Team president Donnie Walsh said he will continue to seek a center through a trade before Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline, though he was not optimistic he would be successful.
"We think we moved the rock ahead a little bit, but let's don't get carried away and think now we're challenging Miami, Boston and all these teams. We're just not there yet," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, noting the Knicks' biggest needs are size and shooting to replace the departed Timofey Mozgov, Danilo Gallinari andWilson Chandler.
D'Antoni said Ronny Turiaf would be his center in a starting lineup that will include Amare Stoudemire, Anthony, Landry Fields and Chauncey Billups. Shawne Williams and Toney Douglas (and perhaps Corey Brewer) will be the first players off the bench, with Shelden Williams likely being the big body he plans to use to spell Turiaf and Stoudemire.
D'Antoni also said he will use Anthony at power forward from time to time, though the majority of his playing time will be spent at the small forward position.
The Knicks actually gain experience with the new starting lineup.
Fields has started all season, as has Stoudemire.
Mozgov, who is in his first season in the NBA, had been starting at center recently but had only 14 starts for his career, one more than Turiaf this season.
But by replacing Gallinari with Anthony, the Knicks replace 124 career starts with 564. And by going with Billups at the point, New York gets a veteran with 867 career starts, compared with 423 for Raymond Felton.
If the Knicks make the playoffs, that difference becomes even more striking. Felton has taken part in four playoff games in his career, while Billups has been in 139. Gallinari has never been to the playoffs, while Anthony has played in 45 postseason games.
Information from ESPN.com senior NBA writer Chris Sheridan was used in this report.
