Carmel
o Anthony’s knee has been a problem for basically the entire season, and there have been reports of him shutting down for the season on multiple occasions.
Well, that report might actually come to life after this weekend’s All-Star festivities. There is another report that surfaced on Thursday that Melo is “likely” to shut it down after the events in New York this weekend.
It has been a long time coming, and there’s really no reason for him to continue playing. If his knee needs surgery, the Knicks might as well shut him down and get him on the road to recovery as quickly as possible. And, let’s face it, the Knicks are terrible. They only have 10 wins this season, and are going nowhere fast even with him in the lineup.
From Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk via ESPN Radio and Marc Stein:
“It’s very likely. It’s very likely. Now I’ve got to start thinking about the future,” Anthony told Marc Stein, Marc Kestecher and P.J. Carlesimo in an interview on ESPN Radio. “This season is this season. So I really want to just sit down with my team and sit down with the proper people to just kind of plan this thing out and see exactly what I have to do to get done and just to fix it.”
He should’ve been thinking about the future a long time ago when the knee issues first surfaced and they knew they didn’t have a chance to do anything in the East. Of course, the East is just as bad as New York is, so there was always that slim chance to make the playoffs.
But that’s all it was: a very, very, very slim chance.
Either way, it’s a good thing he’s going to shut it down for the rest of the year. Call it a season, watch your team suck from the sidelines or from home, and hopefully get the best pick in the draft since the Knicks actually own that this year.
More from Helin:
“Even if I come out and just play a couple minutes and just wave,” Anthony said. “I don’t think the fans deserve [seeing me miss the game]. They voted me in for a reason, so at least I can show them that I appreciate that by just participating in the game.”
I understand the All-Star Game is in New York this year, but there’s no reason to risk further injury by getting in just a couple of minutes and waving to the crowd when you could do that from the sidelines watching as a spectator instead of a player.
KEVIN LOVE SITS VS. BULLS
After it w
as originally reported that Kevin Love would play Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls, he actually was forced to miss the game due to a corneal abrasion to his right eye that he suffered in Wednesday night’s win over the Miami Heat in Cleveland.
Cleveland could have used his presence desperately in what turned out to be a 113-98 loss to the Bulls in Chicago.
LeBron James felt the same way, via ESPN.com:
“We missed him a lot, for sure,” LeBron James said after Thursday’s loss. “He’s a big part of our team. Without his ability to shoot the ball, rebound the ball, we were undersized tonight, obviously, versus their length, versus their bigs. I think James Jones came in and did a heck of a job in the minutes that he had, but we missed Kevin, for sure.”
Rebounding was the Cavs biggest issue in the game, going against the formidable frontline of the Bulls in Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson. They were only out-rebounded 47-43, but you could tell they missed him inside on the glass.
When James talks about the minutes that James Jones had to play, it was due to the fact that Timofey Mozgov picked up three fouls in the first half and had to sit for long stretches of time. The same thing happened to Tristan Thompson, who started in place for Love.
With Jones on the floor, LeBron was moved into the four spot. Even though he’s played that position several times over his career and with the Miami Heat, the Cavs were simply playing too small against Noah and Gasol, who were left wide open on numerous occasions.
From ESPN.com:
“[Love]’s a big part of our team. He’s big in our offensive scheme and we really missed him tonight,” Blatt said. “Then, when Mozgov got into foul trouble, it really messed us up. We had to then play even farther from what our norm is.”
Love was injured while battling Mario Chalmers for a rebound in the third quarter. Cleveland went on for its 14th win in its past 15 games.
“It was blurry for about 20, 30 minutes, but I was able to regain my vision and feel fine now,” Love said after the game. “So I’m just happy that we were able to sustain the lead and get the win.”
Love will have the chance to hopefully get healthy from the scratch to his eye, as well as whatever else is bothering him from the course of the season. The week or so he gets to rest and relax will do good for his body and his mind, and could go a long ways to getting him to feel more comfortable with James and the Cavs.
MAGIC MAKE NICHOLSON AVAILABLE FOR TRADE
The Orlando Magic have had a terrible season, much like the New York Knicks. They’ve already fired Jacque Vaughn from his head coaching position, and are clearly looking to start fresh and prepare for the future.
Andrew Nicholson, who was selected 19th-overall by the Magic in the 2012 NBA Draft out of St. Bonaventure University and in his third season with the franchise, has been made available for trade, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
From Marc Stein of ESPN.com:
Orlando, thanks to a surplus of young big men, has made Andrew Nicholsonavailable, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com on Thursday that the Magic are working with Nicholson’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, to find a new home for the 25-year-old Canadian, who was selected 19th overall by the Magic in the 2012 NBA draft.
Nicholson started more than 70 games for the Magic in his first two seasons, but has played in only 18 this season, while averaging less than 10 minutes per game. He’s posting per game averages of 3.1 points and 1.3 rebounds on 35.8
% shooting from the field.
Not impressive numbers, but for a third-year power forward who does have some talent, Nicholson could catch on somewhere on the end of the bench or where a team is in desperate need of bigs. However, he’s not great defensively and has not shown great flashes of offense this year when he has gotten the minutes.
The trade deadline ever-closer, and is now less than a week away. With the amount of trades we’ve already had in the league this year, it looks as if Nicholson will be moved along with several other players currently on the trading block.
JAMEER NELSON ON THE MOVE AGAIN?
Poor Jam
eer Nelson. This guy started out with the Dallas Mavericks, was traded to the Boston Celtics in the Rajon Rondo deal, and then, only six games later, was trade back out west to the Denver Nuggets, who he currently plays for.
You would think, after all of that trading in one season, that he could finally be left alone for the rest of the season so he could actually make some type of living arrangements. But nope, that’s not the case for the 33-year-old veteran out of St. Joseph’s.
Wizards, Heat have explored talks on Denver’s Jameer Nelson, sources tell RealGM. Cleveland had interest with Nelson in Boston; not since.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 12, 2015
He has bounced around quite a bit this season, but it’s February. That means one thing in the NBA: trading season. And even after what’s already been a weird year for trades much earlier than the deadline this season in the NBA, the Feb.19 deadline always has its fair share of deals that go down.
After being traded twice and playing for three different teams in six months, how do you think Nelson feels about that? “Either every team wants me, or nobody does”, is probably what’s been going through his mind all year.
However, the teams that are interested in trading for him at this point in the season are mostly guaranteed playoff teams. The Miami Heat could be the only team left out of that category, but the Eastern Conference is so bad that literally anyone of those bottom-dwellers have a shot to make the dance.
Sean Highkin of ProBasketballTalk shares his thoughts on Nelson’s possible suitors:
Nelson has bounced around in a backup role this year, averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 assists in 25.4 minutes per game for three teams, but he’d be a fine option for any of those teams. The Heat’s point-guard rotation ofMario Chalmers and Norris Cole is a disaster, and Nelson would be an upgrade. He’d be a decent option for the Wizards to back up John Wall, and he’d be a significant upgrade over Matthew Dellavedova as a backup to Kyrie Irving if the Cavs traded for him.
He also likely won’t cost much, considering his age (he’s 33). The Nuggets are asking for a first-rounder each for Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler, according to reports, and if no team meets those asking prices, Nelson could be the Nuggets player that ends up moving at the deadline.
It does seem like Nelson will be on the move for a third time this season, but more than likely it will be to a contending team, something that could give him some hope when all is said and done.
There’s a good chance he’ll wind up back in the Eastern Conference, as Highkin states, since there are some good teams that are in need of a good backup point guard. Look for the Cavaliers to make another move before the trade deadline, and don’t be surprised if it’s adding Nelson in behind superstar Kyrie Irving.
Stats via Basketball-Reference.com.