New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony Unfazed By Recent Drama

Phil Jackson has come under fire for publicly critiquing Carmelo Anthony’s game. The 32-year-old seems to have taken to social media for subtle responses.

The New York Knicks are enduring an unnecessary stream of preventable drama. It began with team president Phil Jackson critiquing Carmelo Anthony on a public forum and continued with the inevitable questions the franchise player faced about his comments.

Regardless of whom you believe is right or wrong, it seems easy enough to agree that this shouldn’t be a topic of conversation.

Jackson stated that Anthony can be the Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan of New York’s triangle offense, but he needs to stop holding the ball and become more decisive. That was perceived and reported as Jackson calling Anthony a ball hog.

Though Anthony may have been talking about something else entirely, he sent out a tweet that signaled he’s not letting the drama get to him.

One day later, he did the same:

If nothing else, it’s good to know that Anthony isn’t going to let the commotion get to him.

The sad reality is that Jackson actually praised Anthony by stating that he could play the role of Bryant or Jordan in the Knicks’ offense. His comments about Anthony holding the ball for too long weren’t directed towards his isolation tendencies.

Instead, they were meant to acknowledge Anthony’s tendency to hold the ball for three-to-five seconds before deciding how he wants to attack his man.

Anthony has every reason to be turned off by the fact that Jackson chose to make these comments on a CBS Sports broadcast. Jackson could’ve gone directly to the source, and while he may have done so, Anthony seemed none too pleased with having to face these questions.

Jackson’s points were valid—and again, he didn’t call ‘Melo a ball hog—but he could’ve picked a better platform to express his thoughts on the matter.

One can only hope that Anthony and Jackson will sit down and discuss this in person so that Jackson’s valid points aren’t lost in the way he conveyed them.