Carmelo grew up emulating Knicks great King

DENVER - Carmelo Anthony's connection to the Knicks was made well before Chris Paul's wedding toast and Amar'e Stoudemire's recruiting pitch last summer. It was before LeBron James decided to pass on bringing his talents to Midtown South, which left the franchise to fix its gaze upon the next available superstar. And it was well before Anthony declined to sign a three-year, $65-million extension with the Nuggets with an eye on free agency in 2011.

No, this connection happened over 20 years ago in a Red Hook project, where a young Carmelo grew up influenced by the greatness of a fellow Brooklyn-born player that, to this day, he considers an idol.

"Bernard King was my favorite basketball player," Anthony says of the former Knicks great in "Carmelo's Way," a recently released biographical documentary. "Of course everyone liked Jordan, Magic, Bird and all of those guys, but Bernard King was the guy who I looked at and thought, 'Yo, he's the real deal.' Especially when he was in New York, I wanted to be Bernard King. I couldn't go out there saying, 'I want to be Pat Ewing' or 'I want to be John Starks.' I wanted to be Bernard King, that's who I wanted to be."

Since the summer, speculation has been that he hopes to soon follow in the footsteps of his childhood hero and play for the Knicks, who will have the salary-cap space to sign him next summer. Anthony politely declined an interview before last night's game at the Pepsi Center against the Knicks, but King, reached by Newsday at his home in Atlanta Tuesday, said he was all for it.

"I'm sure he's being thrust in several directions," King said. "But I do know that there is no better place to play professional basketball in the world than Madison Square Garden, with fans who understand and appreciate the game of basketball."

Not only would it be welcome to a star of the past, but a star of the present is obviously open to the idea of sharing the Garden stage.

"I love Carmelo, man, he's a good friend of mine," said Stoudemire, who spent time jet-setting in New York with Anthony in August. "Obviously, any time you can team up with great friends it would be a lot of fun."

Last year, King openly rooted for LeBron to come to New York, but his connection with Carmelo - King was asked to appear in a Nike commercial featuring Anthony a few years ago - makes this a little more personal.

"He's one of the greatest players on the planet," King said. "He's a great, great scorer and I love watching him play."

If he were to become a Knick, Anthony couldn't wear his trademark No. 15 because it has been retired twice by the franchise to honor Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe. But if you double 15 you get No. 30; a calculation that had King, who wore that number during his brief but memorable tenure with the Knicks, breaking into laughter.

"It's not in the rafters," he said with a loud laugh, "it's available!"

King's former number might be available for some time. The Nuggets still hold out hope that they can convince Anthony to stay. Coach George Karl, who is looking for a contract extension, as well, said he believes "the window is still open."

Former Knick Al Harrington said the situation is just like what James put the Cavaliers through last season. "They both have their teams kind of in a tough spot," Harrington said, "because you don't know what they're going to do."

Harrington then added, "I personally couldn't sleep with $65 million on the table."