If you are a Knicks fan and sweating Carmelo Anthony’s free agency status heading into the summer, you should probably feel thrilled about the arrival of Phil Jackson. Why?
Because he may be the key to retaining the coveted small forward.
Despite the tumultuous year the Knicks have had, and despite making a run at the playoffs a bit too late into the season, Jackson’s presence has seemingly brought a sense of fresh start to everyone in the organization – from top to bottom. And according to Jackson, Anthony is a great player and would do just fine in a Triangle-oriented system. Compliments from the Zen Master has Anthony fired up, according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York:
Phil Jackson believes Carmelo Anthony can take his game to “another level.” How does Carmelo Anthony feel about that?
“We’re on the same page,” Anthony said on Wednesday, shortly before tip-off of the Knicks-Pacers game.
“I love it. I don’t think that was anything bad that he said,” Anthony said. “As an individual over the years, I think I’ve gotten better as a player, playing at a very high level as an individual. Like right now. For him to come in and say that, we’re on the same page. There’s a whole other level that I haven’t taken this to. I feel each season I’ve gotten better so just as Phil can teach, I can rely on him, talk to him, use him as a mentor to try and get to that next level.”
Jackson also said on Tuesday that Anthony, who plans to test free agency this summer, is in the team’s future plans.
“It’s good to hear that. I’m blessed and honored to hear that,” Anthony said. “I’m glad, I was hoping that I would be part of the future plans. I never once said that I wanted to leave New York or anything like that. The only thing I said was that I wanted to dabble in free agency that I could opt out and become a free agent. I’m excited about that. I’m excited about the opportunity to hopefully go forward with Phil.”
Anthony was also effusive about Jackson’s resume, which includes an NBA record 11 titles as head coach and two as a Knicks forward.
“That gives me a lot of excitement, hope and just being able to have him here with me right now, to know what his record stands for, what he’s able to do with the game of basketball, he’s a genius,” Anthony said. “He’s a basketball genius. He’s done it so many times, so many ways, in so many different situations. Hopefully he can do the same things here.”
Clearly, Anthony is thrilled with the idea of having a chance to be around one of the greatest leaders of all-time in the NBA. Getting reassurance from Jackson about his abilities as a player should let him know where he stands with the organization, and if what Anthony said about Jackson doesn’t make you feel relieved as a fan about what he might do over the summer, nothing will.
Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t other franchises in the market looking to scoop him up in the summer, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Anthony has free-agent options, and two have risen above everything else: Chicago and Houston, sources with direct knowledge of his plans told Yahoo Sports. The Bulls have an easier path to clear the necessary salary-cap space to sign Anthony, but the Rockets believe they can shed the contracts necessary to offer a third near-max deals alongside Dwight Howard and James Harden, league sources said.
“He’ll give New York every option,” one source with knowledge of Anthony’s plans told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “But he has options – and he’s going to explore them all.”
WOODSON IS ALL FOR THE TRIANGLE OFFENSE:
Mike Woodson has done nothing but sing the praises of Jackson since learning he would become the president of the Knicks. He even claims to know enough about the Triangle to teach it if necessary, from Brett Pollakoff of ProBasketballTalk:
“Could I teach it? Absolutely I can teach it,” Woodson said. “But it’d be even better if he helped me teach it. That would be great. Who would be better in teaching the Triangle than Phil Jackson? So if that might be the case and I get that opportunity, sure. I know I can teach the Triangle offense. It’s basketball. It’s what we do.”
That’s all well and good, but will he even be around to teach it is the question.
CLIP OF THE DAY:
Kobe Bryant answered some interesting questions during his phone-interview session with Dan Patrick:
Among the interesting things Bryant mentioned in the interview:
– He could push through to play right now if the Lakers were in a better situation.
– He expects to be in dominant form by next season.
– He knew about a week and half ago that Phil Jackson was probably going to end up signing with the Knicks.
– He still doesn’t understand why the Lakers chose Mike D’Antoni over Jackson.
– He wants to trust the Lakers’ organization regardless of what has happened up to this point.
– He doesn’t know whether D’Antoni has earned another year with the Lakers, but does acknowledge that it has been a tough situation for him.
Give it a listen. It’s always worth a listen when Bryant speaks.
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