Corridor of Fame coach Phil Jackson unloaded about his failed relationship with Carmelo Anthony throughout his tenure as Knicks president, writing in an upcoming e-book that he felt the strain between the 2 basically pressured him out of New York in 2017.
Jackson, as a part of the e-book “Masters of the Sport: A Conversational Historical past of the NBA in 75 Legendary Gamers” set for launch Tuesday, addressed his time as Knicks president from 2014 to 2017 in the course of the chapter of the e-book on Anthony. He detailed a dialog with James Dolan during which the Knicks proprietor questioned whether or not the media would run Jackson out of city, with Jackson responding that his damaged pairing with Anthony meant considered one of them wanted to go away.
“[Dolan] stated, ‘I do not need you to undergo it. I do know what it is prefer to cope with these folks [the media],'” Jackson says within the e-book. “I stated, ‘Sadly my relationship with Carmelo is form of busted, and if he will be right here, it is most likely greatest that I’m going.'”
Excerpts from the e-book had been revealed Wednesday by the New York Put up.
Jackson in the end left the Knicks in June 2017 after the staff determined on the time to not purchase out Anthony’s contract.
Jackson’s time as Knicks president was most notable for the strained relationship with Anthony, who was traded to New York in February 2011. Jackson made vital feedback of the star ahead to reporters and on social media, drawing a rebuke on the time from the then-executive director of the gamers’ union. The scenario was seen as past restore by the top of the 2017 season.
Within the e-book, Jackson addressed a gathering with Dolan during which Jackson stated they wanted to commerce Anthony.
“I stated, ‘I do not need Carmelo again on the staff; we have got to discover a technique to commerce him,'” Jackson stated. “I stated, ‘Let’s sit with [Anthony’s agent] Leon Rose and clarify we’re not going to win a championship. Carmelo needs a championship; he needs to be on a staff that has an opportunity, and he must be; he is a Corridor of Famer.'”
Jackson’s exit did not enhance issues between the Knicks and Anthony, who was dealt three months later to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder after waiving his no-trade clause.
Anthony beforehand pointed the blame for his Knicks departure at Jackson as effectively, addressing the subject with Dwyane Wade in an internet collection in February 2024.
“After I left New York, I did not go away New York,” Anthony stated. “I received pushed out of New York. Phil pushed me out of New York. I struggled to go away New York.”
Jackson addresses different elements of his Knicks tenure within the e-book, saying the hiring of Derek Fisher as coach was a mistake as a result of he “wasn’t prepared to teach” and saying the job value him his romantic relationship with Lakers proprietor Jeanie Buss.
“She received strain from the league as a result of they frightened in regards to the concept of collusion that might occur between an proprietor and a president,” Jackson stated.
“Masters of the Sport,” with Jackson and longtime Chicago Tribune sportswriter Sam Smith because the authors, consists of Jackson’s enter on various gamers he coached to championships, together with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, amongst different NBA greats previous and current.