GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Carmelo Anthony said his rehab is going "extremely well" and believes his knee will be "completely healed" by the start of training camp for the 2015-16 season.
Anthony hasn't started working on the court yet but expects to begin his normal offseason routine in the near future.
"My mind is to take it one step at a time. If I get back on the court in May or June, that's what I'm going to do," Anthony said on Thursday at the team's training facility. "I'm going to take this time to really get my body right."
Anthony underwent season-ending surgery to repair a tendon issue -- and possibly other knee damage -- shortly after the All-Star Game.
He said that being off the court has given him "clarity." He has spent down time watching basketball and trying to help his Knicks teammates get through their 17-65 season.
Anthony will turn 31 on May 29 and is entering his 13th season in the NBA. He's also under a near-max contract for the next four seasons. So the Knicks can't afford to have Anthony's surgically repaired knee give him any trouble in the coming seasons.
"I don't think I'll ever be 100 percent, but as far as being fully recovered, injury-free, I'll be at that point," Anthony said.
Endorses the triangle: The Knicks struggled in their first season running the triangle offense. Critics of the triangle say that it produces too many midrange jump shots.
Anthony has heard that criticism, but he believes the system can work.
What's missing?
"You've got to have the right personnel, the right fit in this system. … You've got to get the personnel who can make those midrange shots, you've got to get the personnel who can get to the free-throw line. So I always believe that if this is the system that we're going to run, then we're going to run it. I don't think it's something that we'll be changing, we all have to accept that," Anthony said. "I do think the league is changing though, just as far as kind of the systems and the offenses that other teams are running. And everybody's kind of, the game is moving toward more high pick-and-rolls and more space offense and teams going small, so it has to be a balance with that."
Anthony added that he'd be open to playing either the small forward or power forward next season.
Willing to help in free agency: Anthony said he has been studying the free-agent market to determine which players might fit in the Knicks' system. New York is expected to have approximately $25 million in cap space.
"My office would probably look like a GM's office right now with all the names that's on the board and the different scenarios, so I pay attention to that," Anthony said.
He added that he was surprised by Jackson's decision to trade J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland in early January. But Jackson explained the move.
"After the smoke cleared it was like, 'OK, something is brewing.' So that gave me more confidence and more faith in what we're about to do," Anthony said. "This is where it starts. We got to put our money where our mouths at. We've been put in a situation where the pieces are broken and a lot of things have been changed around here. Now we got a clean plate. We got a chance to get a top draft pick. We got a lot of money in the cap. So we got to put that to work. We got to put something together."
Understands fans' frustration with lottery odds: Looking at it from the outside in, Anthony said he understands why some Knicks fans were upset that the Knicks won two of their last three games to hurt their lottery chances. But he said that no player can ever be expected to lose games on purpose.
"As a competitor, you can't come to me and say I need you to lose these two games," he said. Anthony also didn't want to go into great detail talking about the upcoming draft class but he did say that the 2015 class is "pretty powerful." The Knicks will have a top-five pick in the draft.