Carmelo Anthony ready to recruit free agents

Travis Durkee

Carmelo Anthony ready to recruit free agents image

The New York market doesn’t seem to be the draw it once was for professional athletes, especially for the Knicks. So if the largest media market in the country doesn’t sell the city, Carmelo Anthony will have to do it himself.

"If we want this team to be better, if we want more pieces of this team, I don't have a choice but to go out there and do my job and try to get people to come," Anthony told reporters Monday (via ESPN.com). "And for them to see it from my perspective [more] than anybody else's perspective — see it from a player's perspective."

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Last offseason, the Knicks’ biggest splash in the free-agent market was centre Robin Lopez. Now closing in on the 2016 offseason, New York is in dire need of a point guard. 

However, former NBA point guard Chauncey Billups told the New York Post  that the Knicks’ triangle offence will likely scare away top targets like Mike Conley and Rajon Rondo. And Rondo seems to agree, saying last month, “The triangle's not really a good look for me," via ESPN.com .

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Anthony, putting his salesman cap on early, disagreed.

"I think he'd be perfect in a system like this,” Anthony said of Rondo. "Some of the keys of our offence is penetration, getting in the paint, pushing the pace, transition, creating in the paint for bigs, for yourself, everybody else. … I think it's a perfect opportunity for him."

Travis Durkee