Phil Jackson Expected To Be More Hands-On With Knicks’ Coaching Staff

Anthony is the only remaining player from the team Phil Jackson inherited in 2014, and the Knicks’ president made a point to bring in new talent this offseason, between guard Arron Afflalo, center Robin Lopez and rookie Jerian Grant, the No. 19 overall pick in the draft. “I thought that maybe I stepped back too far past year”, Jackson said. “I wanted Derek to be his own person, have his own feel for this”, Jackson said. Not in the aspect of whatever, coaching, but just being around and coaching basketball and influential in observations.

“I do think there were times past year where out of respect for each other’s titles as we learned how to operate from player-coach to president-head coach, kind of not wanting to bother each other or overload each other with too much information and conversation”, a candid Fisher explained on Friday morning.

Fisher said that he would welcome the input of Jackson, a Hall of Fame coach that won an NBA-record of 11 championships with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. He said he’s motivated by having such a long offseason. He says he and Jackson want to carve out more time to “really make sure our team is headed in the right direction”.

Anthony’s surgically-repaired knee is good to go and he won’t be on any specific limitations when training camp starts next Wednesday.

While every indication is that Melo is ready to roll entering the 2015-16 campaign, there isn’t much incentive to push him hard at the start of training camp since he is a 13-year veteran who knows how to handle the grind. He is an integral part of the teams ability to succeed, so the faster they get him up to speed, the better their chances for capitalizing on their off-season changes.

Derek Fisher said Friday that Anthony has been medically cleared.

Even with star Carmelo Anthony expected to be healthy after February surgery to fix his damaged left knee, Jackson was reluctant to be drawn into any predictions for this season. Marc Cantave has suggested that the Cavs’ could use Kevin Love in a deal to land Anthony and while some would squash such a move, a closer look at his proposal could make this a win-win for both franchises.

“So I think like I said we’re finding the rhythm to that”. I would love to see that trade go down because I always believed that the Grizzlies were just one piece away from being a serious contender. “That may be a situation where a coach may want to be together with his staff and talking about what we have to get done or what we didn’t get done”, Jackson said.