Carmelo Anthony And Phil Jackson: A Marriage Made In La La Land
By Eric Snyder
An Angry Old Man
Hypothetically, Phil Jackson should be able to take his years of basketball knowledge and build a winning team. His history of mind games, Zen theories and talent management made him into one of the best coaches in sports history.
That was before the world of social media and 24-hour news became a normal way of doing business in the NBA. Phil has become the old man screaming at the kids playing in his front yard to grow up and get a job.
He is out of touch and his handling of Carmelo reveals a prejudice against everything Carmelo is.
Out of Touch and Out of Time
Early this season, Phil Jackson referred to LeBron James business associates as a “posse.” The Zen Master attempted to repair the situation with the tweet below but failed miserably. Around the same time, Phil created a pattern of negative public commentary about Carmelo Anthony.
https://twitter.com/PhilJackson11/status/829820226569195520
A Pattern of Prejudice
Beginning in December 2016, Phil Jackson initiated a bizarre pattern of public criticism toward Carmelo Anthony. After first attacking LeBron James and attempting to explain away the comments, Jackson turned his attention to Carmelo.
Phil labeled Anthony a “ball stopper” and continued to make it very clear he had a personal dislike for Carmelo. The sad season of discord ended with Phil Jackson disparaging Carmelo in a strange, year-end press conference.
It remains unclear what Phil Jackson’s vision for the New York Knicks is. However, he has made it very clear his vision does not include Carmelo Anthony.
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The TMZ, tabloid marriage of Carmelo and La La looks to be over. In the same way, the pairing of Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony in NYC needs to end, for better or for worse.