Carmelo Anthony Says Meeting With Phil Jackson Went Well

Carmelo Anthony met with Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher last Friday. The Knicks want ‘Melo to opt into the final year of his contract in order to have a chance to reset the roster after next season when they will have available cap space to target key free agents. Yesterday, ‘Melo had positive things to say about the meeting but is still expected to opt out of his contract next week.

Via Marc Berman of The New York Post, ‘Melo spoke about the meeting:

Carmelo Anthony doesn’t want to discuss his plans for free agency, but said he had a “great” meeting Friday in Los Angeles with Knicks president Phil Jackson, new coach Derek Fisher and general manager Steve Mills.

At a promotional appearance in Manhattan Wednesday, Anthony told reporters, “It was a great meeting with Phil, it went well.”

Anthony was also asked about the hiring of Fisher, but he kept it short. “I like what Phil is doing,” said Anthony.

Despite the feedback and respect shown to Phil, ‘Melo is expected to notify the Knicks of his decision to become a free agent next week, and reports suggest he is leaning towards Chicago and Houston if he signs elsewhere.

The Knicks remain an option, and perhaps at this point, only because they can offer ‘Melo a five-year max deal for $129 million. Teams like the Bulls and Rockets — who also need to clear cap space first to make this possible — can only offer up to four years and $96 million.

If it’s winning over money that matters, the Knicks don’t have much they can sell to ‘Melo. Also, meetings that go well don’t really mean much. If you’ll remember, back in 2010, when LeBron James lined up meetings with teams during the free agency period before deciding to join the Heat, Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant came out of his meeting with LeBron and said it was “positive”:

“We had a very good meeting with LeBron and his group,” Grant said outside the building. “It went well. It was fun and interactive. I’d characterize it as a positive.”

Grant said it was “incredible” James chose to have the meetings in Cleveland. About 300 fans lined up on the street and encircled the parking garage driveway to greet James’ arrival at 11 a.m. — an orchestrated fan movement by the Cavs’ brass. However, many of the fans appeared to be Quicken Loans Arena employees.

This is the time of year to avoid reading too much into what teams and players are saying about meetings before free agency decisions can be made. It’s in the best interest for ‘Melo to keep his options open, and doing that means saying publicly positive things about his current team, even if it tells us nothing about what his intentions are when he hits the open market next month.

What do you think?

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