Phil Jackson’s right-hand man Charley Rosen is picking on Carmelo Anthony again, while defending Jackson’s time with the New York Knicks.
It seems The Last Dance documentary on Michael Jordan is bringing everyone out of the woodwork. Phil Jackson’s long-time confidant Charley Rosen, who has appeared in two episodes, told the New York Post that he believes Carmelo Anthony could have been unstoppable, like Jordan, if he had followed the principles of the triangle while playing for the New York Knicks.
Rosen said Anthony “undercut” Jackson in refusing to embrace the triangle while the two were together in New York.
"“Carmelo undercut him, telling [Kristaps] Porzingis not to say anything in public about how good the triangle was,’’ Rosen told Marc Berman of the New York Post. “Carmelo refused to run the triangle — which is why Phil re-signed him: There was a lot of pressure from [owner James] Dolan. But if Carmelo would’ve run the triangle, he’d be open on the weakside.”"
In March of 2017, Porzingis came out in support of the triangle, which reportedly infuriated Anthony.
"“We’re starting to learn it now the way we should and we should have been playing from the beginning of the season,” Porzingis said at the time, according to the New York Post. “So we’re a little behind. Hopefully, I don’t know when, we can start using it properly and making some impact playing it. I like the triangle. My whole first season, we played nothing but the triangle so I know it pretty well.’’"
Porzingis seemed ready to embrace the system championed by the Bulls and Lakers led by Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, respectively. But Anthony reportedly wasn’t willing to do that.
"“[Carmelo Anthony] would be a killer. He’d be Michael Jordan. He’d be unstoppable,” Rosen said in describing the potential of Anthony if he had operated in the triangle. “But Melo was catch and shoot and didn’t want to do other things.’’"
The relationship between Jackson and Anthony soured for a variety of reasons, but the tipping point came in 2017 when Rosen wrote an article online that suggested Anthony had “outlived his usefulness in New York.” The comment appeared to be an indirect message from Jackson, which upset Anthony, and rightfully so.
In his latest comments, published Saturday, Rosen threw the coaches Jackson hired to lead the Knicks under the bus, too. He said hiring Derek Fisher was a mistake because he “wasn’t ready” and there was a clear division between Fisher’s guys and Phil’s guys on the coaching staff. Rosen also accused Jeff Hornacek of not knowing the triangle, and believes the former Jazz player was intimidated by the New York market.
The Knicks went 80-166 with Phil Jackson as team president, before he was fired, two years before his five-year, $60 million contract expired.
James Dolan ended up paying the Hall-of-Fame coach $24 million to stay away from Madison Square Garden.