Still hoping to land with a team for the upcoming season, former Knick Carmelo Anthony went on ESPN First Take on Friday morning to discuss a host of topics, including almost bolting the Knicks for the Bulls in 2014 before eventually re-signing.

"The New York Knicks situation, I was going to Chicago," Anthony said. "Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah. I was there. I was there. And then I started getting whispers behind the scenes -- 'yo, look, this person ain't gonna be there' . ... all of that started to come up in the midst of my decision. I wasn't gonna let anything cloud that. I met with New York last. They was the last time I met with because I knew that I was ready to move on from that situation because of what I was dealing with and going through in New York. After that, I met with New York the last meeting and said 'tell me what you're gonna do for the organization, for us to try to put a team together to go compete and try to win.'"

After that meeting and a lot of things the Knicks promised, Anthony made his decision to stay.

"I said, you know what, because I belong in New York, I'm gonna roll with you."

During the season before Anthony almost left, a consulting firm's influence had led to confusion and paranoia on the team, SNY's Ian Begley reported on Friday.

Some other takeaways from Melo's sitdown on Friday:

On how he feels to have never been in an NBA Finals, especially compared to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade

"As a competitor, it makes me feel like 'dammit, what's going on? Why not me?" But, the flip side of that -- I've never been put in those situations before. I've never had the teams that LeBron James has had. I've never had the teams that D Wade has had. I've never had the teams that a lot of these stars out there have had. It's always been me."

On why he wants to keep playing

Begley recently reported that the Knicks were open to a reunion with Anthony had they landed big free agents. While it doesn't look like a return to the Knicks is in the cards, Melo wants to keep going.

"I love the game too much to get away from it," he said. "I've never even thought about a farewell tour. I've thought about this being my last year, but that was at the time I was really emotionally vulnerable at that point in time. Now I feel like I still could play, I know I still could play, my peers know I still could play."

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