The Knicks hired a new GM. The Carmelo Anthony trade is on hold. This is probably a good thing.

No sooner had the Knicks shocked the basketball world by hiring Kings VP Scott Perry to be their new general manager than they went and did something even more shocking—cutting off trade negotiations involving their disgruntled veteran star, Carmelo Anthony. Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski got the deets:

After talking with the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers for nearly a month to help engineer deals for Anthony, the Knicks told both teams that they're stepping back from trade talks for a short time, league sources said.

Anthony was eager to waive his no-trade clause to join either team.

The departure of Phil Jackson as president -- and the impending arrival of Sacramento executive Scott Perry as general manager -- has pushed the franchise's top basketball executive Steve Mills to reconsider the Knicks' intentions on trading Anthony, league sources said.

Yes, the Knicks are breaking off talks with the Cavaliers and the Rockets, who were allegedly on the two-yard line in terms of completing a deal. Not only that, but Mills and (I would imagine) Perry are interested in getting a meeting with Anthony, perhaps with an eye on convincing him to stay on with the new regime.

We’ve come a long way from Phil’s “Everything will be fine once we get rid of that damn Melo” philosophy. There still appears to be very little chance that Melo remains a Knick next season. Too many parties have dedicated too much time and effort to moving him. So where do we go from here?

OK, now let’s take a deep breath and consider the facts. The Knicks just hired a new GM. Presumably the front office (Mills and whoever) was working on the Melo trade and the GM search concurrently. They announce their new GM hire and literally the same day put the trade on hold.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTGAHGSGSHA THE KNICKS ARE CRAZY!

Personally, this doesn’t sound that crazy. I for one would love Scott Perry to step in and take a gander at this deal before they sign off on taking back any package. The very idea that Mills could be holding off until he consults his GM is treated by Frank Isola as a damn conspiracy theory: “By delaying the deal, it creates the perception that Perry was consulted.”

I highly doubt that Scott Perry was hired to be a front man—he’s not nearly a big enough name to reflect blame away from Mills, who has placed himself squarely at the head of the organization. It would follow, then, that the Knicks hired Perry because...wait for it...they actually value his opinions. He wasn’t consulted on the Tim Hardaway Jr. signing because he wasn’t the GM yet. I wish they had Perry in place before they signed Timmy, but that didn’t happen. Mills misread the market, and he acted too quickly. Maybe that’s why he just went outside of the organization and hired a well-respected executive to be his GM.

I’ve been a Knicks fan long enough to know that even the bat-shittiest conspiracy theory about the front office might be true. Perhaps Perry is a complete and utter toady. Perhaps he was hired because he has some connections in the wack-ass-bluesy-folk rock community for JD & the Straight Shot to exploit. Until then, I’m going to hold out hope that the Knicks are going to do their due diligence on a trade for once. Fell free to laugh at me when it turns out I’m wrong.