A report from the NY Daily News on Thursday indicated that New York Knicks owner James Dolan sat down with Carmelo Anthony earlier this week to discuss the direction of the team. One of the topics they allegedly spoke about was whether head coach Mike Woodson has lost the locker room in the wake of another multi-game losing streak.
The Knicks are 20-30. Anthony has said publicly on multiple occasions that the players are the ones who have to execute and the coaches are not to blame, but his reputation as a coach killer precedes him. A person close to Carmelo reportedly told the Daily News that he is not looking for Woodson to be fired.
“There may be players that have a problem with Woody and want to blame him but Carmelo isn’t one of them,” the source said. “If Carmelo has tuned out Woody or doesn’t want him as a coach, why did he score 62 points two weeks ago? Why was he player of the month in January?”
Almost any coach in Woodson’s position would be on the hot seat, and there have been rumors that he could be fired by the end of the month. It would stand to reason that Dolan would consult Anthony before making such a significant change, especially since ‘Melo can opt out of his contract after the season ends. However, he insist his conversation with Dolan was simply a tea party.
“It wasn’t nothing serious,” Anthony said Friday, via Newsday’s Al Iannazzone. “Just talking. I had tea. He had tea. That’s it. We didn’t get into details about anything. It was just a conversation.”
I don’t know what’s harder to envision — Carmelo sitting around drinking tea or Carmelo and Dolan not discussing the future of a 20-30 team that could be losing its best player at the end of the season. Dolan knows he needs to keep ‘Melo and probably bring in another top free agent in order to contend. If losing Woodson means keeping Anthony, Woodson will be gone.
