Stay or Go: What would you do if you were Carmelo Anthony? Carmelo Anthony, Knicks at Wizards 11/23/13. Photo courtesy Keith Allison/Wikipedia



by Gustavo Braga Boxscore: May 7. 2014 - Here’s the deal - Since the All Star break the impending free agency of Carmelo Anthony has been in the spotlight for anyone who´s interested in the best basketball league in the world.

The New York Knicks superstar, 2013 scoring champion ,and one of the most prolific scorers in the league along with names like Lebron James and Kevin Durant, has a very tough decision coming up this summer. He basically has two options after missing the playoffs for the first time in his career: Staying in New York, maybe making more money in the process and betting on Hall of Famer Phil Jackson´s success along with Coach to be Steve Kerr in the rebuilding process or he can go (under the argument that winning a championship is more likely to happen somewhere else).

So where could he go?

The Chicago Bulls seem the most rational decision if he chooses to walk. It has been reported that the franchise player Joakim Noah has been all over Anthony trying to get him to go to Chicago. Since the 2011 MVP Derrick Rose injured himself over and over again, losing the most part of the past 2 seasons, Noah (2014 Defensive player of the year) has tried to get the Bulls back to the golden era of Michael Jordan but the team has failed to become able to score consistently to be a contender. They were beat by the Washington Wizards in 5 games in the playoffs. That said, Carmelo would be a perfect fit for the team – with a great system implemented by coach Thibs and a great defense – eventually becoming the scorer they need to take the team to another level.

The Houston Rockets are the second best option if he decides to walk. With Dwight Howard and James Harden they would become the next Big Three of the league, immediately becoming championship contenders. For that though they would need to clear some space on the salary cap, maybe getting rid of great supporters like Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons. So that´s that.

How about staying in New York then? Life is already established there, a lot more money, the chance to play under one of the greatest basketball minds to ever play / coach the game (13 ring bearer Phil Jackson) and be a part of a team that seems to be the best attempt to bring the great Knicks back to the NBA mainstream in the past 15 years since the Pat Ewing era.

Again, I ask. If you were a millionaire 30 year old basketball player from New York, with no championship rings but still a lot of gas in the tank, what would you do?

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