If you thought New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was bothered by Phil Jackson’s recent comments, he wants you to know he isn’t.
An unfortunate trait that Phil Jackson carried over from his coaching days into being an executive was his willingness to criticize his star players publicly. The current target of his barbs is Carmelo Anthony. Jackson’s most recent outpouring of encouragement came during on an interview with the CBS Sports
Jackson’s most recent outpouring of support came during a Tuesday interview with the CBS Sports Network. When asked about Anthony’s role in the triangle offense, the legendary coach played into one of the biggest knocks on Melo’s game. His tendency to hold onto the ball too long.
“Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to [the triangle], he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”
Obviously, Melo wasn’t keen on discussing Jackson’s comments with reporters after the beating the Knicks took last night. But after cooling off today he decided to send a message on his own terms.
As usual, Melo is just fine and all class.
He posted two photos to his Twitter account, one of himself and one of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
The Melo photo is talking about his lack of ego and willingness to be the bigger person. It’s an obvious reference to the Jackson quote. As if Melo as saying it doesn’t bother him.
The Ali picture is another strong reference by Melo to his countless haters and how after all this time they don’t bother him anymore.
EGO is the only requirement to destroy any relationship. So, be a BiGGER person, skip the "E" and let it "GO"#StayMe7o pic.twitter.com/Y4Gu2JhdGT
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) December 8, 2016
UN-Phased
(MyLifeSummedUpInOnePhoto)#StayMe7o pic.twitter.com/LUtdSxhOTE— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) December 8, 2016
Anthony and the Knicks will travel to Sacramento and start their five-game West Coast road trip against the Kings on Friday, Dec. 9 at 10:30 p.m. ET.