:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/701842/GYI0060497150.jpg)
It didn't work out this this time, writes Mike Lupica, but it wasn't for a lack of trying or a lack of aggressiveness on the Nets' part. It was more because of an incompetent front office out by the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...one that reminds Lupica of the guys who run Madison Square Garden.
But on the same day Bruce Ratner was saying Barclays Center would "go vertical" early next year and Brett Yormark was pumping fists with Oscar de la Hoya to promote boxing in Brooklyn, Lupica says the Knicks should know the Nets are "coming after" them. Don't be surprised if Carmelo Anthony becomes a Net this season...and not a Knick.
"It's not dead so much as in Denver's hands," is the way one league source put it to Lupica Tuesday night. It's about Mikhail Prokhorov wanting a star for Brooklyn and his GM being aggressive that should make the Knicks and their owner Jim Dolan nervous.
Mitch Lawrence also believes that Anthony to the Nets is still a strong possibility. Marc Stein, in a series of tweets agrees. In his latest update, Ken Berger reports the Nets new assignment is finding homes for Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith. But an NBA general manager tells Shaun Powell that Anthony won't sign an extension with any team, basically eliminating any chance of a trade.