Phil Jackson is officially the man in charge with the New York Knicks. The famed NBA coach is taking a different career path after stating he was ready to take a job again in the league. Now president of operations for New York, what is his first move? Does Steve Mills remain the general manager? Is Mike Woodson fired as head coach? One person not concerned by all of the potential changes, Carmelo Anthony.
Knicks fans might not want to hear this, but Anthony is not concerned about the hiring of Jackson. Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal reports that Anthony says he has never actually met Jackson before and while he believes the NBA legend's presence can only help the team, it will not impact his future decisions.
"I don't think it'll have any effect on me, just as far as what I'm thinking or my decision or anything like that," Anthony said, via ESPN.com. "Like I said, I haven't talked to Phil yet, just to get his insight on a lot of things, what's his plan, what's his future plan, because everything's in his hands now. I still don't have a lot of the details, all the details. Have I heard? Yeah, I heard he will be coming on board, not official yet."
James Dolan is certainly impressed at his ability to get Jackson on board, but the most important player on the team does not share the same belief. While Anthony is not putting too much stock in the arrival of Jackson, he does credit the former coach for knowing how to build a team. Jackson has won 11 NBA titles in his career and Anthony is hopeful that experience can carry back over to the Knicks.
"I'm sure he will try to his best to do what he has to do to try to build a championship team," Anthony said. "He knows how to put guys together, put a team together. We'll see what happens, but I haven't talked to him, haven't talked to anyone about the front office about their plans or anything like that."
Anthony will opt out of the final year of his contract in favor of free agency. By the sound of things, the arrival of Jackson has not swayed his decision to consider heading elsewhere next year. However, Anthony has said in the past that he would be willing to take a pay cut if the Knicks can get marquee players to the New York. Jackson might just have that pull in the league.
