New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony Enters Training Camp Without Restrictions

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson handed the team over to head coach Derek Fisher to be coached under the Triangle offense.

“Maybe I stepped back too far previous year”, said Jackson, who made it a point to let head coach Derek Fisher learn the ropes largely on his own last season. Derek’s kind of asked me to be a little more present this year actually, not in the aspect of coaching, but just in being around and talking basketball and influential in observations. He’s entering the second year of a five-year, $124 million contract so the Knicks need to think about his long-term health. However the framework is beginning to take shape, and Jackson is starting to achieve what so many of his predecessors failed to do: turn the Knicks into a genuine, respectable National Basketball Association franchise.

The NBA’s career leader with 11 coaching championships said Fisher told him over the summer he would like to have more conversations this season, so the 70-year-old Jackson, the team’s president of basketball operations, said they will do so. “I think that was multiplied in numbers of ways”. From The Gasol brothers, to LaMarcus Aldridge, to DeAndre Jordan, many Knicks fans overestimated just how much of a draw Jackson and the New York big market really were.

On Friday, Jackson, Fisher and general manager Steve Mills all heaped praise top draft pick Kristaps Porzingis.

“I just feel like it will be helpful to do more one-one-one discussion of specific things that are going on with our team, as opposed to knowing that he’s sitting on the other side of the building and has seen more basketball than I’ve seen in my entire lifetime and not utilizing that resource to help myself and help our team”.

New York’s woes came after Jackson tipped the Knicks to compete for a post-season berth.

Jackson should’ve been offering more advice to Fisher from the start, but if he’s serious about having this team contend for more than a lottery slot this season, he may have to begin attending practices and helping out around the facilities more instead of watching everything from a distance.

“What we are happy about is that we have a group of guys that seem to want to work together that seem to want to play together”, Jackson smiled during a press conference on Friday afternoon. Nevertheless, Jackson guiding him through year two should give him, and this team, a huge shot in the arm. I don’t think that necessarily doomed us.

Okay, but the tension – or whatever you want to call it – was real enough that Jordan said he would play for the Dallas Mavericks.