The New York Knicks struggled last season both with and without Carmelo Anthony and they will need several things to go right to compete for a playoff spot.
But Anthony says the goal remains to win a championship.
"We're competing," Anthony said after practice on Wednesday. "People might not believe that, but we're definitely competing for that. That's always going to be the goal. Whether we get there or not depends on us and what we're doing. That's always our big-picture goal."
"Rebuilding for us is based on the fact that we don't have a certain caliber of player on our roster, quote unquote, other than Carmelo," Derek Fisher said. "So people assume that we're rebuilding. But was Atlanta rebuilding last year when they didn't have a quote-unquote player on their roster? So it just depends on who your team is.
"We think that our group as we figure some things out, will be more competitive than maybe what people think. But rebuilding doesn't necessarily mean we're not trying to win right now."