Carmelo Anthony is a realist.
How do we know this?
We defer to this tweet from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:
Carmelo has never asked Phil Jackson if he's going to coach this team: "Phil's not coming down."
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) February 24, 2016
You mean to tell me that Melo, a 13-year NBA veteran, isn’t placing stock in the prospect of a 70-year-old with a history of health problems, and who has repeatedly said he has no interest in returning as a head coach, leaving the confines of the New York Knicks’ offices to come down and be his head coach?
Preposterous.
In fairness, the lines between Jackson the front-office executive and Jackson the coach can often become blurred. He says he doesn’t want to coach but, ostensibly, refuses to hire a coach who won’t implement his beloved triangle offense, and he’s been known to sit in on Knicks film sessions.
Nonetheless, come on. Jackson isn’t returning to coach.
Even if he wanted to, he’s much too smart to do it for a team as undeniably broken as the Knicks. That only opens him up to more criticism than he’s already subject to.
