Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jason DeCrow

Phil Jackson Reveals Carmelo Anthony Didn’t Know How To Be A Leader With The New York Knicks

While Carmelo Anthony ended his Knicks career as one of the best players to ever suit up in a Knicks uniform, he experienced a number of shortcomings, failing to do wonders for a city longing for some substantial playoff success.

At some point during Carmelo’s seven-year run with the team, the Knicks’ front office brought in 13x champion Phil Jackson and placed him as the president of the team, hoping that Jackson could help Anthony and deal with the crumbling organization at the same time. However, things eventually ended up even worse.

Nearly four years since his stint with the Knicks, Jackson recently appeared on the ‘Curious Leader’ podcast and reflected on his time with Carmelo and the Knicks. During the interview, Jackson put some blame on Carmelo and claimed that the now-Portland Trail Blazers forward never knew how to be a leader which prevented the team from going further.

“We had made a, you know, five-year contract with Carmelo, and Carmelo is a leader. I think he wants to be a leader, I don’t think he completely knew how to be a leader, as a player. And I think that the strength of his personality was intimidating to some of the coaches that were asked to coach the team.”

“And so there wasn’t this compliance that has to go between players and coaches. As much as I tried to interject my own beliefs in that I don’t think you’re close enough to the ground in that situation to really be effective.”