The Carmelo Anthony-Phil Jackson saga is soldiering on.
In the aftermath of a scathing column written by Jackson confidant Charley Rosen, the prevailing sentiments call for Anthony to waive his no-trade clause so that the New York Knicks can begin rebuilding around Kristaps Porzingis without him. Though Jackson has yet to confirm Rosen is not an extension of himself—Rosen has denied the notion, for what it’s worth—the team president and his star player do not appear to be on the same page, or even reading the same book.
But even if Jackson actually does want Anthony out, the power lies with No. 7 and his no-trade clause. And Anthony, who hasn’t spoken with Jackson, has no plans to abandon ship, per ESPN.com’s Ian Begley:
Carmelo Anthony said he hadn’t heard from Phil Jackson over the Charley Rosen article that stated that he had outworn his ‘usefulness’ in New York. Anthony also said there’s no issue between he and management: “If they want to come talk to me, I’m around them guys every day. I don’t want this to be kind of going back and forth between me and the front office, management, because it’s really nothing, I responded to an article that I read. That was that. There’s nothing between myself and management at this point.”
Anthony is not the Knicks’ biggest problem. He needs to play more defense and, so long as we’re wishing for things, age back five or seven years, but he is not the culprit of New York’s current situation. The Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah acquisitions are worse than his contract, and the Knicks’ longstanding desire to expedite the rebuilding process continually comes back to bite them in the ass.
Do the Knicks feel the pressure to win with Anthony in town? Absolutely. But part of running a team entails sticking with a vision you map out to your players. If Melo wasn’t on board, then the power is with him to change his situation. If he is on board, as he’s publicly been, and the Knicks just don’t want him, well, then it was on Jackson not to re-sign Anthony in the first place—or at the very least not grant him a no-trade clause in his present contract.
