"It's Not You It's Me", New York To Carmelo

In 2011 The New York Knicks did something that fans had been waiting for them to do for years. They brought in a star. They finally did it, Carmelo Anthony was coming to the Garden to lead the Knicks back to the playoffs for the first time in years. After LeBron's infamous decision did not go in the Knicks favor, many fans wondered if they would ever get A star in orange and blue. Carmelo Anthony coming to the Knicks was more than just a good move, it was considered by Knicks fans: THE move. Immediately Knicks fans looked at Carmelo as their savior. He was the man that was going to single handedly bring home a championship to New York. There is a few things to unpack here: The Knicks had an incredible group of young, hungry, talented guys on their roster the year they brought in Melo. People forget that The Knicks were actually playing great and were poised to make the Playoffs that year before he even got there during the season. The Knicks had to give up a lot of talented guys to get Melo. That list includes: Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari (who was playing terrific basketball at that time) and  2016 NBA Champion Timofey Mosgov. But the Knicks were still keeping Amare Stoudemire and plenty of other talented pieces. The addition of Carmelo would help them attract other stars in the future such as 2011 NBA Champion Tyson Chandler, Derrick Rose, and Joakim Noah. When Melo arrived to New York he was greeted with a hero's welcome, his number 7 jersey could easily be spotted when walking the streets of New York City. People were excited about the New York Knicks again! Currently it is a much different story recently chants of "Trade Carmelo" have filled the garden before games have even started. Boos rained down last night against the Cavs as Melo brought the ball down to which he responded with a head shake and finger wag to the crowd. So Melo is making it clear that he's had enough as well. I want to make one thing clear, Carmelo did have great games and seasons as a Knick. Countless times during his years on the New York Knicks he has single handedly won the game for us. I would be the worst fan in the world if I did not say that Carmelo has brought me a ton of joy while he has been a Knick. He led the Knicks to their first Playoff win since 2001 and their first playoff series win since 2000! However, for every joyful moment there has been a lot of moments of anger, disappointment, and frustration while Carmelo has been a Knick. Some of these moments have been due to him and some have not. However when you want to be considered the face of the franchise, everything starts to get blamed on you whether it was your fault or not. It would be very unfair to not bring up all of the changes Carmelo has had to deal with as a Knick. FIVE coaching changes...FIVE. He has only been a Knick since 2011 and six years later there's been Five different coaches giving him orders. That makes winning extremely difficult. Not to mention that Phil Jackson took over as Knicks President during this time. Jackson has practically been publicly at odds with Melo since the first day he stepped foot in the Knicks front office. While there's been a lot of things happening that Melo cannot control what frustrates fans the most is seeing some the decisions he makes that he can control. As the Knicks are starting to move towards playing more team oriented basketball Carmelo seems to insist that his isolation moves are still the correct answer. There has been a ton of drama with the Knicks over the last six years and in New York every story, no matter how minor seems to get bigger and bigger with each day. The drama seems to have finally reached its climax. The term "rebuild" has been getting thrown around with Knicks lately. But with Carmelo Anthony and his win now mindset it's very difficult to rebuild around that. To make matters worse for Carmelo, Knick fans see hope in the form of a 7'3 Latvian Man named Kristaps Porzingis. With the hopes that the team plans to build the Knicks around Porzingis more and more fans are calling for Carmelo's departure from New York. Trade rumors are flying and it seems like Carmelo's days with the Knicks are numbered. As a Knicks fan I am happy about this, I am ready for a new era of New York Knick basketball. The Melo isolation is not working and I am ready for Knicks, share the ball- team basketball. However, I am not clueless when Carmelo goes to another team (one he will get to pick basically because of his no trade clause) he is going to produce. He is going to make an immediate impact for whatever team he goes to next. Melo is not done at all, he has plenty left in the tank. He has proven he can score and run an offense. He can share the ball, but not to the exact standards of what the Knicks are trying to do. Break ups are never fun and it is cliche to say "its not you its me" during a break up but that is truly the situation in New York. Carmelo is a world class basketball player he has the Stats, Gold Medals, and National Championship to prove it. The Knicks are going in a different direction and they want to build around Porzingis, who in only his second year has shown incredible skill and promise. Both Carmelo and The Knicks deserve better futures, it's time to go our separate ways and move on.

"It's not you it's me"-

Love,

New York.