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Schmeelk: Carmelo Anthony, Knicks Continue To Opt For Mediocrity

By John Schmeelk
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If anyone really expected the result of the latest Phil Jackson/Carmelo Anthony kerfuffle to be anything but the status quo, they weren't paying attention.

After all, it was the Knicks' president who gave Anthony his no-trade clause to begin with. It's owner James Dolan who did everything he could to make Anthony the face of the franchise. It was Anthony who chose to stay in New York even though winning a title here was about as likely as Dolan's band winning a Grammy.

Here's the problem: None of those things have anything to do with what's best for the New York Knicks. The status quo for the Knicks is not something they should be striving for. The team has won one playoff series since Anthony joined the franchise in 2011, and the forecast for the future isn't any brighter. New York is not going to win anything meaningful with Anthony before he either opts out of his contract after next season or plays out his full five-year deal.

The best thing for the Knicks' future would be to trade Anthony for something that could help the team win two or three years from now when Kristaps Porzingis is ready to carry the team. At Anthony's advanced age -- 32 -- and with his deteriorating play and bloated contract, getting real value for him now would be challenging. There are few teams that Anthony would want to go to that need a player with his skills, have something of value the Knicks would want back and have the potential matching salaries to send to New York to make the trade work.

WATCH: Carmelo Anthony Breaks Down Game Film With His Son

In other words, the Knicks are stuck. None of that is going to happen. They're stuck the same way they've been stuck since they decided to re-sign Anthony to this five-year contract nearly three years ago. It has delayed the Knicks' true rebuilding process and kept them mired in mediocrity. It even prompted Jackson this offseason to trade two younger players under good contracts for a one-year rental of Derrick Rose and sign an overpriced, washed-up Joakim Noah for $72 million. No one is going to want Noah's contract, and Rose's high salary, expiring contract, defensive deficiencies and injury history will make him hard to deal for anything of real value. The Knicks are running on a stationary wheel on the way to nowhere.

This isn't Anthony's fault. He loves New York and wants to play here, even if it means losing. Anyone who has watched him play and understands basketball could have predicted this exact scenario in the summer of 2015. No one not blinded by optimism should have realistically believed this team would compete for a championship while he was still a star player. This is Jackson's fault.

Just like every Knicks general manager since they fired Donnie Walsh, Jackson tried to do things the quick and easy way, instead of letting the roster grow organically into something good. Before last season, Jackson appeared to be going in that direction with the hiring of a young coach in Derek Fisher, signings of younger high-value role players like Robin Lopez, the trade for rookie point guard Jerian Grant and the retention of all future first-round picks.

Then Jackson fired Fisher, which given the team's performance since, looks like a mistake. Then he blew up the young team he was building and added older veterans for a chance to win within Anthony's window. For the Knicks, at least, Anthony's window was already closed, whether Jackson wanted to admit it or not.

So the Knicks march on, with nothing changing. Coach Jeff Hornacek will try to make the best of it with his most recent lineup changes, but the roster's flaws will remain. No measure of tinkering will be able to overcome them to make the Knicks anything more than, at best, a potential eighth seed. No one is looking forward to getting wiped out by the Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs.

The team would be better missing the playoffs and getting a higher draft pick. That's the only way it is going to get built the right way. Even if Anthony is here, start building for Porzingis' and the franchise's future. Don't lose on purpose, but prioritize growth rather than immediate gratification. Ironically, that's in part what got Fisher fired.

It's something the Knicks have avoided doing for 15 years. Their reluctance to build is what has gotten them in this situation. It's time to stop, finally, and build something meaningful at Madison Square Garden, with or without Anthony.

For everything Knicks, Giants and the world of sports, follow John on Twitter at @Schmeelk

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