With all of this crazy talk about Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James teaming up with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, you better believe that the Knicks and Heat are thinking about what they can do to prevent this from happening.
The Heat will surely have a bigger contract waiting for James and, as for the Knicks, what could they do to ensure that their star Melo stays put? Well, aside from more money than ever, how about the power to assemble a team of his very own?
According to the Bleacher Report, the organization is fully prepared to keep Anthony as happy as possible by offering him something of a GM role — at least when it comes to putting together his very own team to help cater to his strengths.
Top contenders for what kind of power moves would best fit Melo? Many people are thinking Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics and Marc Gasol from Memphis. Both players will be free agents in 2015 and have been linked to Anthony trade rumors in the past.
Steve Kyler from Hoopsworld reports that this will be a similar deal to what Dwyane Wade got in Miami, which ultimately landed the team LeBron, so who knows who Carmelo might be able to reel in.
On the Anthony front, there is a chance he looks at greener pastures in 2014, but sources close to the process say the Knicks have already let Anthony know that their books will be basically clear in 2015 and he can pick his teammates much as Wade did in Miami. With the New York market behind him and the almost unlimited checkbook of the Knicks, Anthony will have a lot of options in 2015 and while teams like the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers might be tempting in 2014, Anthony has a lot of influence in New York and they are willing to let him build his own team in NYC in 2015.
