Carmelo May Need To Change His Role, But Phil Needs To Change His Address
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Anybody who knows me I have never been a Knicks fan. But I will say a few things about them: 1. I have a great appreciation for the history of them (from guys like Reed, Frazier, Bradley, and Monroe to the likes of the 90's Bully Knicks of Ewing, Oakley, Mason, Starks, etc). And 2. When the NBA is rolling, the Knicks are too.
However, since really the early 2000's when those Knicks of Ewing, Starks, Mason, etc. were long gone or close to being long gone, the Knicks have really been one of the NBA's mediocre teams. It seems like whatever the Knicks do, it turns to manure. One thing is that they never fully rebuilt the squad and just added veterans to really avoid that. Didn't work. Then of course the hire of Isiah Thomas was a complete debacle in nearly every sort of way, making every trade he saw, the constant hiring and firing of coaches (though most of them stepped down), including Larry Brown, considered one of the best coaches in that run (but nearly lost 60 with them). Thomas was shown the door in 2008 but the damage was done. They finally rebuilt after Thomas left, hoping to land somebody huge in the summer free agency of 2010 when we saw the likes of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh all becoming available, but failed. However, the process was there for a good run as the Knicks had good young players.
Anthony's time in New York has been rocky at best.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
But then the star they wanted finally landed on their doorstep in Carmelo Anthony. Anthony, who pretty much held the Nuggets at gunpoint to trade him to the Knicks, arrived in New York in 2011. People were irked on his methods of doing it (myself included) and many thought he somewhat stunted the Knicks turnaround of the season as they were rolling by the time of the trade. At the time of the deadline, 7 of the key Knicks players were gone and while New York did make the playoffs, the overhaul was felt as they were swept in the first round by Boston.
The Knicks would make the playoffs the next two years, but at times with scrutiny as it felt like when the Knicks won, especially with Carmelo out, many said it was because their superstar wasn't in the lineup as opposed to being a different, not as well oiled when Anthony was. And when the team lost, many blamed Anthony for not involving his veteran teammates more.
Enter Phil Jackson. Jackson's credentials as a head coach are staggering. 11 World Championships in 13 appearances with the Bulls and Lakers. Many considered a psychological genius of the game and a guy who knows who to contain egos into playing championship basketball. This would be the pinnacle for the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony. But there was a tiny problem: he was not going to be the coach, but the team president.
And that's where everything hit the fan. The Knicks fell fast in 2013-14, failing to make the playoffs despite Carmelo's stats being strong. Some felt that he was really hurting, not helping the team as the offense was about him while the goal was to pass it to him and everybody try to rebound it. In 2014-15, the Knicks crashed and Melo's knee gave out. Fans, already blaming Melo for being too selfish, was angrier with him for trying to play on a bum knee, especially during the All-Star game, thus ending his season (after signing a 5-year contract to stick around in New York).
Melo and Porzingis can be a great duo if the roles were clear on the team.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jackson started to go back and rebuild, to Anthony's chagrin. Anthony wasn't keen of New York drafting a likely project in Kristaps Porzingis, and fans ripped him on social media, to which he responded (not wise). But the 2015-16 season happened, it seemed like a different Melo out on the court, being more appreciative of the changes and being more of a "team player," which has been something he never had really ever. Maybe sensing the knee issues of Anthony has stunted his play a little bit and the window for him was closing, Jackson brought in help for him. New York traded for Derrick Rose and signed Joakim Noah away from Chicago. At the time, with Carmelo's improvements and how he handled the Olympics, it seemed like this would put the Knicks back in the forefront of the East (that was my thought).
But after about a month, the Knicks crashed in a New York minute. Noah is really a shell of himself of what he was in Chicago. Rose still has dealt with nagging injuries and has somewhat been incredibly aloof. Carmelo has gone back to his old ways in the sense of taking more shots, passing less, and rebounding less while have being thrown out of games for arguing with refs or punching opponents then going "who, me?" Something we should expect from a 21-year old kid with a lot of learning to do, not a 32-year old veteran who is a likely hall-of-fame player with numerous all-star appearances and gold medals to his credit. So it has to be frustration partly.
But the worst thing that could happen has happened: Phil Jackson has opened his mouth.
Let's face it: both Carmelo and Phil are both egomaniacs. We've seen it through the media and we've also seen Anthony prefer to be a superstar than being a champion. However, Carmelo has said and lately done things in the past to show he is willing to make concessions, whether he would okay a trade if it would help the team or himself. We saw he would be willing to take a backseat to a guy like Porzingis if it meant to help the team out. But the issue is whenever the team loses, many, including Phil think Anthony is reason #1. Sometimes it's justified. Other times, not so much. But what Phil has done is that he has ran out and constantly took shots at Carmelo's expense over and over. And even you have to identify with Carmelo to an extent that it seems he is the "all else fails blame Melo" mentality.
People forget Phil and Kobe were at each other's throats a lot in Los Angeles.
But Phil Jackson as a president of the Knicks has been a gigantic mess. He wanted to install the triangle offense, which worked in Chicago and Los Angeles and it backfired. So what does Phil say? Derek Fisher's fault for not running it correctly. Carmelo's fault for not doing it right. The issue is that the offense is an incredibly tough one to run as history has shown. Does anybody remember any coach under the Phil Jackson tree like Jim Cleamons, Bill Cartwright, Brian Shaw? etc. I know Steve Kerr is considered a guy, but he does not run anything to what Phil would have preferred (and Kerr also played under Gregg Popovich). The issue is that Phil is the "I have done no wrong. It is the other guys who have and I do not care if I drag them through the mud" mentality. He did it with Kobe in the time in Los Angeles, but gets widely forgotten given they made amends after Phil left the Lakers after the 2004 season (to which Phil buried Kobe pretty much that whole year and may have been a small factor of why Los Angeles got throttled by Detroit in the Finals that season). It also helped they won 2 more championships together in Los Angeles and "all was well."
But New York has been a mess. They're not winning. They really haven't been winning under Phil's vision and he seems out of touch with the players. But Phil seems to be the guy that has gone out and said "look, it's all the other guys faults; I put them in great position. And my star player is still clueless on how to be a champion."
I've said my peace on Carmelo. Does he have the will to win? I think he does. But I think for him and this is what separates him from even his buddy out in Cleveland is that Anthony wants to be a superstar first and foremost, then a champion. LeBron, for all the griping and whining he's done lately, prefers to be called a champion before superstar. If you become a champion, you're going to be a superstar even after you're retired. Being a superstar before a champion more or less doesn't mean you remain a superstar if you haven't won anything and save for a few players in NBA history (Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley), most superstars of different eras are fairly forgotten today because there is no championship ring on their finger.
This is where it is time to cut bait with Phil. He isn't the answer for the Knicks. Now, trading Carmelo may do the Knicks a huge favor, but if you had to choose one to get rid of, I am alongside Spike Lee and say Phil. I think Carmelo sooner rather than later is more than willing to be a second option or "the other guy" if it means winning an NBA championship, though somebody besides Phil REALLY needs to tell him. But for Phil, and I am using it from somebody who put a tweet out on this just a few days ago: "you don't change a spot on a leopard." Phil will NEVER change his mentality. And that is what is dooming the Knicks, not Carmelo.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
