“We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time,” Knicks president Phil Jackson said of Carmelo Anthony in a press conference this afternoon. “I think the direction of our team is that he is a player who would be better off somewhere else, using his talents where he can win or chase that championship.”
These quotes merely make explicit what’s already known about Jackson: He doesn’t care for the forward who he nevertheless re-signed to a five-year, $124 million deal. Anthony’s contract is up in 2019, but he strongly hinted that he was willing to waive his no-trade clause at this year’s trade deadline, and after this proclamation, he surely will this offseason.
As an emotional revelation, it’s almost a relief to finally have this out in the open rather than coded in clumsy interviews and bad tweets. As a piece of management, it’s fucking bizarre. Why would a team executive shout his desperation from the rooftops when he’s trying to get a good return on a major trade asset?