When Carmelo Anthony was taken third overall in the 2003 NBA Draft, I was five, soon-to-be-six. So quite frankly, I didn’t have an opinion on him. I didn’t have an opinion on much back then, just that Bionicles were the coolest thing since sliced bread.

But as I got older, I started to love basketball more, which meant I watched it more. Most importantly, I watched it with my Dad who had been covering the NBA since 1996 and had just started to get into coaching. He was in the “LeBron James is better camp” even after Anthony won the NCAA title in his one year at Syracuse.

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Whenever we watched Anthony on TV, my Dad complained about how he was a ball-stopper, an inefficient volume-scorer and a lazy defender. Since I was young, I just adapted my Dad’s opinions on Anthony. He became one of my least favorite players, and although I continued to root against him, he accomplished plenty which cut against my prejudices. For starters, Anthony made the playoffs his rookie season and James didn’t. He continued to make the playoffs for the next five seasons. He only managed to win three playoff games total in those five post-season appearances, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.

Read More: Donovan Mitchell’s offensive talents are being overlooked

In the 2006 season, we started to see the potential Anthony had as a playoff performer. The Nuggets earned the three seed in the Western Conference by winning their division. While they lost to the Clippers in five games, Anthony led the Nuggets in scoring in all five games of that series. After losing in the first round in the following two seasons, the Nuggets realized Allen Iverson wasn’t The Answer to their problems, so they went out and found a new answer by trading him to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups. Now the Nuggets had a team that truly gave Anthony the opportunity to thrive in the playoffs. They won 54 games that season and finished as the second seed in the Western Conference.

They beat the Hornets in five games in the first round, and Anthony dropped 34 to close out the series in Game 5. The Nuggets went on to beat the Mavericks in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals and Anthony and Billups combined for 58 points to overpower Dirk Nowitzki’s game-high of 32 in the closing game. The season was the defining campaign of Anthony’s career to that point and Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle even said so at the end of the series when he stated Anthony was, “taking quantum leaps as a great player and leader.”

In the ensuing Conference Finals, Anthony’s playoff ability truly shined as he went head to head with Kobe Bryant. He averaged 27.5 points per game for the series. He dropped 39 points in Game 1 and then 34 points in the Nuggets’ Game 2 victory, which stole home court. But in Game 3, Anthony disappeared in the second half, only scoring three points and the Lakers got home court advantage back.

In Game 4, Anthony had health issues — a sore ankle and he needed to be hooked up to IV’s at halftime. Although he only scored 15 points, his teammates had his back and won the game. The opportunity was there with the series tied at 2-2 but the Nuggets didn’t capitalize. Even with Anthony leading the team in scoring in Games 5 and 6, with 31 points and 25 points respectively, the Nuggets lost both games and their season ended there.

In the 2010 playoffs, Anthony and the Nuggets lost in the first round again. With only one deep postseason run in seven seasons with the Nuggets, it was clear that these two were not meant for each other. Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks around the trade deadline of the 2010-11 season and as a Sixers fan, rivalry gave me another reason to root against him. It piled on with all the others from before (being inefficient, a lazy defender, etc.). My criticisms continued through his first two postseasons with the Knicks when they only won one playoff game in that time.

But it was the next season — Anthony’s best as a Knick — where my opinion on him started to change just a little bit. The Knicks finished 54-28 and were the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Although I didn’t enjoy watching them be successful, I got to enjoy watching them beat the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs and effectively put an end to the Big Three Era in Boston. Then the Knicks lost in the next round to the Pacers. It was perfect. One playoff series win to put an end to the Celtics dominance and that’s it.

But as I look back on it now, I realize why that really was the season where I should’ve started to root for him to succeed. Anthony averaged 28.8 points per game in that playoff run alongside 6.6 rebounds per game, cementing his status as a great playoff performer.

The pieces were there for Anthony and the Knicks to become a fantastic love story in the NBA. But sadly, that love story never came. Injuries continued to arrive for the Knicks in the following season. With a significant drop-off in team performance compared to last year, the Knicks retooled their front office. As a result, the main reason why I started to root for Anthony arrived in New York in 2014: Phil Jackson became the Knicks President of Basketball Operations, a job that he’s had for almost three years now and he is still in way over his head.

Here are the good things Jackson has done since joining the Knicks: Draft Kristaps Porzingis, sign Mindaugas Kuzminskas and eat some good New York Pizza, probably.

Here are the bad things Jackson has done since joining the Knicks: Hire and then fire Derek Fisher, audition Kurt Rambis for the head coaching job (his excuse for this was probably that it was his absolute right to do this), hire Jeff Hornaceck, but continue to run the triangle offense, sign Anthony to a five-year max deal, but continue to run the triangle offense, give Anthony a no-trade clause in that deal, and continue to run the triangle offense, sign Joakim Noah to the worst contract in the NBA, and continue to run the triangle offense, trade for Derrick Rose, and continue to run the triangle offense, continue to run the triangle offense, and eat some national chain trash pizza in New York and continue to run the triangle offense.

The Knicks have no direction. Jackson made moves that clearly singled an intent to win now, but the moves led to losing now instead. And those moves might not stop at losing now, they might lead to losing forever.

Jackson hasn’t just trashed the Knicks, he’s trashed Anthony as well. Back in April, he told the media that he think Anthony and the Knicks would be better off going their separate ways. “We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time and I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talent somewhere he can win or chase that championship,” Jackson said.

The nerve Jackson has to blame the Knicks shortcomings on Anthony, even though Rose disappeared randomly in the middle of the season and Noah got suspended for failing a drug test. He’s also clearly suggesting it’s time to trade Anthony, but HE GAVE ANTHONY A NO-TRADE CLAUSE. He also went on to say in that press conference that he doesn’t think his treatment of Anthony will affect the opportunities the Knicks have in free agency. Those comments about Anthony also hurt his trade value. What irony.

Anthony doesn’t deserve this for his last few years as a force in the NBA. He deserves to play for a contender, a team where he’ll be valued on the court by his teammates, his fans and his teams front office. That’s what I’m rooting for Anthony to get. Just a few more good years as he comes to the end of his NBA career and maybe get one more playoff run.

I used to look at Anthony and just see flaws. But the more Phil Jackson and the rest of the basketball world points out those flaws, the more I want to focus on the rest of Carmelo Anthony, the basketball player.

CrushAlot wrote:

When Carmelo Anthony was taken third overall in the 2003 NBA Draft, I was five, soon-to-be-six. So quite frankly, I didn’t have an opinion on him. I didn’t have an opinion on much back then, just that Bionicles were the coolest thing since sliced bread.

But as I got older, I started to love basketball more, which meant I watched it more. Most importantly, I watched it with my Dad who had been covering the NBA since 1996 and had just started to get into coaching. He was in the “LeBron James is better camp” even after Anthony won the NCAA title in his one year at Syracuse.

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Whenever we watched Anthony on TV, my Dad complained about how he was a ball-stopper, an inefficient volume-scorer and a lazy defender. Since I was young, I just adapted my Dad’s opinions on Anthony. He became one of my least favorite players, and although I continued to root against him, he accomplished plenty which cut against my prejudices. For starters, Anthony made the playoffs his rookie season and James didn’t. He continued to make the playoffs for the next five seasons. He only managed to win three playoff games total in those five post-season appearances, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.

Read More: Donovan Mitchell’s offensive talents are being overlooked

In the 2006 season, we started to see the potential Anthony had as a playoff performer. The Nuggets earned the three seed in the Western Conference by winning their division. While they lost to the Clippers in five games, Anthony led the Nuggets in scoring in all five games of that series. After losing in the first round in the following two seasons, the Nuggets realized Allen Iverson wasn’t The Answer to their problems, so they went out and found a new answer by trading him to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups. Now the Nuggets had a team that truly gave Anthony the opportunity to thrive in the playoffs. They won 54 games that season and finished as the second seed in the Western Conference.

They beat the Hornets in five games in the first round, and Anthony dropped 34 to close out the series in Game 5. The Nuggets went on to beat the Mavericks in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals and Anthony and Billups combined for 58 points to overpower Dirk Nowitzki’s game-high of 32 in the closing game. The season was the defining campaign of Anthony’s career to that point and Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle even said so at the end of the series when he stated Anthony was, “taking quantum leaps as a great player and leader.”

In the ensuing Conference Finals, Anthony’s playoff ability truly shined as he went head to head with Kobe Bryant. He averaged 27.5 points per game for the series. He dropped 39 points in Game 1 and then 34 points in the Nuggets’ Game 2 victory, which stole home court. But in Game 3, Anthony disappeared in the second half, only scoring three points and the Lakers got home court advantage back.

In Game 4, Anthony had health issues — a sore ankle and he needed to be hooked up to IV’s at halftime. Although he only scored 15 points, his teammates had his back and won the game. The opportunity was there with the series tied at 2-2 but the Nuggets didn’t capitalize. Even with Anthony leading the team in scoring in Games 5 and 6, with 31 points and 25 points respectively, the Nuggets lost both games and their season ended there.

In the 2010 playoffs, Anthony and the Nuggets lost in the first round again. With only one deep postseason run in seven seasons with the Nuggets, it was clear that these two were not meant for each other. Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks around the trade deadline of the 2010-11 season and as a Sixers fan, rivalry gave me another reason to root against him. It piled on with all the others from before (being inefficient, a lazy defender, etc.). My criticisms continued through his first two postseasons with the Knicks when they only won one playoff game in that time.

But it was the next season — Anthony’s best as a Knick — where my opinion on him started to change just a little bit. The Knicks finished 54-28 and were the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Although I didn’t enjoy watching them be successful, I got to enjoy watching them beat the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs and effectively put an end to the Big Three Era in Boston. Then the Knicks lost in the next round to the Pacers. It was perfect. One playoff series win to put an end to the Celtics dominance and that’s it.

But as I look back on it now, I realize why that really was the season where I should’ve started to root for him to succeed. Anthony averaged 28.8 points per game in that playoff run alongside 6.6 rebounds per game, cementing his status as a great playoff performer.

The pieces were there for Anthony and the Knicks to become a fantastic love story in the NBA. But sadly, that love story never came. Injuries continued to arrive for the Knicks in the following season. With a significant drop-off in team performance compared to last year, the Knicks retooled their front office. As a result, the main reason why I started to root for Anthony arrived in New York in 2014: Phil Jackson became the Knicks President of Basketball Operations, a job that he’s had for almost three years now and he is still in way over his head.

Here are the good things Jackson has done since joining the Knicks: Draft Kristaps Porzingis, sign Mindaugas Kuzminskas and eat some good New York Pizza, probably.

Here are the bad things Jackson has done since joining the Knicks: Hire and then fire Derek Fisher, audition Kurt Rambis for the head coaching job (his excuse for this was probably that it was his absolute right to do this), hire Jeff Hornaceck, but continue to run the triangle offense, sign Anthony to a five-year max deal, but continue to run the triangle offense, give Anthony a no-trade clause in that deal, and continue to run the triangle offense, sign Joakim Noah to the worst contract in the NBA, and continue to run the triangle offense, trade for Derrick Rose, and continue to run the triangle offense, continue to run the triangle offense, and eat some national chain trash pizza in New York and continue to run the triangle offense.

The Knicks have no direction. Jackson made moves that clearly singled an intent to win now, but the moves led to losing now instead. And those moves might not stop at losing now, they might lead to losing forever.

Jackson hasn’t just trashed the Knicks, he’s trashed Anthony as well. Back in April, he told the media that he think Anthony and the Knicks would be better off going their separate ways. “We have not been able to win with him on the court at this time and I think the direction with our team is that he is a player that would be better off somewhere else and using his talent somewhere he can win or chase that championship,” Jackson said.

The nerve Jackson has to blame the Knicks shortcomings on Anthony, even though Rose disappeared randomly in the middle of the season and Noah got suspended for failing a drug test. He’s also clearly suggesting it’s time to trade Anthony, but HE GAVE ANTHONY A NO-TRADE CLAUSE. He also went on to say in that press conference that he doesn’t think his treatment of Anthony will affect the opportunities the Knicks have in free agency. Those comments about Anthony also hurt his trade value. What irony.

Anthony doesn’t deserve this for his last few years as a force in the NBA. He deserves to play for a contender, a team where he’ll be valued on the court by his teammates, his fans and his teams front office. That’s what I’m rooting for Anthony to get. Just a few more good years as he comes to the end of his NBA career and maybe get one more playoff run.

I used to look at Anthony and just see flaws. But the more Phil Jackson and the rest of the basketball world points out those flaws, the more I want to focus on the rest of Carmelo Anthony, the basketball player.

http://fansided.com/2017/05/23/carmelo-anthony-knicks-trade-phil-jackson-pity/

So dude hated Carmelo but he hate Phil more.
So now Carmelo is a victim and Phil is a villain.
Nice Melo-drama but what is here about basketball and NY... I guess a lot of chip pizza

Im curious why few see the NTC as a sign of respect the knicks gave Melo?
To me Phil is being pragmatic here. He says nice things about Melo but that he holds the ball and stagnates movement.

As for Rose, his contract expired. Knicks handled that internally. Knicks could have handled Melo internally, and maybe they did until it was known he don't want to leave. Most of us respect Melo and his love for NYC. At the end of the day its just business and contracts.

I find it interesting that a Philly fan admits living vicariously through the Knicks making the playoffs, but not going all the way. They hate the Celtics more than we do!

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

CrushAlot wrote:

Nalod wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

The 1st first round pick Phil could trade is the 2019 pick. He may not trade picks but up until now he has not had the option. Phil has reset the roster three times and each time he thought he had a competitive roster. He has ignored age, injury history, past performance, etc when assembling his rosters. His vision and management of the Knicks to date has been awful.

Uptown wrote:

Nalod wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

So we are giving him credit for not trading first round picks? Something any average president wouldn't do? Just goes to show how low our expectations are due to the damage previous GMs and Presidents have done...

Phil has been here for 3 yrs and this vision you speak of is blurry, unclear and confused....He's never fully committed to either the triangle or direction of the team in terms of rebuilding or going for the 7th or 8th seed...If he really wants to see his vision through and he wants players to buy in, he needs to coach the damn team himself...

Also, I know Knicks fans suffer from Past Trades Stess Disorder, but there is nothing wrong with trading a 1st if you get something good in return and that pick is protected.

I would have been fine if he traded a 2019 protected pick for Noel in the summer instead of trading for my guy Noah.

knicks1248 wrote:Keeping Phil as president is equivalent to staying married to a woman who's great with your finaces, but can't cook, ****s u once a month, and is sloppy as hell and always in a bad mood...would you stay married to her

Uptown wrote:

Nalod wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

So we are giving him credit for not trading first round picks? Something any average president wouldn't do? Just goes to show how low our expectations are due to the damage previous GMs and Presidents have done...

Phil has been here for 3 yrs and this vision you speak of is blurry, unclear and confused....He's never fully committed to either the triangle or direction of the team in terms of rebuilding or going for the 7th or 8th seed...If he really wants to see his vision through and he wants players to buy in, he needs to coach the damn team himself...

The problem is when Phil took over he had one big asset and nothing really else of value. To retain that asset he gave out, what is now a bad contract with a NTC. However not retaining that asset was simply not an option, and anyone that says it was is not basing their argument in reality. That is really Phil's one huge blunder, giving Melo that contract. Now he's trying to move away from it and yea, it doesnt look good. However to say there is no plan, the roster has been reset 3x and Phil thought every team was a playoff team... those types of comments are typical angry fan tabloid fodder.

Phil retained Melo and tried to get something from that. That was a big fail. Many will read this and simple say its me trying to blame Melo for Phil's failures. That is not the case. The failures are STILL Phil's. However based on Melo's level of play when Phil took over there was merit in trying to get to the playoffs and field a competitive team while we still had this player. Now that player has quickly declined and has been a disappointment in other areas.

So what would a good GM do when things are not working? What would be the best course of action be? Seems to me that would be to move away from this player and rebuild the roster.

Perception wont change until the win total does. Thats sports. Until then yea... Phil sucks, has no clue and only cares about the triangle and not the KNicks (my personal fav )

fishmike wrote:

Uptown wrote:

Nalod wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

So we are giving him credit for not trading first round picks? Something any average president wouldn't do? Just goes to show how low our expectations are due to the damage previous GMs and Presidents have done...

Phil has been here for 3 yrs and this vision you speak of is blurry, unclear and confused....He's never fully committed to either the triangle or direction of the team in terms of rebuilding or going for the 7th or 8th seed...If he really wants to see his vision through and he wants players to buy in, he needs to coach the damn team himself...

Not really, not if you actually want to look at it. If you just want to say Phil sucks, he's an idiot and cant do anything right than yea... your statement in bold is perfect.

The problem is when Phil took over he had one big asset and nothing really else of value. To retain that asset he gave out, what is now a bad contract with a NTC. However not retaining that asset was simply not an option, and anyone that says it was is not basing their argument in reality. That is really Phil's one huge blunder, giving Melo that contract. Now he's trying to move away from it and yea, it doesnt look good. However to say there is no plan, the roster has been reset 3x and Phil thought every team was a playoff team... those types of comments are typical angry fan tabloid fodder.

Phil retained Melo and tried to get something from that. That was a big fail. Many will read this and simple say its me trying to blame Melo for Phil's failures. That is not the case. The failures are STILL Phil's. However based on Melo's level of play when Phil took over there was merit in trying to get to the playoffs and field a competitive team while we still had this player. Now that player has quickly declined and has been a disappointment in other areas.

So what would a good GM do when things are not working? What would be the best course of action be? Seems to me that would be to move away from this player and rebuild the roster.

Perception wont change until the win total does. Thats sports. Until then yea... Phil sucks, has no clue and only cares about the triangle and not the KNicks (my personal fav )

The problem is when Phil took over he had one big asset and nothing really else of value. To retain that asset he gave out, what is now a bad contract with a NTC. However not retaining that asset was simply not an option, and anyone that says it was is not basing their argument in reality. That is really Phil's one huge blunder, giving Melo that contract. Now he's trying to move away from it and yea, it doesnt look good. However to say there is no plan, the roster has been reset 3x and Phil thought every team was a playoff team... those types of comments are typical angry fan tabloid fodder.

I understand not letting him walk for nothing, I can understand re-signing him to an extent but you can't convince me that phil had to hand over a NTC and the N%t sack of the franchise to Melo! Never said he thought every team was playoff bound, but aquiring Rose, Noah, and Lee was an attempt to grab a 7th or 8th seed....

Phil retained Melo and tried to get something from that. That was a big fail. Many will read this and simple say its me trying to blame Melo for Phil's failures. That is not the case. The failures are STILL Phil's. However based on Melo's level of play when Phil took over there was merit in trying to get to the playoffs and field a competitive team while we still had this player. Now that player has quickly declined and has been a disappointment in other areas.

Based on Melo's level of play, why not run a similar system to the one that he was most successful in? Why force him to play a system that you know he can't play? Phil had to know this because Michael Graham taught him this back in the late 80's, Remember The infamous tweet "A Leopard doesn't change his spots..."

So what would a good GM do when things are not working? What would be the best course of action be? Seems to me that would be to move away from this player and rebuild the roster.

A good GM is able to project forward, evaluate the talent and anticipate what wont work within his philosophy. Can't convince me that someone as smart as phil is supposed to be didn't see that Melo's game probably wouldn't be a good fit. So why box yourself in with the NTC....Maybe phil isn't as smart as we make him out to be...

fishmike wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Nalod wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:Phil has actually done more good things then just drafting KP and signing Kuz. He traded for W.Hernangomez, he traded for KOQ, The C.Lee signing was not a bad signing and he's kept all of our 1st round picks and has added some 2nd round picks. He's obviously done more bad then good but has dome more good then people acknowledge.

Phil has not traded any first round picks.
Has a vision. Its controversial. THat makes it interesting. He is an elite thinker and thinks if you don't see his vision you might be under informed.

The 1st first round pick Phil could trade is the 2019 pick. He may not trade picks but up until now he has not had the option. Phil has reset the roster three times and each time he thought he had a competitive roster. He has ignored age, injury history, past performance, etc when assembling his rosters. His vision and management of the Knicks to date has been awful.

In your opinion. Others see differently.