Last week Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony went out to dinner and you had to know they were going to talk about nothing but the Knicks. Carmelo will opt into free agency officially on July 1st and Phil and the rest of the organization are doing everything they can to convince him to remain in New York. Melo has repeatedly said he would like to stay with the Knicks, but he also wants to play for a winner. Translation = He will stay with the Knicks if they show him something worth while. He has legit options when he enters free agency to leave New York and head elsewhere like Chicago or Houston. But reports say Phil delivered Melo a message during dinner and wanted to talk with him about it.
@IamJoeSports
The message was delivered clear directly from Phil:
Steve Kerr is going to be coaching the Knicks next season and Phil wanted to address that with Melo personally. Since a new coach could go a long way to keeping Melo or sending him off, he wanted to discuss it in person according to sources.
“Phil wanted Anthony to know that Kerr and his thinking will simply be an extension of himself,” one of the sources said. “He wanted Carmelo to know he’ll still be able to coach him by extension.”
That quote basically sounds like Phil was letting Melo know if he has any issues with Kerr’s coaching style he can speak directly with him about it.
Kerr has never coached at any level, but he obviously has the experience running the offense that Phil is familiar with when he played with the Bulls. It is clear that Phil wanted to explain the decision because at 29 years old, Melo might not necessarily be excited to play for someone with no coaching experience.
All reports have the Knicks & Kerr making the deal official within the next few days.
