Sports Radio Interviews

Glen Grunwald on Criticism Carmelo Anthony is Facing: “This is the bright lights here and sometimes the glare is a little bright.”

The time has come now for the New York Knicks to leave their roster alone and see what it can develop into. The Knicks senior vice president of basketball operations, Glen Grunwald, has helped build an impressive roster under the direction of Donnie Walsh before his departure. New York now has the depth and potential on the roster it has been waiting after the additions of Iman Shumpert, Tyson Chandler, Steve Novak and J.R. Smith. The sudden emergence of Jeremy Lin has given the team a jolt at the point guard position that has saved the season so far.

With little practice time and Carmelo Anthony returning from injury, the Knicks have had their moments. This team is exactly what their record says hovering around the .500 mark at 16-17. They play up and down depending on the competition. Grunwald is confident this group can put it together by being patient and sticking together.

Glen Grunwald joined WFAN in New York with Mike Francesa to discuss the process of acquiring Jeremy Lin off waivers in December, the amount of time it will take the New York Knicks to get an effective bench rotation going, the addition of J.R. Smith to the Knicks bench, Carmelo Anthony taking the blame if the Knicks now struggle, and his expectations for the second half of the season.

How did Jeremy Lin get to the Knicks?

“Well technically we just picked him off of waivers. He was waived by the Houston Rockets at the end of December and we claimed him primarily because well we had we had always liked him some. Also Iman Shumpert had gotten hurt in our first game, so we needed another guard to bolster our backcourt.”

What is a fair time to allow your coaching staff to integrate everybody now into a workable rotation?

“Well I wish I could tell you it’s one week or three weeks or whatever it might be, but I can’t tell you exactly that will be. I think fortunately we do have some practice time after the All-Star break where we only have one game in a week. That will allow us a chance to get on the court and work on some things as a team, but that’s going to be game time really where we figure out what we will exactly be doing and games will be coming fast and furious in March. We’ll figure it out and as long as our team sticks together and plays hard and plays together we are going to be fine. If we believe in our teammates and we believe in our coach we are going to be fine and we’ll work it out sooner rather than later.”

What did you like about J.R. Smith that made you add him to the fold here?

“Well we love his talents. His skills sets are he can shoot the three. He can take it to the rim. I mean he is a good athlete. He can defend and we were struggling from the three-point line. That’s a big part of Mike’s [D'Antoni] offense and I think we are 26th or 27th in the NBA in the three-point shooting field goal percentage, so we needed to try to bolster that a little bit and we felt he was the best candidate available and he was just finishing up his season in China, so the timing worked out.”

Do you worry about Carmelo Anthony at all? Do you worry about him getting too much of the blame if this doesn’t work out quickly and not being able to handle the pressures of the media?

“Melo is a supreme talent. He’s got whatever it takes to overcome it. This is the bright lights here and sometimes the glare is a little bright, but at the same time he is so talented and he’s about winning too. He’s going to do what is necessary for us to get back on track. Like I said we have to be a little bit patient, but we all have to stick together, stay focused on what the ultimate goal is and we are going to be fine.”

What are your expectations for the second half of this season?

“Well we want to make the playoffs and we obviously want to get the highest seed as possible, but that is our first goal, which is make the playoffs. We have a tough schedule coming up. We get some better teams coming in and we have a very compact schedule, so the fact that we have depth maybe will allow us to maybe balance the minutes a little bit more, so guys are a little more rested for the rest of the season, regular season and for the playoffs, but again we’ll have to let that play out and that’s Mike’s [D'Antoni] call as to how he is going to use the players on our team.”

Listen to Glen Grunwald on 660 WFAN in New York here

Tags: 660 WFAN in New York, Carmelo Anthony, Glen Grunwald, J.R. Smith, Jeremy Lin, Mike Francesa, New York Knicks