Trade Carmelo Anthony, don’t trade Carmelo Anthony. At this point, are you just exhausted by it? Why does a soon-to-be 33-year-old player on such a bad team take up so much of your thoughts? Wouldn’t you prefer that something – anything – happen at this point? Trade him to Cleveland for Bernie Kosar. Let’s move on with our lives.
Maybe Phil Jackson feels the same way after reading this Kevin Ding column on Bleacher Report, because he fired off a rather cryptic tweet this afternoon.
Bleacher's Ding almost rings the bell, but I learned you don't change the spot on a leopard with Michael Graham in my CBA daze.
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) February 7, 2017
Luckily for us, Ding speaks fluent Phil and explained what he was referencing.
Michael Graham was an uber-talented player Phil coached in the CBA in the '80s–and one Phil regretted never got his teaching messages. https://t.co/UdD3ILHV8i
— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 7, 2017
Ah, OK. But what?
To understand what Jackson was saying, you have to understand the crux of Ding’s column about Anthony, which is best summarized here:
Jackson undoubtedly overestimated his own ability—perhaps you’ve heard something lately about the no-trade clause he gifted to Melo in 2014—to kindle Anthony’s evolution from superstar to winning superstar.
Anthony is a likable person who just happens to be nothing near Jordan or Bryant in will to win. No, Jackson never thought Anthony had that fire, but he thought he could balance Anthony’s ball dominance by teaching teamwork and converting talent into a clear net positive.
That was part of the formula with Jordan and Bryant.
This season has further disproved that formula with Anthony.
Ding’s assessment is that Anthony doesn’t care enough about winning for Jackson’s liking, and Jackson’s plan to circumnavigate that attitude hasn’t worked.
Going back to the Zen Master’s original tweet that says “Ding almost rings the bell,” does that mean Ding is right? Almost right? Jackson knows you don’t change spots, so was Ding wrong in his assessment? But it feels like Jackson is agreeing to a large extent, doesn’t it?
It certainly feels like the Knicks are just about ready to move on from Carmelo, and we could have a definitive answer to that question here in the next couple of weeks.
