Carmelo Anthony was a surprise participant (sort of) at Nuggets media day this morning, if only to remind the local press that he’s still under contract to Denver. With no shortage of bidders — including the Bulls, Nets and Sixers — for Anthony’s services, it would seem all hopes of ‘Melo in a Knicks uniform have been dashed. And if that doesn’t sit well with New York team president Donnie Walsh, how might you think it’s going down with history’s most generic blues guitarist? CBS Sports’ Ken Berger describes the level of desperation at The World’s Most Dysfunctional Arena :
As the Nets’ deal moved closer to completion Monday, one team sources say is more involved than commonly thought is the Knicks. After New York fell short in its pursuit of LeBron James and/or Dwyane Wade, it would be devastating for the Knicks to watch Anthony go to their cross-river rival — especially since that rival is moving into the city limits to Brooklyn in two years. While Knicks president Donnie Walsh has been in far from panic mode, he has been “working every angle” in an effort to get back in the game with Anthony, according to a rival executive familiar with Walsh’s approach.
“He’s the master,” the executive said. “I’ll put it this way: If there’s any way to get something done that he feels good about, he’ll get it done. He’ll leave no stone unturned.”
The characterization of Walsh as a feverish wheeler-dealer is in stark contrast to reports from last summer, that depicted the veteran hoops exec as something of a tragic, near-death’s-door figure during attempts to woo LeBron James. So which is the real Donnie Walsh? The drooling invalid whose liquid meals are prepared by Schlumpy and Steve Mills? Or the dynamic deal-maker that captured the city’s favorite new Jew (after no one else wanted to pay him nearly as much)?