Kobe Bryant Is Giving Carmelo Anthony Advice On How To Deal With Phil Jackson’s Criticism

Phil Jackson has never shied away from public criticism of his players, even when those players were some of the best in the world. Michael Jordan wasn’t immune to the wrath of Jackson in the public sphere, and that trait especially applied to Kobe Bryant when he was coached by Jackson in Los Angeles. Now, Jackson is the president of the New York Knicks and his run-ins with Carmelo Anthony have been tabloid fodder since the moment the two joined forces in the Big Apple.

The most recent dust-up between Jackson and Anthony involved what was widely perceived as a sub-tweet lobbed in Jackson’s direction and, on Saturday evening, word broke that the All-Star forward has even discussed the issues with Bryant.

It should not come as a surprise that Anthony and Bryant would have discussed dealing with Jackson before, but “countless” is an interesting adjective to describe the volume of conversations between the two and Anthony went on to detail a portion of their most recent interaction.

Following that revelation, Anthony did reportedly indicate that he and Jackson ironed things out a bit, but at this point, the situation seems to be more fragile than anyone around the Knicks would probably like. Long-time NBA fans have certainly seen situations in which Jackson’s style in dealing with players has worked to the tune of great success, but it is probably different with him in the front office instead of on the bench and, frankly, the situation in New York has never struck outsiders as peachy between Jackson and Anthony.

Carmelo Anthony is going to Kobe Bryant for counsel in dealing with Phil Jackson and, well, that doesn’t necessarily signal a great deal of peace on the horizon for the Knicks.