Carmelo Anthony’s tenure with the New York Knicks wasn’t short of dynamic highs and lows. Unfortunately, there were more lows than highs. One of the dark spots of Anthony’s time with his hometown team was his relationship with former Knicks executive Phil Jackson. For many years, it has been portrayed that the two had beef. However, Anthony reveals the truth about the legendary head coach.
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In 2014, the Knicks made major headlines announcing Phil Jackson as the team’s new president of basketball operations. Before this, Jackson had experienced great success in that role en route to capturing 11 NBA championships.
But taking on an executive role was something new for Jackson. It was more meaningful that he was able to do it with the team he began his playing career. Unfortunately, success was not something the Knicks saw in Jackson’s tenure.
The Knicks didn’t make the postseason during Jackson’s three seasons at the helm. Throughout those years, he had a clear disconnect with the franchise’s star, Carmelo Anthony. From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed there was animosity between the two. This would become most apparent in Jackson’s recent book, ‘Masters of the Game.’
In one of the passages, Jackson placed blame upon Anthony for his exit in New York.
“Unfortunately, my relationship with Carmelo is kind of busted, and if he’s going to be here, it’s probably best that I go,” Jackson said.
Anthony has remained relatively silent regarding his relationship with Jackson. However, in a recent appearance on The Big Podcast, comedian Hassan Minhaj asked him about the apparent beef with Jackson, which the Hall-of-Fame forward denounced immediately.
“He had stories, I have the truth,” Anthony said. “I’ve never spoken on it, I’ve never said anything to nobody. I took the shots.”
Shaquille O’Neal appeared incredibly perplexed while Anthony was speaking. He had no clue there was any area of strife between Anthony and Jackson. The 10-time All-Star reassured O’Neal that there was at least no bad blood from his end.
“Phil got beef, I ain’t got no beef,” Anthony proclaimed.
The only issue Anthony had with Jackson was with the position he had with the team. Carmelo never thought that Jackson, as an executive, was what the Knicks needed.
“Listen, I would want nothing more than Phil Jackson to come out of the front office, and he should coach this team. You can’t give Derek Fisher and throw him under the bus like that,” Anthony said.
Jackson never did heed Anthony’s pleas to coach the Knicks. Instead, his Knicks tenure remains the only stain in his long list of accolades throughout his time in the NBA.
