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Melo: Knicks had 'very great shot' at landing LaMarcus Aldridge

Brad Penner / USA TODAY Sports

Carmelo Anthony has a good deal of faith in his recruiting abilities, and he believes he was close to luring LaMarcus Aldridge to the New York Knicks this offseason.

"We could've gotten LaMarcus," Anthony said of the All-Star power forward, who ended up signing with the San Antonio Spurs. "I believe the conversations me and him had, it was a big chance he'd end up in New York."

Aldridge said Tuesday that he'd initially been interested in the prospect of signing with the Knicks, but that any chance of that happening was kiboshed by the team's insistence that he play center so they could develop their 19-year-old draft pick, Kristaps Porzingis, at power forward.

"I don't really know where playing the center position comes in," Anthony said. "I know when I was talking to him we had a very great shot."

Aldridge's opposition to the prospect of playing the five was well-known, though, and when he found out what the Knicks were planning for him, he promptly canceled his free-agent meeting with the team.

"If they're going to tell me that I have to play center and I don’t want to play center, then of course it’s mutual after that," he said Tuesday. "But before that I was excited to meet with them. I was interested."

Anthony had no idea that's why the scheduled meeting between the two sides fell apart.

"When he told me that, I didn't know that," he said. "I took my headband and threw it across. ... I honestly didn't know that,"

Anthony added that he knows the decision wasn't his to make, and said he trusts team president Phil Jackson to do what's best for the organization.

"Phil went out there and did (his) job. I tried to do my job on my end, we kept it at that, if it was time to sign somebody. But Phil's the president. He do what he want to do."

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