking eighth in the league in points allowed per game and they also were ranked 27th in rebounds per game and 28th in assists per game.
