mreinman wrote:

GetThePipe wrote:God this is an awful article. Writing this essay from the presumed perspective of Phil Jackson is over the top obnoxious. I can't believe this was written by a grown man.

Its about the team that Phil wants to build regardless of what Melo wants.

This is not frank isola, its harvey freakin araton!

Exactly. Araton is a Pulitzer prize nominated journalist and won Sportswriter of the Year by his peers in 1998. He's published several books based on NY sports.

This ain't no "Sources" Broussard, "Screamin A Smith", Isola/Berman....he's pretty legit.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/harveyaraton/index.html

If he says Melo has to step the phuck up, take it as gospel.

mreinman wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/sports/basketball/if-you-read-phil-jacksons-mind-carmelo-anthony-is-in-small-type.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

By admittedly not consulting or even speaking with Carmelo Anthony during a rash of recent free-agent signings for the Knicks, what, exactly, was Phil Jackson trying to tell him?

Perhaps nothing, but given Jackson’s historically – shall we say – eccentric communications skills, more likely something.

Let’s make an educated guess:

With all due respect, Carmelo, it’s not all about you anymore. That was last summer, when you had the leverage, the freedom to hand-pick a competitive environment more to your liking. But you chose the extra money and the New York stage on which to build your personal brand. You signed on for a team rebuild, which came with no discernible or guaranteed timetable.

If you thought I was promising Marc Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge or even Greg Monroe, you were mistaken, or deluded. If that wasn’t clear when you re-signed, it should have been by February, when the season had turned into a Zen catastrophe and I told the New York Times that “my experiment has fallen flat on its face.”

As team president, I am responsible but, face it, you weren’t quite an early most valuable player candidate, and then you were hurt and obsessed with the All-Star Game and now you’re the 31-year-old, surgically repaired leader of a 17-win team.

Not that I’m counting, but you also have been beyond the first round of the playoffs twice in 12 years. Your peers have noticed.

It’s like I told the beat guys out here in Vegas the other night: “There’s some longshots out there that we took. But the reality was we wanted what we got.”

Notice the well-parsed phrasing, how I didn’t say we got what we wanted when referring to Robin Lopez, your buddy Arron Afflalo and a few guys I’d actually never heard of until we resorted to Plan C, or D.

Nor were you thrilled, I understand, with the draft, wishing that we had traded down for another veteran player and had the last laugh – like Pat Riley in Miami – when an authentic American graduate of March Madness like Justise Winslow slipped all the way to No. 10.

Have you been watching summer league on television? Winslow is not going to soon be Jimmy Butler. D’Angelo Russell can’t dribble three feet without throwing the ball to a stranger. (LOL, Kobe.) These kids all look like the teenage novices they are.

If that is too late for your plan of winning a Knicks championship in your prime, my suggestion is that you embrace the reality that you not only signed up for, but helped to create.

That’s right, this franchise stripped itself of assets to acquire you back in 2011, when you made it clear to Mr. Dolan that you were going to get paid before the coming lockout and would do so in New Jersey and Brooklyn if need be. Poor Donnie Walsh was ordered to surrender everything to Denver except Walt Frazier’s wardrobe.

You could have waited to sign as a free agent for the sake of the franchise’s well-being – and yours by extension. We all want to earn but you did set the consequences in motion and, again, had a chance to escape them last summer. You didn’t. You stayed. Now deal with your decision, grow as a player and as a leader.

That’s the best way to begin recalibrating your enigmatic standing, the most positive advance you can make toward the rest of a career still rich in opportunity. Stop making it all about championship odds that would not be favorable unless you joined a small handful of teams, almost all of whom don’t need or want you.

Remember Scottie Pippen? His reputation in this sport grew exponentially in 1993-94, when Michael went on hiatus from the Bulls and Scottie led us to 55 wins and a near upset of the Patrick Ewing Knicks in the second round. For the record, that was also a supreme triumph of the triangle.

The beat guys have been pushing me for a 2015-16 prognostication, but, no thanks, I already made the mistake of flatly forecasting the playoffs last season. I only said that an improvement of 30 wins would be daunting. But imagine, Carmelo, if you set an example, lifted all those around you, carried our improved, though hardly formidable, cast to the seventh or eighth playoff spot in a conference that remains fluid at the lower end.

Think of how much more desirable we could be to next summer’s free agents, or you would be if we mutually decided the best thing was a trade.

In the meantime, I will continue to eschew the kind of tough talk demonstrated in Indianapolis by Larry Bird, when asked about Paul George’s reluctance on playing power forward.

“He don’t make the decisions around here,” Bird said.

Such a hayseed, that Larry. Let’s join hands, work together. Call your new teammates. Take the young Latvian under your wing, out to dinner. Make sure he orders dessert.

Flip the popular news media spin of how the Knicks have failed you by not delivering a companion star. As a student of history, let me paraphrase John F. Kennedy: ask not what your franchise can do for you; ask what you can do for your franchise.

Man why don't you give it up! This **** ain't about Anthony. I don't know why you guys see it that way. This mess is about Phil Jackson and his inability to sign stars. It's not about Anthony. Hell he is sipping wine with LeBron and the boys. The game is about the players and the star players. Now in New York its about Phil Jackson and it will be all about Phil and that damn triangle. When Phil played the Triangle he had 3 stars the Knicks only have one. The word that some of the player was that during interviews Phil was arrogant and making it about him and its not about Phil.
I believe that Phil Jackson have no idea about being a GM

crzymdups wrote:Great article. Came over to UK to post it.

The article is 100% spot on.

there will be some melo holdovers who take it personally.

Papabear wrote:Papabear Says

Man why don't you give it up! This **** ain't about Anthony. I don't know why you guys see it that way. This mess is about Phil Jackson and his inability to sign stars. It's not about Anthony. Hell he is sipping wine with LeBron and the boys. The game is about the players and the star players. Now in New York its about Phil Jackson and it will be all about Phil and that damn triangle. When Phil played the Triangle he had 3 stars the Knicks only have one. The word that some of the player was that during interviews Phil was arrogant and making it about him and its not about Phil.
I believe that Phil Jackson have no idea about being a GM

The thing is Papabear it really isn't about star players, but team share the wealth ball.

Golden State proved this. San Antonio proved this. Guess who the mutherduckin MVP was. A lowly role player, Iguodala . Better to have outstanding depth and a share the ball system like GS and San Antonio then LeBron and the a big 3 or big 2 or whatever.

Forget about catering to the "star" of this team, it's about the whole. About building a defense first pass first culture. Forget the Triangle offense, just semantics they've ditched it pretty much in Summer League.

Melo's crossroads season as a Knick. If he doesn't buy in, maybe he gets bought out(flexed?) or traded for someone that will.

CrushAlot wrote:This guy has a bug up his @ss about Carmelo. Ridiculous article. I guess now that Karl is coaching again he can't do his bi-annual interview to trash Anthony. Someone needs to remind Araton he writes for the Times.

What's off base about this article? I think it is very sober and very true. This isn't Isola being sensationalistic. This is real talk.

CrushAlot wrote:

mreinman wrote:

GetThePipe wrote:God this is an awful article. Writing this essay from the presumed perspective of Phil Jackson is over the top obnoxious. I can't believe this was written by a grown man.

Its about the team that Phil wants to build regardless of what Melo wants.

This is not frank isola, its harvey freakin araton!

Yeah and his source is his mind reading skills. Araton writes a hatchet piece on Anthony twice a year.

Phil Jackson himself said this before Melo's free agency: "If Melo stays, man are we fortunate. If Melo goes, man are we fortunate."

Melo needs to suck it up and play winning ball here or do it elsewhere. It doesn't concern you that he is seemingly all about his brand lately? It doesn't concern you that he hasn't welcomed the new players to the team? The rookies or the free agents? Meanwhile Wade is showing Winslow how to adjust to NBA life in Miami, Durant is showing up at OKC Summer League. Dirk is interupting his vacations to try to recruit free agents. Duncan was instrumental in luring LMA to San Antonio. The entire Clippers team flew to Houston to get DeAndre back. Melo is on a yacht in the Caribbean with Lala, nursing his wounded ego.