nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:The prevailing point of view from the players, if you look at Jennings, KP and Melo's comments were that management and specifically Phil, affected on court play with his antics...Charlie Rosen article and tweets didn't help cultivate an environment that leads to winning, it distracted the team...Knicks were 14-10 when all this started...

It's a very WEAK argument IMO. Phil calling for more ball movement should not cause a group of seasoned vets to fall apart!!! This is just excuse making at its worst. DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!
Move the ball and play some D! This is all that they had to do.

That's your narrative..They called a meeting to tell Phil they will moved away from running the triangle..Phil, according to the players, "took it well"...Until he didn't, and lashed out in the media...So you can promote your narrative, which isn't accurate...

Is this comment so bad that it should completely destroy a team???

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said on Tuesday. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to (the triangle), he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

Yep, it's ridiculous how overblown Phil's comments have become.melo is so soft when it comes to criticism- imagine if he'd played for JVG!

How is Melo soft on criticism??..He has played well through it and put up some spectacular numbers during the criticism..January and Feb #s were like 25 and 6...Many people have commented on this and the way he has handled the press ..It's the rest of the team that have collapsed...

Phil didn't criticize Melo being able to score on his own. He was talking about Melo not fully buying into the Team concept and moving the ball. Not making the game easier for his teammates. It's not enough that Melo can get his numbers!!!

Melo also put too much emphasis on his scoring all the while playing poorly on Defense. It's of course not just him. The poor D came from multiple players.

He's just one player but he has a very central role and handles the ball so much that he has to be more aware of being a facilitator as well as a scorer.

All of this is really not what's most important. What Phil and Melo decide to do this summer is what's most important. Their decisions will be critical for the future of the franchise.

Phil was pissed they were winning and not running the triangle...The team thrived not running the triangle with Melo as the central player and he lashed out..That's why the team was confused at his response...Phil has a giant ego who wants win his way...Whatever man...Long live the Triangle...

See you keep doing it again. Phil didn't "lash out" in any of those comments you see above! He was making a very correct observation and in truth the team was 12-9 on Dec. 7th back when the CBS Sports Article came out. THey lost that nights game against the Cavs to fall to 12-10. If you read the article Phil was NOT attacking Melo!!! While it was constructive criticism, it wasn't vicious. It was a very tame set of statements by Phil. It was the Media that made it seem like Phil said something vicious when he did NOT.

Phil Jackson: Carmelo Anthony can play Jordan-Kobe role, but holds ball too long
Is this a compliment?

James Herbert

Dec 07, 2016 • 3 min read

In his interview on CBS Sports Network's We Need To Talk on Tuesday, Phil Jackson did more than issue a non-apology about calling LeBron James' business associates a "posse" and discuss marijuana in light of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying he used it last season in an attempt to treat his back pain. Jackson also talked about his New York Knicks.
Apart from stealing a page from Kevin Durant's book by calling Kristaps Porzingis a "unicorn," the most notable part was when Jackson offered his thoughts on Carmelo Anthony and how he fits in the triangle offense.

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo, a lot of times, wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule, if you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold the ball for three, four, five seconds, then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he has adjusted to it, he knows what it can do and he's willing to see its success."

Tracy Wolfson then brought up the fact that Anthony attracts a lot of criticism, asking Jackson if he thinks the star forward is misunderstood.

"Carmelo's genuinely a solid person, a citizen, I think," Jackson said. "He has good intentions. I think some of the things that come along with him, I always say I can go back to [Syracuse coach Jim] Boeheim and say that was the zone that he played in college. But that's just a joke I have with him. The aspect of learning in the NBA and developing habits become entrenched, and sometimes you have to break those habits to change your manner of playing, and I think that's one of the things he's had to do with this new group of guys.

It's a little bit different. He doesn't have sole possession of the offense. There are other people that are involved in the offense, and he embraces that. But then you still have habits you have to break, and I think that's one of the things. Defensively, we've talked to him a lot about movement and that aspect of -- we're now into high-performance things, where we have cameras that can legislate or watch movement on the court all the time -- each have, you can go back and check that. We're trying to get him to get more active as a defensive player. That's one of the things that I think is noticeable, that he has changed. And we're liking that."

We've heard this stuff before from Jackson, and that's precisely why it's interesting. In an HBO interview all the way back in 2012, Jackson said that Anthony "has to be a better passer" and "the ball can't stop every time it hits his hands." After becoming the president of the Knicks in March 2014 and re-signing Anthony that summer, Jackson again said "the ball has to continually move" when discussing how Anthony can get better.

If this sounds bad, it's because, to a large extent, Anthony is who he is. He's always been much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than without it, and he likes to size up the defense, take a few dribbles and attack guys one-on-one. Jackson is totally correct that these are his habits, but it's hard to get one of the best isolation scorers on the planet to approach offense differently.

The good news: It's not like Jackson never butted heads with Jordan or Bryant on this very same issue. The stars want their offensive freedom, and Jackson wants discipline within the confines of the triangle. The partnership worked best when they found some sort of balance, and that's all that New York can hope for.

Also, thanks to those SportVU cameras Jackson was talking about, we have access to some data on this, which shows that Anthony has indeed cut down on his dribbling somewhat since Jackson showed up.

         Average seconds per touch	Average dribbles per touch
2013-14	 3.22	                        2.25
2014-15	 2.68	                        1.5
2015-16	 2.97	                        1.9
2016-17	 2.7	                        1.64

For reference, Bryant held the ball for an average of 3.35 seconds with 2.19 dribbles per touch during his farewell tour last season, and Klay Thompson is holding the ball for an average of 1.85 seconds with 1.19 dribbles per touch this year. All of these stats are courtesy of NBA.com.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

There’s a new cast of characters in Madison Square Garden, but we’ve all seen this movie before. In the initial three or four months of the past two seasons, the Knicks play well enough to indicate that a playoff spot is well within reach…and then they go into a tailspin that threatens to crash-land them in the lower depths of the Eastern Conference.

Last season they were 22-22 on Jan. 20 before, like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff in pursuit of The Road Runner, the law of gravity asserted itself and the Knicks lost 16 of their next 19 games.

Just before this past Christmas, the Knicks’ future looked as bright as the tinsel on the tree in Rockefeller Center. With a record of 16-13, there was even the possibility they could capture the fourth seed. But then Santa left only a piece of coal in Phil Jackson’s stocking and, including the crushing at-the-buzzer loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Knicks have lost nine of their last 10.

So what’s the deal with this current roster?

Are we seeing an instant/distant replay of a promising season turning to grief?

Let’s take a closer player-by-player look.

CARMELO ANTHONY’s legs are going, going, almost gone. As ever, he’s still a dangerous scorer but resists any offensive game plan that limits his one-on-one adventures. Moreover, his sticky fingers causes whatever ball-and-player movement is in effect to come to a grinding stop.

Since Melo has been mostly shooting blanks in the clutch — he was scoreless in the fourth quarter last night — it’s really a dead stop.

Also, while he’s never been accused of playing defense, Anthony is intent on saving even more steps on this end of the game to conserve his energy for offense.

He’s four months away from his 33rd birthday, his contract is humongous and contains a no-trade clause. It’s understood that he’d only accept being dealt to the Cavaliers or the Clippers.

However, since his recurring complaint is that everybody blames him for every game the Knicks lose, perhaps Melo is sufficiently disgusted to accept a trade elsewhere. Perhaps to the young, rebuilding Lakers — after all, his wife’s name is La La.

Or to Toronto, who could use frontcourt scoring to take the pressure off its backcourt aces. Could he play power forward for Indiana, OKC or Chicago? He could certainly fill a need for Atlanta should it trade Paul Millsap (he’s supposedly not on the market anymore, for now), as well as for Portland.

All of the above being teams that are on the cusp of making serious challenges to advance deep into the playoffs. But does anybody want to dispense with a rotation player, or a young sub and/or a first-round draft pick?

This scenario is highly doubtful.

But in the wonderful and wacky world of the NBA, anything is possible.

The only sure thing is that Carmelo Anthony has outlived his usefulness in New York.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/PhilJackson11/status/829062793802420224

holfresh wrote:Knick players/coaches had a closed door meeting with Phil around Nov. 18/19th ish to "clear the air" then Knicks went on a 9-3 run then Phil started yapping..So you go figure..Look it up..Seek out the timeline of events..

This is Melo's quote on 20th Nov....Saturday 19th Nov., I think was the meeting based on Melo's quote..

“There comes a point and time throughout the season where you have to re-evaluate things and step out of the situation, look into the situation, see what you can do better, look in the mirror at each other at yourself and see the things you can improve,” Anthony said. “I thought we did that (Saturday) and (on Sunday). I don’t want to say we won because of the meeting, but you clear the air like that and guys speak out and talk and they don’t have to hold it in. They don’t feel pressured in the open forum. Guys spoke and everybody responded.”

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

martin wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

crzymdups wrote:Tim Hardaway last night in Atlanta's 123-116 win over Boston -

23pts 5reb 5ast 10-17fg 2-3 from 3pt

Come to think of it, he was one of the Phil's scape goats for the 2014-5 season.

Don't want this one to get lost on the last page. Can't wait to hear the Triangle Spin on this one.

Are you so bent on creating an argument that you need to reach back to a player that was on the Knicks like 2 years ago?

THJr has not been an average NBA player until the last few months. So, 4 years in the league and he finally has shown up. Kudos for him for finally getting it.

How's his defense?

WTF does this have to do with the Triangle?

Phil gave up on him because he wasn't a triangle fit. Atlanta spent last year breaking down all his bad habits and building him back up into a team player. It's called player development. This year he's a breakout young star for them.

Your response when the Knicks trade Hardaway for Grant:

crzymdups wrote:Wooooohooooooo!!!!

I'm back baby!!! I'm back!!!

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=51620

I mean cmon man... every move is going to be perfect and no player we let go can EVER become good or up their game? Cmon man.

Like I said, I was on board until Phil gave up on Grant a year later. For a player we're all praying the Knicks don't re-sign.

If you go back and look at my posts throughout the year, I lamented the way Hardaway was used and was bummed. You remember when Kerr had a handshake deal to coach the Knicks? One of the main reasons he wanted to come here was Hardaway. He gave Hardaway an All NBA Rookie First Team vote. (There were also rumors that Hardaway had his girlfriend diddled by DFish and that was a reason for the trade, which I didn't hear until the following year when it came out that he was diddling Barnes' ex and possibly also diddled Cleanthony's girl.)

There's no pipeline, there's no direction, there's no consistency.

2013-4 offseason the narrative was "I'm going to bring in vets who understand how to play team ball and install system basketball"... Phil trades Tyson and Felton and eventually Shump and JR for Jose Calderon and Lance Thomas.

2014-5 offseason the narrative was "we might have cap room to sign not one but TWO max players"... we get Rolo and Afflalo. Hardaway traded. Shved leaves for nothing. Thanasis leaves the NBA.

2015-6 offseason the narrative was "KP is ahead of schedule and potentially great, let's build to match Melo's timeline, we'll bring in a coach who won't necessarily coach the Triangle"...Phil trades Grant and Rolo for Rose and signs Noah and CLee. Young guard Galloway leaves for nothing. Cleanthony leaves for nothing.

2016-17 offseason narrative "it's all Melo's fault, it's time to rebuild and go back to the Triangle"... moves TBD

Meanwhile, we're winning meaningless games down the stretch to worsen our draft pick and some guys here are saying it's all about developing the young players anyway.

But if you can find enough consistency there to make you happy, more power to you. We're approaching half a decade of offseasons of Phil changing his mind. I hope he sticks to a plan this time, but I'm not gonna hold my breath if that's okay with you.

Your take on the Rose trade:

crzymdups wrote:Wow. Not sure where I stand on this trade. What's our cap look like for this summer now?

I loved DRose as a player back in the day. Not sure what he has left in the tank at this rate.

It'll be interesting. With Hornacek running things... could be very interesting. Hornacek got his 28yr old PG.

Curious to hear Melo's reaction...

That doesnt read like your pretty pissed about giving up on Grant. Sure does sound like you see some logic at the time behind this.

Again the REAL problem is trying to build around Melo and Melo's timeline. You are 100% right that because of that the narritive has changed. I am willing to see how we move on from this, starting with the draft and what the team looks like post Melo. Maybe that sounds like "just waiting another year" to you, but if Melo goes its the first year since Ewing left we didnt have a savior or some star player faux player to build around. Its about a team and adding parts. I am looking forward to that and OK with sit through this drama, ESPECIALLY while I see us trying to build and add/develop young guys.

Yes, a ringing endorsement. "Wow. Not sure where I stand on this trade."

And if you think KP won't immediately be tabbed the savior role (and hasn't already by some here), I don't know what to tell you.

Like I said, I can't wait til Melo is traded, because then Phil finally has no more excuses. I'm actually wondering if Phil will even trade his safety net away. It's a risky move.

Well while the KNicks are struggling with a young team you can post Melo's scoring lines every night as he helps catapult the Clippers to another 2nd round exit.... if it makes you feel better.

No. You didnt make a ringing endorsement. It was a wait and see reaction. Far different than "giving up on Grant was the last straw" which is what you said earlier.

I doubt there will ever be a last straw for me. I love the Knicks and want them to be good. It doesn't mean I lie to myself and pretend to be excited about the job Phil has done here.

Who is asking you to do that? Who is doing that here? (Dont mention Nix, he doesnt count).

Actually its me. I admit it. I am excited about the prospect of moving forward with a Phil created team post Melo/Rose. I am excited to see how the coach looks with a young roster and no veteran players with egos who only play a certain way to cater to. I am indeed excited about that. I also understand it will probably result in another 30ish win season which is what it is. I do believe we see an uptick in next year's win total and style of play, but lets wait and see. I am also excited to see the new Marvel movies. These days the excitement levels are about the same. Rebuilding sucks. Its tough. It means bad play and losing stretches, but its how foundations are built. I didnt expect it to be mistake free. I am ok with "the plan" moving forward.

Actually, I guess what I'm really tired of is posters here villifying the likes of Afflalo and Melo and giving Phil a pass. I suppose it's not much a surprise I see it the opposite way - they've been good soldiers for a reeling, plan-changing old man who trashes the very pieces he brought in behind their backs to Charley Rosen over a bowl of good sticky ganja.

I'm not sure how fans can have faith in "the plan" when Phil and co changed the offensive system THREE TIMES this year. First it was Hornacek's Triangle Aspects, then they moved away from the Triangle almost entirely and went with more pick and roll, then after the all-star break it was full on Triangle again. Is it any wonder veterans like Rose and Melo and CLee threw up their hands in disgust and just tried to play the game the way they always had?

If "the plan" going forward is full on Triangle, great. It hasn't worked in the league in years, it bombed in Minnesota, it's bombed terribly here whenever it is actually being run. I don't have much faith in it working, but at least be consistent about it, for god's sake.

I just dont think you are being honest here. I think you on a Phil rant/tilt and I think you see anyone who isnt on the same tilt as giving Phil a pass. Pass for what? Is me being willing to wait a bit longer giving him a pass? Phil hasnt made good moves here. I say that over and over again and I am labeled as the leader of the pro Phil movement. Its bull****. Im sorry I dont feel the need to assess blame. It accomplishes nothing. Its nonconstructive.
If you want to assess responsibility it lies all around. It lies with Phil for assembling this roster. It lies with the coach for not having players on the same page. It lies with the players who underperformed or put their own brands or agendas before what is best for the team and it lies with the owner who created this environment in the first place which would merit needing to pay Phil Jackson $12mm a year in the first place.

So while we can argue who shoulders the most responsibility lets just pass on that for now and agree that responsibility for this failure can be shared all around, whether it be more on Phil or not.

What can you do moving forward? The owner is here to stay. That leaves the players and Phil. Again, regardless of blame at some point the marriage between Phil and Melo took a bad turn and went toxic. One has to go. So I look at value, performance, implications of one staying and one leaving... what do I see?
I see a player who puts himself first and doesnt play a brand of basketball that will even win anything but an early exit or god forbid a trip to round 2.
I see a GM who has fumbled through rosters and coaches and gave the money player money, only to realize this isnt the guy. I also see a GM who has stayed pretty flexible, not wasted future assets doubling down on mistakes and a GM who is very active in developing young players and using the draft.

So when I step back and look at everything wrong with this whole picture I dont hyper focus on triangle, Jose or what Rodman, Shaq or Pippin have to say. I simply see that the chance of the Knicks ever competing for a title with Mel on this roster as ZERO. So being that does it make sense to keep him? Does he help our youth development? Does he lead or play in ways I want rubbing off on my young players? As a veteran are his needs in line with the best direction for the team?

See how this works? Its not Phil camp or Melo camp. Its also not giving Phil a pass or being excited about anything he's done. Is what it is. Clarity.

Man, usually I don't think you're in that camp, but lately it seems you are resorting to blaming Melo, too. I'm not a Melo lover by any stretch. Back in the Lin days, I blamed Melo for that and I still think it's partially his fault that Lin wasn't re-signed, along with a hefty heap of Dolan being a big baby. People here at the time lit into me for defending Lin and said Melo was clearly innocent. I said Melo got MDA fired, too, and people lit into me and told me MDA clearly quit for his own personal reasons. I call this **** as I see it. Sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I'm right.

But - My response to the Knicks is honest. I'm not being disingenuous and I have no agenda other that I think Phil has not done a good job and I'm tired of hearing about the Triangle will fix things if we just get the right players for it. It's a disappointing stretch to be a Knicks fan and has been since 2013. Obviously it's time to move on from Melo... if we can.

But to me this blame Melo game was STARTED by Phil. Let's be real about that. Phil is the one who started this blame game. Because he needed a scapegoat for this season. Because he put his chips on the table and bet they could make the playoffs and lost badly.

And let's be real about another thing - Melo may be a difficult and flawed player to build around... and he is. But Phil CHOSE to build around Melo. He CHOSE TO DO THIS. He gave him a near max deal. He gave him a no trade. He gave him a trade kicker that may make him harder to move than the No Trade.

So I'm just really not into Phil's narrative that this is all Melo's fault. He chose to sign Melo. He chose to build around him. He made the wrong moves to do so and now it's Melo's fault for not developing Lebron-like court vision in his 12th year? Phil should have very much known what he was getting into with Melo, or he should have been honest with himself from the get go. He wasn't and here we are.

Great Post!!! Couldn't agree more with the bolded...

Vmart wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Vmart wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:This would be all fine and dandy if the losing happened after the Melo trade talks

Melo was put on the "block" January 20 or so
Knicks record at that time was already a few games under .500
The Knicks began to lose and that's when Phil asks melo about wanting to stay a knick or not

That said yes it was a distraction no doubt

But the losing already was going on. Team was imploding on the court before Melo trade talk.

Phil publicly slagged Melo and it got enough media attention that they met when the team was in LA in mid-December. These are facts. I know Phil and facts go together about as well as Trump and facts, but sorry they are facts.

Only way to get Melo out of here is to make him uncomfortable. As it is Melo is a very content dude and Phil knows only way to make a move with Melo and his NTC is an uncomfortable environment.

With that said I predicted that this would be Melo's last season with the Knicks. It's only fair to move him for his own sake and the sake of the team. The player needed to incorporate to make Melo a winner just aren't available.

And FA are suppose to applause this type of tactics

When has a FA ever come to the Knicks? Amare only time FAs come here is if no one wants them or their wheels are ready to fall off. What FA you think wants a piece of NY? Only marginal FA at best come here. It has everything to do with avoiding NY. NBA players want to visit it hang out in NY but they don't want to work in NY.

Who is going to come to this mess other than cast offs or undrafted FA, which essentially is what this roster is mostly made up of now

nixluva wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Vmart wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Vmart wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

nyknickzingis wrote:This would be all fine and dandy if the losing happened after the Melo trade talks

Melo was put on the "block" January 20 or so
Knicks record at that time was already a few games under .500
The Knicks began to lose and that's when Phil asks melo about wanting to stay a knick or not

That said yes it was a distraction no doubt

But the losing already was going on. Team was imploding on the court before Melo trade talk.

Phil publicly slagged Melo and it got enough media attention that they met when the team was in LA in mid-December. These are facts. I know Phil and facts go together about as well as Trump and facts, but sorry they are facts.

Only way to get Melo out of here is to make him uncomfortable. As it is Melo is a very content dude and Phil knows only way to make a move with Melo and his NTC is an uncomfortable environment.

With that said I predicted that this would be Melo's last season with the Knicks. It's only fair to move him for his own sake and the sake of the team. The player needed to incorporate to make Melo a winner just aren't available.

And FA are suppose to applause this type of tactics

When has a FA ever come to the Knicks? Amare only time FAs come here is if no one wants them or their wheels are ready to fall off. What FA you think wants a piece of NY? Only marginal FA at best come here. It has everything to do with avoiding NY. NBA players want to visit it hang out in NY but they don't want to work in NY.

Who is going to come to this mess other than cast offs or undrafted FA, which essentially is what this roster is mostly made up of now

This is why we need to grow our own Stars. I think Phil is done with the chasing Star FA path. It's fruitless at this point. Just draft and develop your own talent until you finally have a winner and then you can worry about a big name FA. For right now it's a waste of time and money.

I'd be looking to trade for Picks at this point. They need to bring in as much talent as they can and see what actually works out best and keep those players. You're not going to hit on every prospect but hopefully you hit on enough to build a great team.

Really, you think because he didn't trade a pick he's done with chasing big name FA. When exactly did you come to this conclusion, im curious because it isn't like he dump players to tank.

smackeddog wrote:

holfresh wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:The prevailing point of view from the players, if you look at Jennings, KP and Melo's comments were that management and specifically Phil, affected on court play with his antics...Charlie Rosen article and tweets didn't help cultivate an environment that leads to winning, it distracted the team...Knicks were 14-10 when all this started...

It's a very WEAK argument IMO. Phil calling for more ball movement should not cause a group of seasoned vets to fall apart!!! This is just excuse making at its worst. DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!
Move the ball and play some D! This is all that they had to do.

That's your narrative..They called a meeting to tell Phil they will moved away from running the triangle..Phil, according to the players, "took it well"...Until he didn't, and lashed out in the media...So you can promote your narrative, which isn't accurate...

Is this comment so bad that it should completely destroy a team???

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said on Tuesday. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to (the triangle), he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

Yep, it's ridiculous how overblown Phil's comments have become.melo is so soft when it comes to criticism- imagine if he'd played for JVG!

How is Melo soft on criticism??..He has played well through it and put up some spectacular numbers during the criticism..January and Feb #s were like 25 and 6...Many people have commented on this and the way he has handled the press ..It's the rest of the team that have collapsed...

How has he handled it well?! he has been crying about it all season with passive-aggressive and blatant comments all year long

So his peers, the media and most fans think he has handle it better then can be expected, and you some how believ he's being passive/aggressive. It is extremely rare to have a president take shots via social media about his star player. There's no other way to spin that around.

Then when phil comes out and says rosens words were not his, and rosen agreed, then phils a liar...smh

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:The prevailing point of view from the players, if you look at Jennings, KP and Melo's comments were that management and specifically Phil, affected on court play with his antics...Charlie Rosen article and tweets didn't help cultivate an environment that leads to winning, it distracted the team...Knicks were 14-10 when all this started...

It's a very WEAK argument IMO. Phil calling for more ball movement should not cause a group of seasoned vets to fall apart!!! This is just excuse making at its worst. DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!
Move the ball and play some D! This is all that they had to do.

That's your narrative..They called a meeting to tell Phil they will moved away from running the triangle..Phil, according to the players, "took it well"...Until he didn't, and lashed out in the media...So you can promote your narrative, which isn't accurate...

Is this comment so bad that it should completely destroy a team???

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said on Tuesday. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to (the triangle), he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

Yep, it's ridiculous how overblown Phil's comments have become.melo is so soft when it comes to criticism- imagine if he'd played for JVG!

How is Melo soft on criticism??..He has played well through it and put up some spectacular numbers during the criticism..January and Feb #s were like 25 and 6...Many people have commented on this and the way he has handled the press ..It's the rest of the team that have collapsed...

Phil didn't criticize Melo being able to score on his own. He was talking about Melo not fully buying into the Team concept and moving the ball. Not making the game easier for his teammates. It's not enough that Melo can get his numbers!!!

Melo also put too much emphasis on his scoring all the while playing poorly on Defense. It's of course not just him. The poor D came from multiple players.

He's just one player but he has a very central role and handles the ball so much that he has to be more aware of being a facilitator as well as a scorer.

All of this is really not what's most important. What Phil and Melo decide to do this summer is what's most important. Their decisions will be critical for the future of the franchise.

Phil was pissed they were winning and not running the triangle...The team thrived not running the triangle with Melo as the central player and he lashed out..That's why the team was confused at his response...Phil has a giant ego who wants win his way...Whatever man...Long live the Triangle...

See you keep doing it again. Phil didn't "lash out" in any of those comments you see above! He was making a very correct observation and in truth the team was 12-9 on Dec. 7th back when the CBS Sports Article came out. THey lost that nights game against the Cavs to fall to 12-10. If you read the article Phil was NOT attacking Melo!!! While it was constructive criticism, it wasn't vicious. It was a very tame set of statements by Phil. It was the Media that made it seem like Phil said something vicious when he did NOT.

Phil Jackson: Carmelo Anthony can play Jordan-Kobe role, but holds ball too long
Is this a compliment?

James Herbert

Dec 07, 2016 • 3 min read

In his interview on CBS Sports Network's We Need To Talk on Tuesday, Phil Jackson did more than issue a non-apology about calling LeBron James' business associates a "posse" and discuss marijuana in light of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying he used it last season in an attempt to treat his back pain. Jackson also talked about his New York Knicks.
Apart from stealing a page from Kevin Durant's book by calling Kristaps Porzingis a "unicorn," the most notable part was when Jackson offered his thoughts on Carmelo Anthony and how he fits in the triangle offense.

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo, a lot of times, wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule, if you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold the ball for three, four, five seconds, then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he has adjusted to it, he knows what it can do and he's willing to see its success."

Tracy Wolfson then brought up the fact that Anthony attracts a lot of criticism, asking Jackson if he thinks the star forward is misunderstood.

"Carmelo's genuinely a solid person, a citizen, I think," Jackson said. "He has good intentions. I think some of the things that come along with him, I always say I can go back to [Syracuse coach Jim] Boeheim and say that was the zone that he played in college. But that's just a joke I have with him. The aspect of learning in the NBA and developing habits become entrenched, and sometimes you have to break those habits to change your manner of playing, and I think that's one of the things he's had to do with this new group of guys.

It's a little bit different. He doesn't have sole possession of the offense. There are other people that are involved in the offense, and he embraces that. But then you still have habits you have to break, and I think that's one of the things. Defensively, we've talked to him a lot about movement and that aspect of -- we're now into high-performance things, where we have cameras that can legislate or watch movement on the court all the time -- each have, you can go back and check that. We're trying to get him to get more active as a defensive player. That's one of the things that I think is noticeable, that he has changed. And we're liking that."

We've heard this stuff before from Jackson, and that's precisely why it's interesting. In an HBO interview all the way back in 2012, Jackson said that Anthony "has to be a better passer" and "the ball can't stop every time it hits his hands." After becoming the president of the Knicks in March 2014 and re-signing Anthony that summer, Jackson again said "the ball has to continually move" when discussing how Anthony can get better.

If this sounds bad, it's because, to a large extent, Anthony is who he is. He's always been much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than without it, and he likes to size up the defense, take a few dribbles and attack guys one-on-one. Jackson is totally correct that these are his habits, but it's hard to get one of the best isolation scorers on the planet to approach offense differently.

The good news: It's not like Jackson never butted heads with Jordan or Bryant on this very same issue. The stars want their offensive freedom, and Jackson wants discipline within the confines of the triangle. The partnership worked best when they found some sort of balance, and that's all that New York can hope for.

Also, thanks to those SportVU cameras Jackson was talking about, we have access to some data on this, which shows that Anthony has indeed cut down on his dribbling somewhat since Jackson showed up.

         Average seconds per touch	Average dribbles per touch
2013-14	 3.22	                        2.25
2014-15	 2.68	                        1.5
2015-16	 2.97	                        1.9
2016-17	 2.7	                        1.64

For reference, Bryant held the ball for an average of 3.35 seconds with 2.19 dribbles per touch during his farewell tour last season, and Klay Thompson is holding the ball for an average of 1.85 seconds with 1.19 dribbles per touch this year. All of these stats are courtesy of NBA.com.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

That is the last time the Knicks won back to back games. Three weeks later this came out.

There’s a new cast of characters in Madison Square Garden, but we’ve all seen this movie before. In the initial three or four months of the past two seasons, the Knicks play well enough to indicate that a playoff spot is well within reach…and then they go into a tailspin that threatens to crash-land them in the lower depths of the Eastern Conference.

Last season they were 22-22 on Jan. 20 before, like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff in pursuit of The Road Runner, the law of gravity asserted itself and the Knicks lost 16 of their next 19 games.

Just before this past Christmas, the Knicks’ future looked as bright as the tinsel on the tree in Rockefeller Center. With a record of 16-13, there was even the possibility they could capture the fourth seed. But then Santa left only a piece of coal in Phil Jackson’s stocking and, including the crushing at-the-buzzer loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Knicks have lost nine of their last 10.

So what’s the deal with this current roster?

Are we seeing an instant/distant replay of a promising season turning to grief?

Let’s take a closer player-by-player look.

CARMELO ANTHONY’s legs are going, going, almost gone. As ever, he’s still a dangerous scorer but resists any offensive game plan that limits his one-on-one adventures. Moreover, his sticky fingers causes whatever ball-and-player movement is in effect to come to a grinding stop.

Since Melo has been mostly shooting blanks in the clutch — he was scoreless in the fourth quarter last night — it’s really a dead stop.

Also, while he’s never been accused of playing defense, Anthony is intent on saving even more steps on this end of the game to conserve his energy for offense.

He’s four months away from his 33rd birthday, his contract is humongous and contains a no-trade clause. It’s understood that he’d only accept being dealt to the Cavaliers or the Clippers.

However, since his recurring complaint is that everybody blames him for every game the Knicks lose, perhaps Melo is sufficiently disgusted to accept a trade elsewhere. Perhaps to the young, rebuilding Lakers — after all, his wife’s name is La La.

Or to Toronto, who could use frontcourt scoring to take the pressure off its backcourt aces. Could he play power forward for Indiana, OKC or Chicago? He could certainly fill a need for Atlanta should it trade Paul Millsap (he’s supposedly not on the market anymore, for now), as well as for Portland.

All of the above being teams that are on the cusp of making serious challenges to advance deep into the playoffs. But does anybody want to dispense with a rotation player, or a young sub and/or a first-round draft pick?

This scenario is highly doubtful.

But in the wonderful and wacky world of the NBA, anything is possible.

The only sure thing is that Carmelo Anthony has outlived his usefulness in New York.

https://www.fanragsports.com/nba/knicks/rosen-whats-going-stumbling-knicks/
Two weeks later this was posted by another Phil ghost writer and Phil replied with his tweet trashing Melo.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691601-phil-jackson-knicks-stymied-by-wanting-carmelo-to-be-something-he-is-not and this.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/PhilJackson11/status/829062793802420224

So while the initial comment was something that should have been kept in house and wasn't horrible aside from the fact that it was a public criticism against his player, he followed up with some really immature behavior on his part. I am not sure how anyone could think it wasn't impacting the locker room. Why would Jennings say it effected the locker room? He has nothing to gain either way. Also, what does a president have to do to affect the locker room negatively if what Phil was doing didn't?

I understand that these things can be pointed to as some kind of explanation for why the team didn't play well but correlation doesn't prove causation. Just cuz BJ says the trade rumors negatively impacted the team doesn't mean that was the actual REASON they lost.

IMO KP was the most on point when he noted early on that the team was Winning games on raw talent and not from playing the right way. The biggest culprits were Rose, Melo and BJ in terms of the team's horrid D and lack of execution. All 3 complained and bucked the system. The younger players at least made honest attempts to learn and execute. I don't think BJ was speaking for all the players.

In any event these guys are Pros and grown men. Comments and rumors should not have such an outsized impact on how they do their jobs.

Does a player on the roster, this year, saying their was a large cloud over the team because of the issues Phil had placed over Melo's head create any correlation?

HofstraBBall wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:The prevailing point of view from the players, if you look at Jennings, KP and Melo's comments were that management and specifically Phil, affected on court play with his antics...Charlie Rosen article and tweets didn't help cultivate an environment that leads to winning, it distracted the team...Knicks were 14-10 when all this started...

It's a very WEAK argument IMO. Phil calling for more ball movement should not cause a group of seasoned vets to fall apart!!! This is just excuse making at its worst. DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!
Move the ball and play some D! This is all that they had to do.

That's your narrative..They called a meeting to tell Phil they will moved away from running the triangle..Phil, according to the players, "took it well"...Until he didn't, and lashed out in the media...So you can promote your narrative, which isn't accurate...

Is this comment so bad that it should completely destroy a team???

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo a lot of times wants to hold the ball longer than — we have a rule: If you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold it for three, four, five seconds, and then everybody comes to a stop,” Jackson said on Tuesday. “That is one of the things we work with. But he’s adjusted to (the triangle), he knows what he can do and he’s willing to see its success.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

Yep, it's ridiculous how overblown Phil's comments have become.melo is so soft when it comes to criticism- imagine if he'd played for JVG!

How is Melo soft on criticism??..He has played well through it and put up some spectacular numbers during the criticism..January and Feb #s were like 25 and 6...Many people have commented on this and the way he has handled the press ..It's the rest of the team that have collapsed...

Phil didn't criticize Melo being able to score on his own. He was talking about Melo not fully buying into the Team concept and moving the ball. Not making the game easier for his teammates. It's not enough that Melo can get his numbers!!!

Melo also put too much emphasis on his scoring all the while playing poorly on Defense. It's of course not just him. The poor D came from multiple players.

He's just one player but he has a very central role and handles the ball so much that he has to be more aware of being a facilitator as well as a scorer.

All of this is really not what's most important. What Phil and Melo decide to do this summer is what's most important. Their decisions will be critical for the future of the franchise.

Phil was pissed they were winning and not running the triangle...The team thrived not running the triangle with Melo as the central player and he lashed out..That's why the team was confused at his response...Phil has a giant ego who wants win his way...Whatever man...Long live the Triangle...

See you keep doing it again. Phil didn't "lash out" in any of those comments you see above! He was making a very correct observation and in truth the team was 12-9 on Dec. 7th back when the CBS Sports Article came out. THey lost that nights game against the Cavs to fall to 12-10. If you read the article Phil was NOT attacking Melo!!! While it was constructive criticism, it wasn't vicious. It was a very tame set of statements by Phil. It was the Media that made it seem like Phil said something vicious when he did NOT.

Phil Jackson: Carmelo Anthony can play Jordan-Kobe role, but holds ball too long
Is this a compliment?

James Herbert

Dec 07, 2016 • 3 min read

In his interview on CBS Sports Network's We Need To Talk on Tuesday, Phil Jackson did more than issue a non-apology about calling LeBron James' business associates a "posse" and discuss marijuana in light of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying he used it last season in an attempt to treat his back pain. Jackson also talked about his New York Knicks.
Apart from stealing a page from Kevin Durant's book by calling Kristaps Porzingis a "unicorn," the most notable part was when Jackson offered his thoughts on Carmelo Anthony and how he fits in the triangle offense.

"He can play that role that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant played," Jackson said. "That's a perfect spot for him, to be in that isolated position on the weak side. Because it's an overload offense and there's a weak-side man that always has an advantage if the ball is swung.

"Carmelo, a lot of times, wants to hold the ball longer than -- we have a rule, if you hold a pass two seconds, you benefit the defense. So he has a little bit of a tendency to hold the ball for three, four, five seconds, then everybody comes to a stop. That is one of the things we work with. But he has adjusted to it, he knows what it can do and he's willing to see its success."

Tracy Wolfson then brought up the fact that Anthony attracts a lot of criticism, asking Jackson if he thinks the star forward is misunderstood.

"Carmelo's genuinely a solid person, a citizen, I think," Jackson said. "He has good intentions. I think some of the things that come along with him, I always say I can go back to [Syracuse coach Jim] Boeheim and say that was the zone that he played in college. But that's just a joke I have with him. The aspect of learning in the NBA and developing habits become entrenched, and sometimes you have to break those habits to change your manner of playing, and I think that's one of the things he's had to do with this new group of guys.

It's a little bit different. He doesn't have sole possession of the offense. There are other people that are involved in the offense, and he embraces that. But then you still have habits you have to break, and I think that's one of the things. Defensively, we've talked to him a lot about movement and that aspect of -- we're now into high-performance things, where we have cameras that can legislate or watch movement on the court all the time -- each have, you can go back and check that. We're trying to get him to get more active as a defensive player. That's one of the things that I think is noticeable, that he has changed. And we're liking that."

We've heard this stuff before from Jackson, and that's precisely why it's interesting. In an HBO interview all the way back in 2012, Jackson said that Anthony "has to be a better passer" and "the ball can't stop every time it hits his hands." After becoming the president of the Knicks in March 2014 and re-signing Anthony that summer, Jackson again said "the ball has to continually move" when discussing how Anthony can get better.

If this sounds bad, it's because, to a large extent, Anthony is who he is. He's always been much more comfortable with the ball in his hands than without it, and he likes to size up the defense, take a few dribbles and attack guys one-on-one. Jackson is totally correct that these are his habits, but it's hard to get one of the best isolation scorers on the planet to approach offense differently.

The good news: It's not like Jackson never butted heads with Jordan or Bryant on this very same issue. The stars want their offensive freedom, and Jackson wants discipline within the confines of the triangle. The partnership worked best when they found some sort of balance, and that's all that New York can hope for.

Also, thanks to those SportVU cameras Jackson was talking about, we have access to some data on this, which shows that Anthony has indeed cut down on his dribbling somewhat since Jackson showed up.

         Average seconds per touch	Average dribbles per touch
2013-14	 3.22	                        2.25
2014-15	 2.68	                        1.5
2015-16	 2.97	                        1.9
2016-17	 2.7	                        1.64

For reference, Bryant held the ball for an average of 3.35 seconds with 2.19 dribbles per touch during his farewell tour last season, and Klay Thompson is holding the ball for an average of 1.85 seconds with 1.19 dribbles per touch this year. All of these stats are courtesy of NBA.com.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/phil-jackson-carmelo-anthony-can-play-jordan-kobe-role-but-holds-ball-too-long/

That is the last time the Knicks won back to back games. Three weeks later this came out.

There’s a new cast of characters in Madison Square Garden, but we’ve all seen this movie before. In the initial three or four months of the past two seasons, the Knicks play well enough to indicate that a playoff spot is well within reach…and then they go into a tailspin that threatens to crash-land them in the lower depths of the Eastern Conference.

Last season they were 22-22 on Jan. 20 before, like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff in pursuit of The Road Runner, the law of gravity asserted itself and the Knicks lost 16 of their next 19 games.

Just before this past Christmas, the Knicks’ future looked as bright as the tinsel on the tree in Rockefeller Center. With a record of 16-13, there was even the possibility they could capture the fourth seed. But then Santa left only a piece of coal in Phil Jackson’s stocking and, including the crushing at-the-buzzer loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Knicks have lost nine of their last 10.

So what’s the deal with this current roster?

Are we seeing an instant/distant replay of a promising season turning to grief?

Let’s take a closer player-by-player look.

CARMELO ANTHONY’s legs are going, going, almost gone. As ever, he’s still a dangerous scorer but resists any offensive game plan that limits his one-on-one adventures. Moreover, his sticky fingers causes whatever ball-and-player movement is in effect to come to a grinding stop.

Since Melo has been mostly shooting blanks in the clutch — he was scoreless in the fourth quarter last night — it’s really a dead stop.

Also, while he’s never been accused of playing defense, Anthony is intent on saving even more steps on this end of the game to conserve his energy for offense.

He’s four months away from his 33rd birthday, his contract is humongous and contains a no-trade clause. It’s understood that he’d only accept being dealt to the Cavaliers or the Clippers.

However, since his recurring complaint is that everybody blames him for every game the Knicks lose, perhaps Melo is sufficiently disgusted to accept a trade elsewhere. Perhaps to the young, rebuilding Lakers — after all, his wife’s name is La La.

Or to Toronto, who could use frontcourt scoring to take the pressure off its backcourt aces. Could he play power forward for Indiana, OKC or Chicago? He could certainly fill a need for Atlanta should it trade Paul Millsap (he’s supposedly not on the market anymore, for now), as well as for Portland.

All of the above being teams that are on the cusp of making serious challenges to advance deep into the playoffs. But does anybody want to dispense with a rotation player, or a young sub and/or a first-round draft pick?

This scenario is highly doubtful.

But in the wonderful and wacky world of the NBA, anything is possible.

The only sure thing is that Carmelo Anthony has outlived his usefulness in New York.

https://www.fanragsports.com/nba/knicks/rosen-whats-going-stumbling-knicks/
Two weeks later this was posted by another Phil ghost writer and Phil replied with his tweet trashing Melo.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691601-phil-jackson-knicks-stymied-by-wanting-carmelo-to-be-something-he-is-not and this.

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/PhilJackson11/status/829062793802420224

So while the initial comment was something that should have been kept in house and wasn't horrible aside from the fact that it was a public criticism against his player, he followed up with some really immature behavior on his part. I am not sure how anyone could think it wasn't impacting the locker room. Why would Jennings say it effected the locker room? He has nothing to gain either way. Also, what does a president have to do to affect the locker room negatively if what Phil was doing didn't?

I understand that these things can be pointed to as some kind of explanation for why the team didn't play well but correlation doesn't prove causation. Just cuz BJ says the trade rumors negatively impacted the team doesn't mean that was the actual REASON they lost.

IMO KP was the most on point when he noted early on that the team was Winning games on raw talent and not from playing the right way. The biggest culprits were Rose, Melo and BJ in terms of the team's horrid D and lack of execution. All 3 complained and bucked the system. The younger players at least made honest attempts to learn and execute. I don't think BJ was speaking for all the players.

In any event these guys are Pros and grown men. Comments and rumors should not have such an outsized impact on how they do their jobs.

Does a player on the roster, this year, saying their was a large cloud over the team because of the issues Phil had placed over Melo's head create any correlation?

Yep. Agree with this. Jennings said it. When Rose is on another team next year, I'm sure he'll say it. Even Courtney Lee has made some comments that lead me to believe he feels the same way - "we're beyond pep talks now" and his "Dumb and Dumber" tweet, though that last one may have been about Jeff and Rambis which isn't exactly inspiring either.

Let's not forget, Michael Graham, who Phil implicitly compared to Melo, was a drug addict who never made the NBA. Melo is a hall of famer, whether Knicks fans like him or not.

There's discontent and finger pointing up and down the roster. And Phil literally started the finger pointing during a 9-3 stretch where even guys like Fish and Nix were saying the team looked like a 48-win team that was getting better all the time. No one here was talking about Melo holding the ball too much until Phil made that the conversation around the team.

Let's not forget that Phil's Melo comments came hot on the heels of Phil calling out Lebron's "posse" so it wasn't exactly a great time to drop a public critique of Melo. The air was already charged, Melo was already on edge with Phil because Phil had made things awkward with his friend Bron. Bron came into the Garden extra motivated to **** on the Knicks.

Which begs the question - why couldn't Phil just keep his mouth shut? Do people here really think what Phil said helped Hornacek coach the team? Or did it make things worse for Hornacek and undercut his authority? I'd say the latter. Also forcing Hornacek to run the Triangle and have Rambis lead the defense of course undercut Hornacek. I liked Hornacek's hiring. But Phil made him a puppet. We've got career bench guys playing hard in meaningless games now... which is great. But I don't think it bodes well for building a team with stars.

When Lillard got called out by Barkley or some analyst, Terry Stots came out and said Barkley should shut his mouth because he didn't know what he was talking about. A good coach gets his player's back to get maximum effort on D. Jeff Van Gundy used to stand up for his players all the time. Hornacek is compromised and can't do that because of Phil. Players know he's not really in charge. Gerald Green was just quoted saying this about Horny's time in Phoenix. It won't work.

nixluva wrote:

holfresh wrote:The prevailing point of view from the players, if you look at Jennings, KP and Melo's comments were that management and specifically Phil, affected on court play with his antics...Charlie Rosen article and tweets didn't help cultivate an environment that leads to winning, it distracted the team...Knicks were 14-10 when all this started...

It's a very WEAK argument IMO. Phil calling for more ball movement should not cause a group of seasoned vets to fall apart!!! This is just excuse making at its worst. DO YOUR DAMNED JOB!!!
Move the ball and play some D! This is all that they had to do.