Knicks Rumors: Carmelo Anthony's Future in NY Tied to Mike D'Antoni's Fate

The New York Knicks have been an absolute mess all season, and the team's current six-game losing streak shows it.  They currently are 18-24 and were the season to end today, they would miss the playoffs.

Not surprisingly, as a report by Marc Berman of the New York Post states, the underachieving has gotten to the point where star Carmelo Anthony and head coach Mike D'Antoni's relationship is more or less ruined and, according to Berman, Anthony has told a "confidant" that he feels a trade would be the best thing for him.

Throw in the fact that he feels both D'Antoni and interim GM Glen Grunwald (a lackey of He Who Shall Not Be Named) "don't trust him," and Melo-drama might as well be "Stephon Marbury: The Sequel."

After taking all of this in and attempting to see the story from all sides and perspectives, there is just one thing left to say to the embattled Knicks' star: GROW UP.

For someone who has been playing the game for most of his life, Anthony doesn't seem to get the idea that basketball is a TEAM game and in being traded to the Knicks (a trade he ASKED for, mind you), he knew he was entering an offensive system that focused heavily on team play and not individual efforts. 

For those unaware, Mike D'Antoni was the man who resurrected the Phoenix Suns with a run-and-gun style made popular with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and current Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire. 

Given how Stoudemire showed up in New York first, one would think that Anthony would know his place.  However, such has not come to pass.  The team struggled greatly upon Anthony's arrival last season and despite doing better towards the end of the year, they still got swept out of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, largely in part to injuries suffered by Stoudemire and point guard Chauncey Billups, who came over with Anthony from Denver.

And yet, we haven't even reached the crazy part.  Anthony KNOWS he's capable of of being a team player.  Remember, during the Knicks' futile playoff series last year, he famously uttered the words "I can't do it alone."

Finally, after taking what happened last season and researching what happened between then and now, I believe I have a theory as to why Anthony is behaving how he is.  As I mentioned before, when he was traded to New York last year, teammate Chauncey Billups came with him.  Those two had a great on-court chemistry and once the Knicks got cooking towards the end of last year, the veteran point man played a large role.

Yet, this offseason, it all came crashing down as Billups' contract was amnestied so that the Knicks could sign center Tyson Chandler to a long-term deal.  In the blink of an eye, Anthony lost a good friend and a good teammate, with no real point guard to replace him. 

Even though he claims in Berman's piece to like Jeremy Lin—the point guard who, for a time, seemed to resurrect the team—I believe that deep down, he doesn't trust him to create plays for him the same way Billups did.

That all being said, I don't buy Anthony's "trade demand" one bit.  From where I'm standing, it looks like he's just throwing a hissy fit about his friend being released.  If that's the case, then I've just lost even more respect for Anthony as a player.

Basketball is a team game and stuff like this happens sometimes.  It's time that Anthony dealt with it and let himself be coached so that the Knicks can (hopefully) get back to the playoffs and to their former glory.