Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony surprised by Derek Fisher firing, will continue to put trust in Phil Jackson
New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony brings the ball up court against the Denver Nuggets in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Carmelo Anthony is now playing for his fourth coach since March 2012 but he said that lack of continuity doesn’t have him looking for an escape route.
Anthony said he doesn’t intend to waive his no-trade clause before February 18 deadline, he still believes in Knicks president Phil Jackson and he wants to remain in a Knicks uniform.
“Yeah, I’ve been through worse,” Anthony said before the Knicks played the Wizards Tuesday night. “I’ve been through worse. At this point you become kind of immune to all . . . that goes on and the politics. You become immune to that. So my goal is to continue playing basketball, focus on the group of guys that I have in there and leave that faith to management, to the front office.”
Anthony sounded genuinely surprised that Jackson fired Derek Fisher Monday and replaced him with Kurt Rambis.
The Knicks had lost nine of 10 games and were spiraling after a better-than-expected start. They began Tuesday No. 12 in the East, 4 1⁄2 games out of a playoff spot. Jackson decided to make the move to try and save the Knicks’ season. Anthony, who signed a five-year, $124-million deal two summers ago, said he has to believe in Jackson.
“This is something I didn’t see coming,” Anthony said. “Nobody saw coming. So you have to continue to put your trust into Phil. At this point, what could you do? Can’t shy away from that. can’t go against it. So for me it’s continue.
“I have to trust in it. I decided to stay here. I decided to make that decision to trust in the Knicks and trust in Phil. I have to continue doing that.”
The team has undergone many changes since Anthony forced a trade to the Knicks in 2011. He is the only Knick remaining from the team that won 54 games in 2013 and the lone leftover from when Jackson was hired in March 2014.
“It’s tough,” Anthony said. “At night when I kind of wrap my brain around it and put everything into perspective as far as how many coaches I’ve been through since being here, how many different teammates I’ve been through since being here . . . so we’re trying to find some kind of consistency when it comes to that. But the business of basketball, it’s a tough business.”
Kristaps Porzingis said: “Coach Fisher gave me the opportunity to play and play a lot.”
“It is what it is. We have to move forward from this. Obviously this is the part that nobody really likes. It was tough for me to find out. We have to move forward from this and keep going and learn from the coaching that we have.”
“It’s been a tough last few weeks, obviously,” he added. “Nobody’s happy, everybody’s kind of depressed that we’re losing, but we’re trying to stay positive at the same time and we lost our coach so there’s a lot of stuff going on but we try to stay focused on what we need to do on the court.”
With Neil Best
The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, Madison Square Garden and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
