Melo confident Knicks will play Bulls on opening night or Christmas
The 2016-17 NBA schedule will be rolled out in the next week or so, and Carmelo Anthony suspects his New York Knicks will draw the Chicago Bulls in one of the league's premier TV slots - either opening night or Christmas Day.
Melo, on if it's almost a guarantee Knicks will either open season vs Bulls, or play them on Christmas, after FA moves: "One of those two."
— Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) July 28, 2016
This isn't actually just another delusion of grandeur like new teammate and former Bull Derrick Rose referring to the Knicks as a "superteam." Even if conventional wisdom says that at best the two teams will be dueling for one of the East's bottom-tier playoff spots, it's still a marquee matchup involving two of the NBA's three biggest media markets. Having Rose and Joakim Noah on the Knicks and Dwyane Wade joining the Bulls only enhances that.
The Knicks did not make the league's Christmas Day slate last season for the first time since 2008. Anthony, who was born in New York City, wasn't too pleased about that.
"New York is one of those teams that should always be on Christmas," he said last December.