Whether or not Amar’e Stoudemire actually texted Carmelo Anthony to tell him that he “wants him in New York,” as Yahoo reported that he did, is a pretty minor point in the Carmelo Watch. But on a day without any leaks of information about a potential trade — just as Denver wants it, apparently — it’ll do.
• Stoudemire danced around the question of whether he sent Anthony any texts, first saying he hadn’t talked to Carmelo, and then, after being told that texting doesn’t involve talking, again said he didn’t talk to Carmelo. (Then, when asked if he was denying Yahoo’s report, said that he didn’t know what Carmelo was doing and expressed hope that he’d make the right decision for his family. So consider the question skirted.)
• Knicks sources tell the Post that Donnie Walsh is unwilling to part with too much in a trade for Anthony and is waffling on whether to trade Anthony Randolph to Minnesota in order to acquire a first-round pick that he could include in a package for Anthony. In the paper’s words, Walsh “plans to play the cards he has carefully, not desperately.” Of course, that’s exactly what Knicks sources would want everybody to think.
• Meanwhile, “Somebody Who Knows Things” tells Bill Simmons the following: “Don’t forget how impressed LeBron and [Leon] Rose were by the Russian last summer. Best meeting they had other than Riley, and the Knicks were the worst. Don’t think they haven’t told Anthony that 30 times. The Nets would build Brooklyn around him, and they can pay him the 65 [million]. It will happen. The Knicks are a pipe dream.” That said, Simmons writes that Carmelo’s best option, short of joining the Knicks and becomming a New York icon, is to join forces with Blake Griffin in Los Angeles.