Carmelo Anthony has no interest in talking about the comments New York Knicks president Phil Jackson made about him earlier in the week, and you can understand why.
For starters, they weren’t all that flattering. In an interview with CBS Sports Network that aired Tuesday, Jackson said Anthony has the potential to play the role for the Knicks that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played on their championship teams. Jackson’s assertion that Anthony holds onto the ball too long made the compliment seem a bit backhanded, however.
“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,” the 11-time champion said. “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.”
Anthony, apparently not flattered by the comparisons to Jordan and Kobe, did not want to get into what Jackson said. In fact, Ian Begley of ESPN.com described Carmelo as looking “visibly annoyed” when asked about it after Wednesday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I don’t want to answer those questions,” Anthony said. “I don’t even know what was said, to be honest with you. I just don’t even want to talk about that, what he’s talking about exactly. I want to stay away from that at this point. My focus is my teammates and winning. We’ve been playing great basketball, and that’s the only thing I’m focused on. Whatever Phil said, he said it. I have nothing to say about that.”
Prior to Wednesday’s loss, the Knicks had won four straight and were playing some of their best basketball of the season — particularly on offense. Head coach Jeff Hornacek was also asked about Jackson’s assessment of Anthony, and he brought up how Carmelo scored 35 points and led New York to a win the night before. Of course, he also agreed with Jackson (you know, the guy who hired him) and said there are “probably times” Anthony does hold the ball too long.
Jackson has a long history of playing mind games with his guys, and his track record indicates that it works more often than not. But there have been some indications that there is tension between Jackson and his players lately, and publicly criticizing your best player’s game can only add to that.
