Introduction: June 10, 2011Carmelo Anthony sat in the conference room by himself. He showed up to the meeting before everyone else. Just three days before Anthony had to watch the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks to capture the NBA Championship. Anthony was still somber about the Knicks early exit from the playoffs. The Knicks couldn’t get more than one win in the playoffs as the Chicago Bulls knocked them out in the first round. Anthony still felt like it fell on his shoulders because he wasn’t performing at his best. He hated the fact that he broke his finger before the playoffs, which affected him greatly. Amar’e Stoudemire was the next person into the conference room. Anthony stood up and shook his hand.
Anthony, “What’s up man?”
Stoudemire, “Not much man, just been resting up. Wondering what this is all about.”
“Probably has to do with our new management.”
After Anthony finished his sentence, Coaches Mike D’Antoni and Herb Williams walked into the room. D’Antoni had a smile on his face as he hugged both of his players. D’Antoni spoke up, “Good to see you guys. Even though the season just got over I’m pretty excited to get going again.”
Williams, “I don’t know how excited I am for the off-season though. They have a pretty new guy at the helm now, should be interesting to see what he can do for us.” Anthony had already sat down at this point and was lost in his mind again. Anthony couldn’t stop thinking about the playoffs. He wants to hoist that trophy up and he envies LeBron James. Anthony’s career has been summed up with great regular season play, but the inability to go deep in to the playoffs consistently. This year Anthony wanted to prove his doubters wrong. Anthony and Stoudemire sat on one side of the table as the coaches sat across from them. They head of the table was empty, obviously getting ready to be occupied by the new general manager of the New York Knicks. Anthony looked up as he saw two figures walk in to the room. Knicks’ owner James Dolan walked in to the room with a young guy behind him. Dolan put his arm around the guy behind him as if to present him to the rest of the guys. Dolan spoke up, “As you guys know, Donnie Walsh became very ill this last month. Due to sickness, he has decided to step down as the general manager and work on getting his health better. He said this kid right here should be the one to take over for him. This is your guys’ new general manager Casey Lee.” Lee waved at the guys sitting at the table and then he sat down at the end of the table. Dolan moved to the other side and sat at the head of the table. “We have a lot to talk about guys, first off let’s hear Mr. Lee here.”
They all turned to the new twenty-five year old general manager, “Well first off it’s an honor to get this position at such an early age. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be helping you guys out. I’m pretty lucky to get to work with two of today’s best players and a wonderful coaching staff. I’m here to help build a team around you guys.”
D’Antoni, “So what’s the plan boss?”
Lee, “Well first off I want to talk about the coaching staff. Coach I know you are all about offense and I love that about you. You have a great offensive scheme and I don’t want to change that. I think you did a great job of making some minor tweaks to fit Melo and Billups into the system. I want you to be able to concentrate on that offense and I’m going to bring in some help for you on defense.”
D’Antoni, “Help?”
Lee, “Someone to come in and teach some defense, that way you can concentrate on offense. I think this guy is going to help make our players play harder on the defensive end. I want our team to be gritty and I want them to play ‘nasty’ in a sense. This guy will do that, if you guys are in.”
Anthony, “We need whatever we can to help us on that end of the floor coach.” Stoudemire shook his head in agreement. D’Antoni reluctantly nodded his head and turned back to Lee.
Lee, “Alright, he has already been contacted and now that you have agreed Coach he should be getting in contact with you soon. It’s Charles Oakley and he is very excited to get to work with you guys. He already stated he isn’t interested on stepping on your toes Coach. He will only concentrate on the defensive side of the ball and stick to getting these guys more physical and playing better defense.”
Dolan had a big smile on his face, “You got me excited kid.”
Lee, “Glad to hear Mr. Dolan. Now moving on to some more important matters; we need to discuss the status of Chauncey Billups. The reason I am talking about this with you guys here Melo and Amar’e, is because you are the leaders of this team. I want to know what the leaders of my team want.”
Anthony, “I love playing with Chauncey, he is a great leader. His leadership got us through a lot in Denver and really helped us last year here in New York.”
Stoudemire, “I agree, I don’t think last year would have been such a success without him leading the way.”
Lee looked over at D’Antoni, “I want him back, but not at the price of his current contract. We will decline the team option and try to work out a smaller contract.”
D’Antoni, “Sounds good to me. I loved having him on the team with us, he helped keep the guys calm and collected on the court. Plus, he is helping with the development of Toney Douglas.”
Lee stood up, “Alright, that is all I have for you guys right now. Once again, I am very excited to get the off-season over with and start our new season.” Everyone shook hands and left the room. Anthony had one thing on his mind and he knew he needed to talk to Chauncey and make sure he comes back to New York next season.
