Phil Jackson Is Playing Mind Tricks With Carmelo Anthony
By Bryce Olin
Phil Jackson, “The Zen Master,” is testing Carmelo Anthony to see if he is good enough to be a center piece on a championship team
According to the New York Post, Carmelo Anthony is willing to waive his no-trade clause and accept a trade if the right situation presents itself.
It comes as no surprise for the New York Knicks who are one of the worst teams in the league with a 4-20 record. Numerours reports are saying the Knicks aren’t happy with Phil Jackson or Derek Fisher and they strongly dislike the Triangle offense.
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Again, no surprises there.
I am a little surprised, however, that no one seems to understand what’s actually going on here.
The Knicks knew before the season that this team was going to be bad, or they at least thought they’d be bad. Phil and Fisher don’t seem to care that much. And, why would they? The worse they are, the higher the pick they’re going to get in the draft this season.
I thought the Knicks would be a lot better than this, but this situation didn’t just come out of nowhere. Overall, Phil wanted this team because it was going to make the Knicks better in the future, and here’s why:
The Knicks had the opportunity to go out in free agency and make some big plays on a players that would be good in the triangle. They could have traded Amar’e Stoudamire’s expiring contract along with Andrea Bargnani’s expiring contract and then build a team around Anthony. Phil didn’t do that, although it would have made complete sense to do that.
Why?
Phil needs Anthony to buy in to his system before he starts building a team around him. If Anthony can survive the Knicks being terrible, with all the external pressure of New York, and become the leader of this team, Phil will use him as the center of this rebuilding project while knowing Anthony is in it for the long-haul.
If not, if Anthony couldn’t handle the pressure and the circumstances that come from being terrible, Phil was going to make this situation as bad as it could be, so Anthony would be the one to demand a trade and leave the team.
In that situation, Anthony is the bad guy for “giving up” on the organization, not Phil.
“But, if this was all a big test, why did Phil give Anthony a five-year, $124 million contract?”
Two reasons!
1.) I don’t think Phil knew if Anthony could handle being a leader of a championship team, and he needed to find out.
2.) Can you imagine the outrage by Knicks’ fans if he let Anthony walk in free agency? Phil would not survive that, and he would lose his job.
So, that’s where we are right now.
Phil hasn’t created this awful situation, but he hasn’t done anything to fix it yet.
Your move, Melo.