SPANISH HARLEM – With all the NFL Trade Deadline News all done. Its time to move on more pressing matters. Phil Jackson is in the news again for knocking Carmelo Anthony during his time as the Knicks President. If there is one thing that Jackson is ruffling feathers. Let’s dissect this further for my enjoyment.
Carmelo Anthony’s tenure with the New York Knicks was not a great success by any means. The initial trade to get him to New York depleted the roster immensely of some really good players, James Dolan wanted this trade as much Anthony and made sure he got his man. In hindsight, I think Melo would tell you that he should have waited until free agency to make that move but there was also the possibility that other teams would trade for him, which added to the urgency. Dolan overplayed his hand but in the end, he got the player he wanted.
The other part of this is much more complicated, because no one in the organization, including Jackson, put together a team that fit his skill set. It was mind-boggling bad decisions after another, where mistakes were made whether via trades and in the draft. Yes, part of that is on Dolan because he is one that makes the hires, but it was also on Jackson because it seemed that from the first day on the job, this was not something that he expected or wanted to do.
Jackson’s issues stemmed from Melo not fitting into the triangle offense and guess what, you don’t force this offense on a team that is not built to play that way. His stubbornness to change led to some miserable years for the Knicks and I will blame him more than I would ever blame Melo. He was our shining light through a dark phase and whether you loved or hated him, he played the hand he was dealt. To say his teams were bad because of the offense system in place, fails to understand that we had a lousy team for most of Melo’s lifespan with the Knicks.
Was Carmelo Anthony my favorite player… yes. Was he flawed… yes but not everybody is Lebron James. You may agree with me, or you may not but I know what I saw and this was not his fault.
That’s it for now, please come back tomorrow for more great content from Jackson Sternberg.
