Carmelo Anthony shocked at Steve Nash’s decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers; welcomes the inclusion of Jason Kidd in the team
New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has said that he was quite shocked by the decision of veteran point guard Steve Nash to move to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The New York Knicks were one of the teams who had shown interest in Nash and one of the frontrunners to land his services. However, in a surprising turn of events, Nash decided to opt for the Lakers in a sign
and trade deal with the Phoenix Suns.
“He made it sound like he was coming. It was a little shocking when the Lakers came and swooped him up,” said Anthony referring to a conversation he had with Nash last week in Manhattan.
The New York Knicks not only lost Nash in this year’s free agency, but are also close to losing their young point guard Jeremy Lin to the Houston Rockets. The Knicks had repeatedly said that they were going to
re-sign Lin for the next few years and Coach Mike Woodson even went as far as to say that Lin would be his starting point guard for next season.
However, the Houston Rockets last week offered Lin a four year back loaded contract. The Knicks have three days from Wednesday to match the offer otherwise they will lose their premier point guard from last season.
The Knicks have however added veteran point guard Jason Kidd to their line-up, which came as a pleasant surprise for the Knicks fans. Kidd was eyeing a team up with close friend and point guard Deron Williams
either in Dallas or the Brooklyn Nets. After Williams decided to stay with the Nets instead of moving to Dallas, Kidd got a three year $9 million contract offer from the Mavericks and the Knicks, whereas the Nets were not ready to match that.
Kidd chose the Knicks over Dallas, mainly because the Mavs had almost lost everybody of significance from their roster, barring Dirk Nowitzki.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we had a good shot at (Kidd). We’re friends first. I didn’t want him to make a decision that wasn’t in the best interest of himself and his family. I thought New York would be a great
place for him and I expressed that to him. I was just as surprised as everybody else when he made his decision,” said Tyson Chandler, Knicks centre and friend and former teammate of Kidd.
Kidd will bring a depth of experience to the Knicks team and will help mentor Lin, if he is retained by the Knicks. The one guard has a pedigree for playoffs, having been there on numerous occasions and can help
the Knicks make a deeper push into the playoffs this year.
The Knicks will be looking forward to next season when they will have Kidd to run his magic on the court and make plays for the star studded roster of the Knicks which includes Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire
and Tyson Chandler.
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