It’s been a contentious past few weeks for the relationship between New York Knicks President Phil Jackson and franchise star Carmelo Anthony. First, Anthony sided with longtime buddy LeBron James over Jackson’s “posse” comments, then earlier this week, the 11-time champion coach criticized his star for his tendency to hold the ball a bit too long. And now, Anthony had passively fired back at Jackson with a pair of tweets.
“EGO is the only requirement to destroy any relationship. So, be a BIGGER person, skip the “E” and let it “GO” #StayMe7o,” Carmelo Anthony tweeted. He followed that up tweeting a photo of Muhammad Ali with a number of arrows shot at the boxing great with the caption: “UN-Phased (MyLifeSummedUpInOnePhoto) #StayMe7o.”
“Carmelo, a lot of times, wants to hold the ball longer than—we have a rule, if you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense,” Phil Jackson said Tuesday about Carmelo Anthony. “So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold the ball for three, four, five seconds, then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he has adjusted to it, he knows what it can do and he’s willing to see its success.”
Following the beat down the New York Knicks received from the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, Carmelo Anthony was visibly annoyed when asked about Phil Jackson’s comments. “I don’t even know what was said. I just don’t want to get into it,” Anthony told reporters. “I just don’t want to even talk about that, what he’s talking about exactly. I want to stay away from that at this point. My focus is my teammates and winning and playing great basketball. That’s the only thing I’m focused on. Whatever Phil said, he said it, I have nothing to say about that.”
The emergence of Kristaps Porzingis has fueled talk that the New York Knicks might want to consider moving on from Carmelo Anthony. Could this strain in his relationship with Phil Jackson be the start of the Knicks considering a trade?
Source: Dimemag.com