Anthony: 'I feel it's time for a change'

BOSTON - Carmelo Anthony clearly still plans to explore free agency next summer, when he could join Amar'e Stoudemire by signing with the Knicks - if he isn't traded to them first.

He gave the strongest indications yet that he is looking to leave Denver - something that has been speculated for months but never before publicly acknowledged - when he told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday, "For me, I feel it's time for a change.''

Anthony did not rule out returning to Denver after becoming a free agent, but added, "If I do nothing now, I'm never going to do anything. I feel like my time is now to make a decision if I want to leave or if I want to stay.''

Newsday reported in mid-July that Anthony, 26, would not sign a three-year, $65-million contract extension that the Nuggets offered in the spring. The Knicks have long been considered his preferred destination, though the Nets and Bulls are believed to be high on the list.

Stoudemire has routinely downplayed the rumors involving Anthony, but after practice at Emerson College, he gave his perspective on why star players in their prime, such as himself, Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, can get antsy.

Stoudemire said when he played for Phoenix, he saw stars such as Steve Nash and Grant Hill fading in the latter stages of their careers. He wanted the franchise to look to the future and add other stars to contend for a championship. "I felt like that wasn't going to happen with that specific situation,'' he said, "so I wanted to go to a team that was willing to build a championship-quality team.''

Anthony sees a similar situation in Denver, with 34-year-old Chauncey Billups on the downside of his career and George Karl dealing with serious health issues on top of coaching in the final year of his contract. Two years ago, the Nuggets were battling the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. Now Anthony isn't sure the team is built to sustain that level, especially in this era of superpower teams.

To become one of those, the Knicks would like to add Anthony to Stoudemire and, perhaps, target Chris Paul or Deron Williams via free agency in 2012.

Of course, the Nets have a similar plan. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who wants to wrest the New York market from the Knicks, went hard after James and now is targeting Anthony with even greater intensity.

Apparently, he's also targeting Stoudemire. When asked by reporters about a billboard of a scowling Stoudemire that the Knicks put in Brooklyn near the site of the Barclays Arena project, Prokhorov said, "To me, Amar'e is very sad. It looks like he wants to play in Brooklyn in a couple of years.'' Told of this, Stoudemire smirked and replied, "Not quite.''

Notes & quotes: Mike D'Antoni said he believes rookie Landry Fields could hold the starting shooting guard position "all year'' and added that he would "be surprised if he can't do it.'' Fields had a solid debut Wednesday with 11 points and zero turnovers in 29:50 and now faces a tougher challenge in going up against Ray Allen Friday night . . . Shooting guard Kelenna Azubuike continues to make modest steps toward a return to the court, but the team will continue to be cautious with his recovery from a knee injury. "We want him to be 110 percent,'' D'Antoni said. "We'd be crazy to rush him back.'' . . . Wednesday night's opener was watched in an average of 1.65 percent of area homes on MSG, the best such figure for a Knicks opener since 2006 and more than double the 0.62 rating for last year's opener, which was up against Game 1 of the Phillies-Yankees World Series.

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