Carmelo Anthony admitted on Friday that the New York Knicks need veteran players such as Jason Kidd, Kurt Thomas and Rasheed Wallace from the 50-win team of last season.

"I think now we do miss J-Kidd, Kurt and Rasheed," Anthony said.

The Knicks opted to go in another direction with the end of their bench depth, signing Cole Aldrich and Chris Smith.

Kidd and Wallace since retired and moved into coaching roles while Thomas suffered an injury late last season.

Carmelo Anthony forgot the New York Knicks were next playing his former team, the Denver Nuggets, following their loss on Wednesday to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“It seems like a long time,” Anthony said of his Denver days. “Due to the situation (we’re in) I definitely forgot we’re going to Denver.”

Anthony was traded to the Knicks in February of 2011.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are pursuing trade scenarios involving Dion Waiters.

The Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers have spoken to the Cavaliers, with Luol Deng, Iman Shumpert and Evan Turner mentioned as targets.

Waiters is open to being traded from the Cavaliers.

Mike Woodson has been fined $25,000 for the public criticism of the NBA's officiating, the league announced on Friday.

On a radio show Thursday, Woodson criticized the officials for his perceived treatment of Carmelo Anthony.

The New York Knicks are 3-8 this season, bringing speculation about the status of Woodson as head coach.

In his first exclusive sit-down interview in seven years, James Dolan admitted he remains friends with Isiah Thomas and that the two remain in communication, although Dolan says their dialogue has decreased some due to Thomas' involvement in other fields.

Dolan was asked whether he still consults Thomas about basketball moves -- adding he thinks Thomas deserves another opportunity as an executive in the NBA.

"Not really," Dolan said. "For Isiah, I don’t know that he’ll ever be able to work in New York. I just don’t know that he’ll ever get a fair shake, going forward in New York?

"Do I think he deserves another shot? Yeah. It just can’t be here. And I think he’s talented. I think he’s particularly talented at finding basketball talent. But I think he’s probably dismayed at this point. But I don’t see him coming back to New York. I couldn’t do that to him, and I couldn’t do that to the organization. He would probably do it as my friend but I couldn’t do it to him or his family. And you know what the press would do here. We’re interested in getting better and that situation would be such a distraction that it would actually hinder our ability to get better."

James Dolan conducted his first sit-down interview in seven years this week, and the New York Knicks' owner discussed Mike Woodson's status as head coach amid a 3-8 start to the season.

"I have a lot of confidence in Woodson, and one thing I can say about Mike is he has the respect of all the players," Dolan said. "They all respect him. And he treats them fairly and relatively equally, and that’s part of where the respect emanates from. And those are hard things to get from a coach. When a coach loses a team … that’s when a coach is kind of done."

Dolan also made it clear that he would not do over the Knicks' long-term signing of Amar'e Stoudemire in the summer of 2010.

"We would not be where we are today without Amar’e," Dolan said. "That summer, the summer of “The Decision,” there were a whole bunch of free agents, and the guys put their thing together in Miami, and Amar’e agreed to come to the Knicks, gave us a launch pad by which we could convince the other guys like Tyson [Chandler] to come, and ultimately Carmelo to come play with us.

"Do I think Carmelo would have come if we didn’t have Amar’e? No, I don’t think he would’ve. These free agents, when you get to this level of player — the Carmelos, the LeBrons, the Durants — the first thing they want before the money or anything else is to be on a winning team. They’ve got to believe they have a shot."

Dolan is still hopeful that Stoudemire can have a resurgence.

"I still have hope," he said. "You cannot ask for a guy to be more dedicated, more disciplined, than Amar’e. He does his rehab, he does his workouts, he does everything, he’s on it every day, and that’s worth a lot, too. If there’s justice in this world, his knee will heal up to the point where he can play more minutes and make the contribution he wants to make."

The New York Knicks are shooting 19.6 percent on corner three-point attempts this season, which ranks 30th in the NBA.

The sample size is small, but it would be the worst mark over the last 15 seasons if it holds.

The value of the corner three-pointer has become commonly lauded in recent seasons.

With the New York Knicks having limited ways of improving their roster in time to re-sign Carmelo Anthony this offseason, pursuing John Calipari as head coach could be an alternative sale.

The Knicks have given Anthony and his representatives at CAA tremendous control. CAA represents Mike Woodson, Allan Houston, Mark Warkentien, J.R. Smith, Chris Smith and Andrea Bargnani.

CAA and William Wesley also represent Calipari.

It is believed that Calipari would seek an annual contract of $8 million from the Knicks.

"That's what Wes will be pushing," one of the executives said. "That's what CAA will be pushing."

Calipari would also want full control over the roster.

"He wants full control, bottom line," one executive said.

Carmelo Anthony was asked Wednesday night whether he believes Iman Shumpert will be part of the New York Knicks' future despite rampant trade speculation.

"I think he is," Anthony said. "We have a lot of expectations for Iman."

The Knicks fell to 3-8 on the season in an overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

Shumpert committed a foul late in the fourth quarter that allowed Paul George to shoot three free throws to send the game into overtime.

Shumpert has been in various trade rumors this season.

Iman Shumpert and the New York Knicks both believe that a trade is inevitable at this point, according to sources.

The Knicks believe they have enough other talent at Shumpert's position in J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. to make a trade using one of their most valuable assets to save their season.

Shumpert was the 17th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and is considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the game.