New York Knicks: What the wild offseason means for future of NYK
Front Office Change
Former team president Phil Jackson stated the somewhat obvious shortly after the season ended: Carmelo Anthony is probably “better off somewhere else.”
It wasn’t as if this was news to Knicks fans; he has a recent history of nagging injuries, as well as dissatisfaction with the triangle offense and front office. New York wasn’t an environment for Anthony at 33 years of age.
As Anthony attempts to play his part with a championship contender, the front office’s moves to build a young and developing roster don’t line up with his vision.
Nonetheless, this was something that was publicly admitted as soon as the season ended. Most front offices would keep this behind closed doors in order to take this issue into their own hands, even if all of this was 150 percent accurate.
In the meantime, this is New York, where the media is unforgiving and ruthless in terms of obtaining information in such a large spotlight and market.
Following Jackson’s controversial statements, Anthony’s trade stock immediately crashed.
"“We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time and I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talent somewhere he can win or chase that championship,” Jackson said."
This quote specifically sparked a reaction from Anthony on his Instagram page. Dealing Anthony to another team may have been for the best (fans even booed him at games).
However, publicly criticizing, blaming, and rather degrading the star player was not an intelligent decision for Phil Jackson and the rest of the front office to make.
Jackson’s remarks, along with signings like these two, this one, this one, this one, and these ones, replacing a decent coach with a worse coach, and even entertaining trade talks for the future cornerstone of the franchise was not enough for owner James Dolan to take a pause from his music “career.”
What really woke the bear from his cave was money being given to none other than Anthony in buyout talks worth roughly $54 million. In the early morning after this news broke, Jackson was reportedly fired from his position as team president.