It’s been a whirlwind of a few days for the New York Knicks, who finally dealt Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round draft pick.
On Monday, general manager Scott Perry, alongside president Steve Mills, took the stage at media day to talk about the deal and the return of Kristaps Porzingis, the new face of the franchise.
Here is what Perry had to say:
On the Anthony deal
“As I’ve come to know during my 18 years in the NBA, things can be very fluid. By Friday evening into Saturday morning, things really picked up with the Oklahoma City Thunder and we felt at that time, there was going to be something there that was going to make a little bit of sense for us and sense for Carmelo as well and we acted upon that.”
On what it means and if the Knicks are done making moves this offseason
“We have the opportunity to turn the page again, but it still came down to something that was going to be presented to us that made sense to us from a basketball perspective. Part of my job is to assess our roster and take phone calls and figure out ways to keep getting this team better. So I will continue to do that. So that doesn’t impact my thought process and I will continue to do that regardless.”
On if there was any urgency to ship Anthony out of town
“I don’t think that was the discussion about him being a fit, it was just getting together and deciding that he had made his sentiments known as had we, and if there was something that made sense, we were going to move forward without him. If it didn’t, we’d move forward with him.”
On Kristaps Porzingis
“I’m looking forward to Kristaps continuing his development. Entering his third year as a pro, continuing to grow while developing physically and mentally. We want to see that natural progression. We’re going to support him, push him, hold him accountable. He’ll decide how much he can take on in a leadership role… That starts now… I’m looking forward to that.”
