But by far, Jackson's most curious comments in this rare public appearance came when he was asked about the player around whom the team was built: Carmelo Anthony.It was purely coincidence that Jackson fired Fisher after a loss to the Denver Nuggets, from whence Anthony came in a 2011 trade that changed the trajectory of both franchises. An interesting coincidence, nonetheless.
The Nuggets, of course, are in no better shape than the Knicks five years after that colossal trade. As Rasheed Wallace might say of the deal, "Both teams played hard ... and both teams lost."
Here is what Jackson had to say when asked how Anthony's game has evolved under Fisher:
"Yeah, Carmelo's been a major focus. He's a guy that has carried the load a lot with this team. We played very well without Carmelo in numbers of games this year, which is obvious that we have a team that's pretty well balanced. ... I think the seven games he's been out, I think four of them we played extremely well, had the lead going into the final minutes. So it's important in a certain situation. We exaggerate it in terms of salaries in this game and of course by whose team is it and all that kind of stuff. But Carmelo's a leader. We understand that. He's on board. He's going to move forward with this basketball club."
It wasn't just a Freudian slip. Unprovoked, Jackson mentioned again later in his news conference how well the Knicks played when Anthony was out with his recurring knee injury.
"I saw glimpses," Jackson said. "Particularly a couple of games Carmelo was out, I thought there was good ball movement, good player movement. ... We're looking for our players to play together in a way which brings out their best attributes, not a lot of what I consider standing around, one-on-one, situational stuff in the game. We want to see ball movement and player movement that brings out the best in the team."
While Jackson said his posture at the trade deadline would be aggressive -- "We're looking to improve the team, no doubt," he said -- he also admitted that he has limited trade assets to get that done. He also mentioned that he has "a couple of players" who are "probably off the table for discussion."
One, of course, is rookie Kristaps Porzingis. "There's not too many people that ever would say that I would trade Kris," Jackson said.
"Is Carmelo one of those players?" I asked, not knowing whether I'd see Jackson again before the start of the 2016-17 season.
"Yeah, I think it is a known fact that Carmelo has a no-trade [clause]," Jackson said. "And we like Kris; everybody likes Kris."
Soon, the Knicks' head groundhog would return to his natural habitat, saying, "OK, guys, I think that's good." And it was; it's always good with Phil Jackson.
Good quotes and clear ones are two different things, though. And Jackson left just enough loose ends to make it worth wondering whether firing Derek Fisher isn't the biggest change he wants to make.
As the 6-foot-8 Jackson rose from his chair and squeezed through a half-open doorway, escaping the media room for the back offices of the Knicks' training center, he was smiling. Jackson had seen his shadow, all right. And we'll just have to wait and see what, exactly, that means.
2/8/2016 5:09 PM