Carmelo Anthony is taking another step toward proving he wants to remain in New York. Either that or he's auditioning to other NBA teams about his leadership ability.
Sports Illustrated SI Wire reported Friday that Anthony, the New York Knicks star forward, called a players-only meeting on Tuesday night, following the Knicks 102-97 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.
The loss was New York's third straight and also cost the team the services of center Tyson Chandler for the next four to six weeks. Chandler suffered a leg fracture during the game.
According to SI Wire, Anthony spoke about the players-only meeting to the media Friday at a shootaround in Charlotte, where the Knicks and Bobcats are scheduled to meet again.
"We shut the door after the game, talked it out a little bit,'' Anthony was reported as saying. "Try to figure out what was happening and going on. We just weren't competing the way we know how to compete. We weren't playing the way we know how to play. Hopefully the conversation we had after the game made everyone else realize, though it is early, there are things we need to fix and fix now."
Why Anthony felt compelled to reveal the meeting to the media was not discussed. The all-star forward is considered one of the big free agents available in 2014. Last week, he said he wanted to remain in New York, which came two weeks after he said he wanted to test free agency.
"I think a lot of people jumped the gun when I said I wanted to be a free agent," Anthony told TNT. "And yeah, I want people to come play in New York. I want them to want to play in New York. I want New York to be that place where guys want to come play."
But in mid-October, Anthony had a different message:
"I want to be a free agent," Anthony told the New York Observer. "I think everybody in the NBA dreams to be a free agent at least one time in their career. It's like you have an evaluation period, you know. It's like if I'm in the gym and I have all the coaches, all the owners, all the GMs come into the gym and just evaluate everything I do. So yes, I want that experience."
So figuring out Anthony's motives on anything at the moment is difficult.
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