Knicks' Anthony says no thanks to tanking

PHILADELPHIA _ The Knicks may have been neck-deep in 76ers territory for the last two days, but that didn't mean they were too keen on taking part in the local custom. Because while the 76ers management appears to have made tanking a veritable art form around these parts, Carmelo Anthony said Friday morning that it was a "terrible way to think."

"As a player, you always disagree with that," said Anthony after a shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center, He was responding specifically to the growing belief that the Knicks should give up on the season in order to get a crack at a better spot in the draft lottery.

"We're the ones that are out there and playing and trying to win basketball games," he added. "I think it's easier from the outside looking in, from a fan perspective, to say, OK, just tank, just lose games. I don't know how you do that as a player. I don't know how you go into a game and say, 'Today we're going to try to lose this game or these next 15, 20 games. We're going to figure out ways to lose and tank the season and start thinking about draft picks.' That's a terrible way to think and I don't think any player in any sport should be thinking that."

The easiest way for the Knicks to tank would be to take Anthony out of the equation completely, something he's loathe to do, and something, he said, would have to be a directive from up high. The Knicks have plenty of young players capable of eating up minutes; however, they also still have a shot at the playoffs, albeit a microscopic one. Going into Friday's game, they were four games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with 21 to play, with four teams in between them and the Promised Land. According to Basketball Reference, they have a 1.5 percent shot at the playoffs, and a 3.4 percent chance at winning the lottery.

But for Anthony, who made the playoffs the first 10 years of his career before beginning his drought in 2013, any shot is a shot worth playing for.

"I miss it," he said. "It's just something that you miss ... It's something that I've gotten used to throughout my career _ just being there and giving myself a shot of at least seeing what can happen in the playoffs. I miss it. I miss it a lot. It's something that I think about."